June 26, 2007

TUCSON, Ariz. -- For the second straight year, Head Coach Pat Casey of Oregon St. University has been named National Coach of The Year by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.

Casey led Oregon St. to its second consecutive College World Series championship with a 9-3 win over North Carolina last Sunday in leading the Beavers to a perfect 5-0 record at the 2007 CWS.

What makes the accomplishment even more remarkable is that OSU lost seven position player starters off last season's national championship team, its top two starting pitchers and its All-American closer. It seemed to be an almost impossible task to qualify for the College World Series let alone win it all in 2007. But the Beavers did exactly that and defied all odds to become only the fifth team in the 61-year-history of the CWS to win back-to-back championships.

Casey, who just finished his 13th season as skipper of the Beavers, has performed an amazing rebuilding project at Oregon St. Prior to being named head coach in 1995, Oregon St. had only qualified for the College World Series once in 1952 where the Beavers went 0-2.

And keep in mind varsity baseball at OSU began in 1907 with its roots going back to 1883. The school's first intercollegiate athletic event featured a baseball game against Monmouth Christian College that year.

It took Casey 11 years to capture his first Pac-10 championship and also bring the Beavers to the College World Series in 2005 with a 46-12 record, the most wins in school history at the time. However, OSU was eliminated in two straight games. One year later, he again led OSU to the Pac-10 title and a CWS berth. Only this time, the Beavers won the national championship with a 50-16 overall record, the most wins in school history. Oregon St. became the first team from the Northwest area of the United States to win the College World Series in 2006.

This season, OSU started the year with a 23-3 record but struggled in the Pac-10 Conference with a sixth place finish (10-14) as the Beavers barely made the NCAA 64-team regional field. Once there, Casey and his coaching staff did another magnificent job as OSU won its final 10 games of the year to finish 49-18.

Previous Collegiate Baseball National Coaches of The Year:
• 2006: Pat Casey, Oregon St.
• 2005: Augie Garrido, Texas
• 2004: George Horton, Cal. St. Fullerton
• 2003: Wayne Graham, Rice
• 2002: Augie Garrido, Texas
• 2001: Jim Morris, Miami (Fla.)
• 2000: Skip Bertman, Louisiana St.
• 1999: Jim Morris, Miami (Fla.)
• 1998: Mike Gillespie, Southern Calif., Mike Batesole, Cal. St. Northridge
• 1997: Skip Bertman, Louisiana St.
• 1996: Skip Bertman, Louisiana St., Andy Lopez, Florida
• 1995: Augie Garrido, Cal. St. Fullerton
• 1994: Larry Cochell, Oklahoma
• 1993: Skip Bertman, Louisiana St.
• 1992: Andy Lopez, Pepperdine
• 1991: Skip Bertman, Louisiana St.
• 1990: Steve Webber, Georgia
• 1989: Dave Snow, Long Beach St.
• 1988: Larry Cochell, Cal. St. Fullerton
• 1987: Mark Marquess, Stanford
• 1986: Jerry Kindall, Arizona
• 1985: Ron Fraser, Miami (Fla.)
• 1984: Augie Garrido, Cal. St. Fullerton
• 1983: Cliff Gustafson, Texas
• 1982: Ron Fraser, Miami (Fla.)
• 1981: Jim Brock, Arizona St.
• 1980: Jerry Kindall, Arizona