Coaching Honors Led K-State to a school record 43 wins in 2009 and the program’s first ever NCAA Regional Coached relief pitcher Daniel Edwards to third-team All-American honors, the school’s first All-American since 1999 Led K-State to its first Big 12 Championship Title Game in 2008 Tutored RHP A.J. Morris to consensus All-American honors in 2009 and OF Nick Martini to second team honors in 2010 Five Freshman All-Americans (Ben Hornbeck, 2006; Thomas Rooke, 2008; James Allen, 2009; Nick Martini, 2009; Jared King, 2011) 2009 Big 12 Coach of the Year 2009 American Baseball Coaches’ Association (ABCA) Midwest Region Coach of the Year 2003 NCAA Division II National Championship Winningest Head Coach in Central Missouri State history (418) 2003 NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year Seven-time Central Region Coach of the Year (1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003)Seven-time Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) Coach of the Year (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003) Inducted into the Central Missouri State Hall of Fame in 2009 K-State Under Brad Hill 949 - Current Four-Year APR Average 266 - Wins at K-State 116 - Wins over the last three years, a school record 43 - Wins in 2009, a School Record 40 - Academic All-Big 12 Selections  37 - Wins in 2010, the Second Most in School history 36 - Wins in 2011, a Third Most in School History 31 - First Team Academic All-Big 12 selections 30 - All-Big 12 Selections 29 - MLB Draft Picks 14 - Conference Victories in 2009 and 2010, a School Record 8 - Top-10 Round Draft Picks 8 - Team Records Set 6 - Academic All-District Honors 5 - Freshman All-Americans 3 - NCAA Regional Appearances 3 - Academic All-American Selections 3 - 2010 Big 12 Finish, a Program Best 2 - Conference Player of the Year Honors 2 - Coach of the Year Honors (2009 Big 12 and ABCA Midwest Region) 1 - Consensus First Team All-American

Coach Brad Hill, 2009 Big 12 Coach of the Year, with AJ Morris, 2009 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year. Contact Coach Hill (785) 532-3926 | E-mail Brad Hill

Hard work and determination have fueled the Kansas State baseball program since Brad Hill was introduced as the head coach during the summer of 2003. And, in just eight short years, Hill has taken a program that was coming off six-straight seasons of bottom-half Big 12 finishes and turned it into a national power, guiding the Wildcats to three-straight NCAA Regional appearances.

During his time as the K-State skipper, Hill has guided the Wildcats from the depths of the league to the program's best record in school history and the first NCAA Regional appearance in 2009 before making return appearances in 2010 and 2011. The postseason success is a continuation of a stellar career in which Hill has amassed a career winning percentage of .706 (684-284-3), which ranks sixth nationally among active coaches.

Additionally, under Hill’s tutelage, Kansas State is one of only two “northern” schools (Oregon State) to earn three-straight at-large bids to a NCAA Regional.

Hill has also had a keen eye on evaluating talent and then developing those players as his squads have produced 50 draft selections since 2005, including 31 in the past four years alone. K-State has seen an increase each year of players taken in the MLB Draft, capped by a school record four top-10 round draft picks last season in Evan Marshall (4th; Arizona), Jason King (4th; Detroit), James Allen (7th; Cincinnati) and Nick Martini (7th; St. Louis).

K-State baseball players have also gained numerous national accolades under Hill’s guidance. In the first 106 years of the program, the Wildcats accumulated 14 All-American designations, while K-State has produced 15 All-America honors in the last five seasons alone, including first team honors by A.J. Morris (2009) and James Allen (2011).

Not only has Kansas State baseball excelled on the field, but Hill has put an emphasis on his players’ performance in the classroom. Under Hill, the Cats have had 40 Academic All-Big 12 selections as well as six Academic All-District honors and two Academic All-Americans (Brett Scott in 2007 and 2008; Jason King in 2011). In addition, K-State’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) has steadily improved, now reflecting an outstanding four-year average of 949, while the baseball program led the Big 12 in graduation rate last year.

Although K-State reached another NCAA Regional in 2011, the beginning of the season did not go as planned for Hill and K-State as they were on the outside looking in when it came to qualifying for even the conference championship. After sitting at 20-15 overall and 5-10 in conference play, the Wildcats needed a strong finish just to make the conference tournament. That is exactly what happened as Hill tutored the Wildcats to a 16-8 finish in their final 22 games, including a 7-4 mark against league foes to place sixth in the Big 12 and qualify for their fifth-straight conference championship.

Hill’s coaching and motivation didn’t stop there as, at the Big 12 Championship, K-State defeated No. 12 Oklahoma twice to compile 36 wins and earn the program’s third-straight NCAA tournament berth.

While many preseason prognosticators doubted the 2010 Wildcats, Hill raised the bar of success at K-State. The Cats continued their trend of improvement in 2010 as he guided his team to a third-place finish in the Big 12 standings - their highest since the league's inception in 1997, after K-State was predicted to finish as low as ninth in some Big 12 preseason polls.

K-State also registered the second most wins in school history with 37, second to the 2009 season total of 43, thanks in part to six players that earned All-Big 12 honors under Hill, including the 2010 Big 12 Player of the Year Nick Martini. Hill also tutored Martini to second team All-American honors.

The 2009 season proved to be the most storied of its time. Predicted to finish ninth in the Big 12 Baseball Preseason Poll, Hill guided K-State to a school-record 43-win season - including a program-best 14 conference victories to finish fourth in the Big 12 regular season standings, the school's best finish since placing second in the Big Eight in 1990. The Cats earned their first Top 10 ranking during the season and finished the 2009 campaign in the national polls for the first time in school history when Baseball America ranked K-State No. 19 in its final poll.

Hill, who garnered 2009 Big 12 Coach of the Year and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Midwest Region Coach of the Year honors, directed K-State to its first ever NCAA Regional appearance when the Cats earned an at-large berth as the No. 2 seed in the Houston (Rice) Regional. The Cats didn't stop there as they tallied a pair of victories in the regional, including one against No. 1 seed and home team Rice, to advance to the regional final.

Along the way, the 2009 Wildcats set numerous school marks, including season wins (43), Big 12 victories (14), Big 12 finish (fourth), hits (675), stolen bases (149) and strikeouts (453).

Hill also tutored Consensus All-American and Big 12 Pitcher of the Year A.J. Morris, two freshman all-Americans in James Allen and Nick Martini and a total of seven All-Big 12 performers. Four Wildcats also earned First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors last season, while Jason King and Thomas Rooke were named Academic All-District.

Following the conclusion of the 2009 season, five Wildcats were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, improving Hill's total to 18 since he took over the program in 2004.

In just his first year, Hill jumped out of the gate and led the Wildcats to a 19-6 record in his first 25 games, including wins over perennial national powers Ohio State and Alabama and 2003 College World Series participant Missouri State (formerly Southwest Missouri State). K-State also garnered its first-ever national ranking at No. 30 during that span, which included an 11-game winning streak.

Then, in 2005, the Wildcats took the next step as they won 30 games in a season for just the 10th time ever, doubled their conference wins from the previous season, swept a season series from in-state rival Wichita State for the first time in 50 years and knocked off a No. 1-ranked team for the first time in school history, eventual national champion Texas.

In 2006, the Wildcats won a school-record 16 straight games and also ended the season on a five-game winning streak, wrapping up the season with a sweep of No. 22 Baylor at Tointon Stadium. Statistically, K-State finished the season in the top half of the league in both hitting (.314) and ERA (3.94). The 3.94 team ERA was the lowest since the 1975 season and the best since the addition of aluminum bats in college baseball.

The 2007 campaign saw K-State finish with a 34-24 overall record, one win shy of tying the single-season mark, while the Wildcats advanced to postseason play for the first time since 2002. The Cats won 30 games for the third-straight season and also collected 10 wins in league play, the most since winning 13 in 2002. He also guided current Wildcat closer Daniel Edwards to third-team all-American honors, just the ninth Wildcat to earn All-American honors of any kind and the first since Kasey Weisaar in 1999.

The 2008 Wildcats, fielding a roster of 16 juniors and seniors, entered the season looking to become the first team in school history to reach the NCAA Tournament. K-State dropped early season contests, but started to catch a groove the second half of the season as they won two-of-three against No. 22 Oklahoma State, topped No. 11 UC-Irvine in a dramatic 11-inning affair, defeated No. 25 Texas, won at No. 8 Wichita State, and edged one of the top teams in 2008, No. 3 Arizona State, in its final non-conference game of the season.

In conference play, the Wildcats finished the 2008 season with 11 wins to tie for sixth, the most wins and the best finish since 2002. Down the stretch, K-State won four of its final six conference games, including a sweep of in-state rival Kansas. The end of the season is all K-State needed for a boost in the conference tournament. Under the tutelage of Hill, the Cats defeated No. 6 Oklahoma State and Baylor to advance to the school's first Big 12 Title Game. Although K-State was defeated by No. 24 Texas, everyone involved with the program can see just how far the Wildcat baseball program had come in such a short time.

Full Coach Hill Bio

John Szefc, Associate Head Coach/Hitting Coach

John Szefc was named Kansas State’s Associate Head Coach just one month prior to the 2011 season, and the 22-year coaching veteran made a quick impact in Manhattan as he helped the Wildcats earn their third-straight NCAA Regional appearance, while Szefc advanced to the eighth NCAA tournament of his career.

Szefc, who is the program’s hitting coach and oversees the team’s infielders, came to K-State with eight years of experience coaching at top-tier programs. Szefc also has seven years of head coaching experience as he ran the Marist program from 1996 to 2002, winning four conference championships and making three NCAA Regional appearances.

Szefc, who has coached 60 players that were either drafted or signed pro contracts since 1997, brought an aggressive offense to Kansas State, which played right into the Wildcats’ strengths. The Wildcats led the Big 12 in stolen bases for a third-straight season in 2011 with 123, which ranked third in school history. And, thanks to a late-season run that saw K-State record 124 hits over the final 11 games prior to the NCAA Tournament (11.3 hits per game), the Wildcats placed 10th in school history with 564 hits on the season.

A native of Middletown, N.Y., Szefc saw three players – Jared King, Jason King and Nick Martini – earn All-Big 12 accolades in 2011, while Jared King was named a Freshman All-American. Additionally, Jason King set the single-season (12) and career (22) sacrifice fly records, and finished third in school history with 35 extra-base hits in 2011.

Szefc came to Manhattan after a two-year stint at the University of Kansas where he was the team's hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. While in Lawrence, Szefc helped lead the Jayhawks to two Big 12 Championship appearances and a NCAA Regional berth during his first season in 2009.

With Szefc's guidance, the Jayhawks made a 17-point improvement in overall team batting average from .287 in 2008 to .304 in 2010. In Big 12 games in 2010, Kansas hit .305, which ranked second in the conference, while it led the league in base hits (304), and finished second in runs scored (195) and walks (115) during league play.

Following the 2010 season, three of Szefc's players were drafted, including Brian Heere and Robby Price, who recorded season highs in several offensive categories in 2010.

In just his first season at Kansas, Szefc's hitters raised their batting average by 14 points and scored 68 more runs than they did in the previous season. He also tutored the Big 12's first Triple Crown winner in Tony Thompson, who led the league in batting average (.389), homers (21) and RBI (82).

Szefc coached three of the top six hitters in the conference in 2009 in Thompson, Heere (.364) and David Narodowski (.354).

Prior to his position at Kansas, Szefc was the head assistant coach at Louisiana from 2003-08, running an aggressive-style Ragin' Cajun offense that saw a dramatic 60-point jump in batting average during his first three years. In fact, three of his team's batting averages still rank in the top five of Louisiana history. His 2005 squad set a school record for hits and finished second in school history in runs scored and RBI, while the 2002 team tied the school record with 145 stolen bases.

While in Lafayette, Szefc was responsible for overseeing the Ragin' Cajuns' recruiting efforts, instructing hitters and infielders and coaching third base for a program that won the Sun Belt Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in both 2005 and 2007.

During the Cajuns' Sun Belt Championship season in 2005, the offense dominated the conference and showed up nationally in major statistical categories. Louisiana finished eighth in the nation in hitting (.327), 10th in runs scored (551), 17th in slugging percentage (.495) and 23rd in doubles (155). In the conference, the Cajuns led the Sun Belt in hitting, runs scored, hits, doubles and triples. Freshman catcher Jonathan Lucroy hit .379 and was named a 2005 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American.

Szefc coached three Louisiana hitters that were drafted in 2005 in Dallas Morris (24th round, Angels), Phillip Hawke (29th round, Rangers) and Justin Morgan (39th round, Cubs).

Szefc posted a 212-137-1 record as the skipper for Marist, leading the Red Foxes to their first baseball title as a member of the Northeast Conference in 1997. He also guided Marist to three more NCAA Tournament appearances in 2000, 2001 and 2002, including a 41-14 record during his final year at the school. The 2002 squad claimed a victory over Southwest Missouri State in the NCAA Lincoln Regional, while five of Szefc's players on that team went on to be selected in the MLB Draft.

Szefc won multiple awards as a head coach as he was named the 1997 NEC Coach of the year, while he earned American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Northeast Region Coach of the Year honors in 2001.

Full Coach Szefc Bio

Josh Reynolds, Pitching Coach

Josh Reynolds enters his second season as Kansas State’s pitching coach and his fifth overall with the Wildcat baseball program. Following a successful two-year stint at Evansville, Reynolds was hired in January 2011 and hit the ground running.

A volunteer assistant coach at K-State during the 2005 and 2006 seasons and a graduate manager in 2008, Reynolds’ pitching staff had one of the best seasons in school history last year. K-State ended the 2011 season with a 4.26 team ERA, which was the third-lowest in school history since the introduction of the aluminum bat in 1977. Additionally, the Wildcats tallied 449 strikeouts – just four shy of the school record – and surrendered the second fewest hits per nine innings (9.3) and second lowest opponent batting average (.269) since 1977.

Under Reynolds’ tutelage, relief pitchers James Allen (first team) and Evan Marshall (second team) earned All-Big 12 honors. Allen was also named a first team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and earned second team honors from Collegiate Baseball. Both Marshall and Allen were taken in the top 10 rounds of the 2011 MLB Draft as Marshall was drafted in the fourth round by Arizona and Allen was taken in the seventh round by Cincinnati. Additionally, starting pitcher Kyle Hunter was selected in the 31st round by Seattle.

Due in part to Reynolds’ guidance, Allen, Marshall and Hunter are listed prominently in the K-State record book. Allen broke the K-State single-season (17) and career (31) marks in saves, while he is sixth in school history in career ERA (2.92) among pitchers with a minimum of two years and 100 innings pitched. The closer also ranks second in career relief appearances with 81 and third in single-season relief appearances with 29.

Marshall finished second in school history with 30 relief appearances last year, and remained consistent under the direction of Reynolds as he finished third in K-State history with an ERA of 1.62 in 2011. Hunter, who finished ninth in school history with 167 career strikeouts, was eighth in career wins with 15, including five in 2011.

Reynolds spent the 2007 as the pitching coach at Northeast Texas Community College. Following the 2008 season, Reynolds was hired as the pitching coach at Evansville.

Reynolds made a significant impact on the UE program, producing four All-Missouri Valley Conference pitchers during his stint, the second-highest total among league schools over the two-year period. Relief pitchers Tom Heithoff (2009, 2010), Corey Davisson (2010) and J.R. Carbonell (2009) earned All-MVC pitching honors for UE, while Davisson tied Evansville's single-season records for both appearances (33) and winning percentage (9-1, .900) in 2010 under Reynolds' tutelage. Heithoff also emerged as one of the top closers in school history under Reynolds as he totaled 18 saves in his two years to rank second all-time in Evansville history.

The Purple Aces staff also dropped its team ERA by over a full point during Reynolds' two years, while UE improved nearly 150 spots in the national rankings in hits allowed under his watch.

Full Coach Reynolds Bio