|
|
     |
|
Schedule/Results | Roster | News | Archives
Since the hiring of Kevin Smallcomb as Northern Colorado baseball coach in summer 2002, the Bears baseball program has blossomed. Smallcomb has won 85 games in three seasons as the program's coach, the second highest three-year total in the 80-year history of the program (trailing only a 86-win stretch in the mid-90s), an impressive total considering the program had had won only 85 games over the previous four and a half seasons before Smallcomb took over the reigns of the program. Smallcomb continues to lead the team through the four-year reclassification process back to Division I. As he does that, he continues to add to the rich tradition of a program that has been to 10 Division I College World Series (the 11th most all-time) and produced several pro players and a pair of Major League managers (Greg Riddoch and Tom Runnells). "Hopefully we are evolving as a program," Smallcomb said. "We have been fortunate to have good athletes in the past but we are continuing to get even better athletes in our program now. I definitely love this group of players. They are pioneers as we continue the reclassification process. They have a lot of focus and have become very tough in having to be road warriors and face a tough schedule of road contests." The program had won just 56 total games in the three years prior to Smallcomb's hiring and had not had a winning season since 1998. That quickly changed in 2003 when Smallcomb led the Bears to the second-most wins in school history (34) and the program's second North Central Conference (NCC) Championship in the team's final year as a Division II team. The 2004 season, the team's first of the four-year reclassification process, saw the Bears come up one win short of the first back-to-back 30-win season in school history as they played a very difficult schedule. The season also produced the program's first Division I batting and slugging champion in Patrick Perry, who hit .478, slugged .844 and was drafted in the seventh round by the Boston Red Sox, becoming the program's highest draft pick in 18 years.
"We have been very fortunate that our players have strived to obtain the bar no matter how high I set it," said Smallcomb. "Our players and coaches have an excellent work ethic and have bought into our fundamentalist approach and have accepted the Division I reclassification as a challenge." Smallcomb was named the eighth head baseball coach in University of Northern Colorado history on June 20, 2002. In 2003, he took the Bears to the brink of the NCAA Regional and along the way helped the squad set or tie 27 individual and team records. Northern Colorado started that season 9-2, the program's best start in 18 years, were wire-to-wire champions in the NCC and started the conference season with an 8-0 record and eventually won 19 games (the most ever by an NCC team). They finished as the NCC Tournament runners-up and won 30 games in a season for only the third time in school history. That year Smallcomb coached three first-team All-NCC players and had junior Shane Roberts claim NCC Player of the Year and all-region honors. Two other players, Trevor Allen and Phil Delich, each earned ABCA second-team All-American honors, becoming the first Northern Colorado All-Americans in a decade. "We were undefeated at Jackson Field in conference play and we got off to the school's best start in nearly 20 years," said Smallcomb about the 2003 season. "That group learned how to win and set social norms and expectations on the field. That group developed great team chemistry, the type of chemistry we hope to have with our program in future years."
The 2004 season marked the team's first foray back into Division I since 1991, and the Bears jumped right into a full schedule with 44 of the team's 52 games against Division I teams. UNC won 25 times against Division I teams and finished the season with a 10-10 record against fellow Division I Independents. Along the way the squad set or tied 10 more records and renewed some old rivalries, including playing the Nebraska Cornhuskers for the first time in 13 years. The Northern Colorado players also got into the act, as they dominated the Division I Independent year-end awards; nine Bears made the All-Independent team (six were first-team selections), including Perry, who claimed Player of the Year honors. The 2005 season proved to be a little more difficult than the previous two, mainly attributed to the fact the Bears played a brutal schedule, as it featured 18 games against six teams that made the NCAA Tournament (Arizona, Arkansas, Creighton, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Wichita State) that season. The Bears only won one of those contests (Wichita State) but were 8-3 against Division I Independents and capped the season by winning the Division I Independent Invitational, an event they hosted for the second consecutive season. In that event the Bears topped South Dakota State, Utah Valley State and 2004 champion NYIT to capture the championship. The Bears narrowly missed out on claiming the D-I Independent Player for the second year in a row, as sophomore Brennan Garr finished as runner-up for the award. Garr led the team in hitting (.365) and tied the school record by recording seven saves on the mound. The next step for Smallcomb and the program will be to gain conference affiliation in the near future. As an athletic department Northern Colorado is entering the Big Sky Conference in 2006, but the Big Sky does not sponsor baseball. That leaves the baseball program to find another home (the Western Athletic Conference is one possibility) to solidify their presence in Division I. "There are challenges to being an independent, so we are actively pursing conference affiliation," Smallcomb said. "Being a part of a conference would solidify our schedule and give us a lot more home games among other things." Smallcomb reached a personal milestone during 2004, winning his 300th game as a collegiate head coach on with a 5-0 victory over the University of Iowa at the Hawkeye Classic on March 26. During the year, he also got the chance to coach against his college coach, John Smith, when the Bears played a three-game set at Sacramento State (May 14-16); Northern Colorado once again plays at Sacramento State in 2006. Smallcomb needs only 15 victories in 2006 to reach the 100-win plateau at Northern Colorado, a feat that only three other coaches have achieved in school history.
"Longevity, quality student-athletes and good coaching staffs make for a successful coaching record," Smallcomb added. "I've been fortunate to have all the right ingredients to make that happen in my tenure as a head coach." Two-hundred and fifty of his wins came as the head baseball coach at Mendocino Junior College in Ukiah, Calif., where Smallcomb coached the Eagles from 1992 to 2002. His squads reached the California Community College playoffs on four occasions (1994, 1995, 1996, 1999), he was selected conference Coach of the Year in 1996 and he compiled an overall record of 250-147. Smallcomb served as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Arkansas in 1989 and 1990, where he earned his master's degree in sport management. His first assistant coaching job came at American River College in Sacramento, Calif., where he coached from 1985-89. He earned his bachelor's degree in social science with minors in coaching and history from California State University-Sacramento in 1985, where he was a standout infielder for the Hornets (1981-82). He still ranks in the school's top 10 for stolen bases in a season (40) and a career (52). Smallcomb's collegiate coaching career includes seven years in the Alaskan Collegiate Baseball League. Smallcomb has coached several major leaguers in the Alaskan league or community college level, including Seattle Mariners closer Eddie Guardado and Mariners infielder Fernando Vina. Five players Smallcomb has coached at Northern Colorado have gone on to play minor league baseball, and two, Patrick Perry (Greenville Bombers - Boston Red Sox organization) and Trevor Allen (Asheville Tourists - Colorado Rockies organization), are still on an active roster entering the 2006 season. Smallcomb and his wife, Julie, have two children, Katerina and Kyndle.
Head Coaching Resume
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Northern Colorado Baseball
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
