Wayne State College Athletics

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

               Wayne State College Director of Athletics Eric Schoh announced today that John Manganaro has stepped down as the head baseball coach of the Wildcats to become President of the Ultimate Baseball Academy in Omaha and has promoted assistant coach and former Wildcat player Brian Disch to interim head coach of the Wildcat baseball program effective immediately.

                Disch takes over a Wayne State program that was 45-15 this past season and set a new record for wins by a Northern Sun Conference team in league play, going 27-4, to capture a sixth straight NSIC regular season title.  The Wildcats reached the title game of the NCAA Central Regional before falling to Mesa State 8-2.  Disch, a Norfolk High School graduate, has served as the team’s hitting coach and third base coach for the last five seasons.  WSC ranked fifth in NCAA Division II this season in runs scored per game (9.5) while also ranking fifth in home runs (93), a new school record, and seventh in slugging percentage (.569).  Disch played at Wayne State under Manganaro from 1999-2004, earning First Team All-NSIC honors as a senior in 2004 after hitting .301 that season with 11 homers and 38 RBI’s.  He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2004 NSIC Tournament, helping the Wildcats to the tournament title.

                The 55-year-old Manganaro served 20 seasons as a coach with the Wildcat baseball program, including the last 17 (1993-2009) as head coach.  He built Wayne State into one of the top programs in NCAA Division II, winning the last six Northern Sun Conference regular season titles while guiding the Wildcats to six straight NCAA Tournament appearances and seven trips to the NCAA Tournament in the last nine seasons.  Manganaro accumulated a 506-309-1 record (.620) and was 198-54 (.785) in Northern Sun Conference games.  Wayne State is the 12^th winningest team of the 2000’s in NCAA Division II baseball under Manganaro, going 368-157-1 (.701). 

                Manganaro is a four-time NSIC Coach of the Year Award recipient (2001), 2006, 2007, 2009) and led the Wildcats to five NSIC Tournament titles (2001, co-2003, 2004, 2005, 2006).  He coached the Wildcats to a pair of NCAA Regional championship games, falling to Central Missouri in 2004 and Mesa State this season.  Wayne State has produced All-Americans in six of the last seven seasons under Manganaro, including junior outfielder Joe Wendte (Sioux City Heelan) this season.  The Wildcats have also had two players drafted in the last three years under Manganaro with pitcher Travis Mortimore selected in the 21^st round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft by the Seattle Mariners and pitcher Nick Schumacher being drafted in the 28^th round of the 2008 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres.

                Wayne State College is an NCAA Division II school located in Wayne, Nebraska and competes in the 14-team Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

John Manganaro year-by-year record at Wayne State College:

1993        16-23

1994        23-25

1995        8-27

1996        24-20

1997        18-18

1998        22-17

1999        27-22       15-7 NSIC                T-3^rd

2000        31-19       11-5 NSIC                3^rd

2001        35-10       12-2 NSIC                2^nd

2002        28-24       15-7 NSIC                4^th

2003        26-13       12-6 NSIC                4^th

2004        44-18       19-8 NSIC                1^st

2005        45-14       19-3 NSIC                1^st

2006        37-15-1   19-1 NSIC                1^st

2007        37-16       25-5 NSIC                1^st

2008        40-13       24-6 NSIC                1^st

2009        45-15       27-4 NSIC                1^st

Career totals -         506-309-1               (.620)

NSIC record -          198-54                     (.785)