Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Wayne State College baseball coach John Manganaro, who stepped down on July 1 to become President of the Ultimate Baseball Academy in Omaha, was honored last Thursday (July 9) as the Omaha World Herald's Midlands College Coach of the Year. He is the fourth WSC coach to receive the honor since the award began in 1952, joining Barney Lewellyn (1954), Dave Gunther (1969) and Pete Chapman (1985) as past winners.
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 12th 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 21st round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft by the Seattle Mariners and pitcher Nick Schumacher being drafted in the 28th 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.
