Rocky Ward
| Sport(s) | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Current position | |
| Title | VP of Business Development - Coaches/Academy |
| Team | 3D Sports Partners, Inc |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | April 29, 1964 |
| Playing career | |
| 1984 | Connors State |
| 1985 | Western Oklahoma State |
| 1987–1988 | Oklahoma State |
| Position(s) | 3B, C |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1994 | Indianapolis (Asst.) |
| 1995–1996 | Kansas State (Asst.) |
| 1997–2000 | New Mexico State |
| 2003–2014 | New Mexico State |
Rocky Ward is an American college baseball coach, most recently serving as the head coach of the New Mexico State Aggies baseball program. He was named to that position prior to the 2003 season and left after the 2014 season to join Hittinguru 3D. He previously served in the same position from 1997 through 2000. In the intervening years, his father, Hall-of-Famer Gary Ward, worked as head coach of the Aggies while Rocky assisted.[1][2]
Playing career
Ward first enrolled at Connors State, which compiled at 72–13 record in 1985. He then played one season at Western Oklahoma State before completing his eligibility at Oklahoma State while playing for his father. In his two seasons in Stillwater, the Cowboys reached the 1987 College World Series final and amassed a 61–8 record in 1988 and were atop the Baseball America poll for 12 weeks.[1]
Coaching career
After graduating from Oklahoma State, Ward established the Mid-America Baseball School, and served as marketing director and an instructor with the program which helped develop the skills of young players until 1994. In that year, he became an assistant coach at Indianapolis. After one season with the Greyhounds, he moved to Kansas State, where he spent two years as recruiting coordinator and worked with infielders and hitters. He earned the head coaching position at New Mexico State beginning in 1997 and served four seasons before giving way to his father.[3] After two seasons as an assistant, Rocky again assumed the top spot with the Aggies. Since then, New Mexico State has appeared in the NCAA Tournament twice and claimed the Western Athletic Conference regular season crown once.[1]
Ward left at the end of the 2014 season as the winningest coach in NMSU history (455), the most All-Americans (10), the most post season appearances (11), the most NCAA tournament appearances (3). He is now the CEO of Guru Products LLC which provides development and sales for Guru Training Systems based in Belgium. GTS has developed the first artificially intelligent hitting coach, called the Swinguru Hitting.
Head coaching record
The table below reflects Ward's record as a head coach.
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Mexico State (Big West Conference) (1997–2000) | |||||||||
| 1997 | New Mexico State | 21–33 | 8–22 | 4th Northern (4) | |||||
| 1998 | New Mexico State | 23–29 | 8–21 | 4th Northern (4) | |||||
| 1999 | New Mexico State | 18–38 | 7–23 | 8th (8) | |||||
| 2000 | New Mexico State | 19–36 | 4–26 | 8th (8) | |||||
| New Mexico State: | 81–136 | 27–92 | |||||||
| New Mexico State (Sun Belt Conference) (2003–2005) | |||||||||
| 2003 | New Mexico State | 43–18 | 15–9 | 2nd (9) | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2004 | New Mexico State | 33–25–1 | 12–12 | 5th (9) | |||||
| 2005 | New Mexico State | 28–29 | 13–11 | 5th (9) | |||||
| New Mexico State: | 104–63–1 | 40–32 | |||||||
| New Mexico State (Western Athletic Conference) (2006–present) | |||||||||
| 2006 | New Mexico State | 19–36 | 6–18 | 7th (7) | |||||
| 2007 | New Mexico State | 22–34 | 6–18 | 7th (7) | |||||
| 2008 | New Mexico State | 28–33 | 15–17 | 5th (7) | |||||
| 2009 | New Mexico State | 44–17 | 12–12 | T-3rd (7) | |||||
| 2010 | New Mexico State | 36–23–1 | 14–9 | T-2nd (7) | |||||
| 2011 | New Mexico State | 34–24 | 9–15 | 6th (7) | |||||
| 2012 | New Mexico State | 35–24 | 11–7 | T-1st (7) | NCAA Regional | ||||
| 2013 | New Mexico State | 29–28 | 13–14 | T-6th (10) | WAC Tournament[lower-alpha 1] | ||||
| 2014 | New Mexico State | 23–31 | 12–13 | 7th (10) | WAC Tournament[lower-alpha 2] | ||||
| New Mexico State: | 260–240–1 | 98–123 | |||||||
| Total: | 455–458–2 | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
See also
References
- 1 2 3 "Rocky Ward Biography". New Mexico State Aggies. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
- ↑ Brian Foley (September 19, 2012). "NMSU Extends Rocky Ward Through 2015 Season". College Baseball Daily. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
- ↑ "Baseball; A Father Replaces His Son". New York Times. June 22, 2000. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from The Baseball Cube