Top 25 Winningest Active Head Coaches in Division I Baseball (2022)

The extraordinary rate of turnover in the Division I coaching ranks over the last two summers (about a quarter of all schools have hired a new coach in the last 15 months) means that the list of the winningest active head coaches has also gone through significant change since we last published it in 2020.

Among the changes were the retirements of Paul Mainieri (Louisiana State), Mike Sansing (Kennesaw State) and Bill Brown (George Mason), all of whom won more than 1,000 games in their career.

After so much turnover, it is a good time to take a look at the sport’s top 25 active winningest coaches. There are now just eight active coaches with more than 1,000 wins and few are even on the precipice of the milestone. There’s a new generation of coaches leading college baseball.

Per NCAA rules, to be included on this list, a coach must have spent at least five years at a Division I school and all victories achieved at a four-year school are included.

1. Danny Hall, Georgia Tech (1,348 wins): Hall took over the title of winningest active coach with two wins during the NCAA Tournament, when Georgia Tech reached the Knoxville Regional final. This season will be Hall’s 30th at Georgia Tech, where he’s won 1,140 games and led the Yellow Jackets to the College World Series three times. His head coaching career began at Kent State, where he won 208 games over six seasons.

2. John Anderson, Minnesota (1,347 wins): Anderson is synonymous with Minnesota baseball, and rightfully so. Not only has he led the Golden Gophers for the last 41 years after taking the job at 26 years old, but the team has been a Big Ten power under his direction. In all, his Minnesota teams have collected seven Big Ten regular-season titles, nine Big Ten Tournament championships and 18 postseason appearances.

3. Keith Guttin, Missouri State (1,340 wins): Like Anderson, Guttin has spent every year of his head coaching career in one place. Over 40 seasons, he has led the Bears from an independent to the conference that is now known as the Summit League to the Missouri Valley Conference, winning a bunch of games along the way. His teams have made the postseason 11 times, including going all the way to the CWS in 2003.

4. Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina (1,293 wins): In his 27 years at Coastal Carolina, Gilmore has transformed the program that had only been to the postseason once in its history to a national title-winning outfit that earned the right to be called a power program. Along the way, Gilmore has led the Chanticleers to 17 postseason appearances.

5. Elliott Avent, North Carolina State (1,186 wins): In 26 years at NC State, Avent has led the Wolfpack to 19 regional appearances, five super regional appearances and two trips to Omaha. Prior to turning NC State into one of the most consistent programs in the country, he spent eight seasons as the head coach at New Mexico State, collecting 225 wins.

6. Dave Van Horn, Arkansas (1,167 wins): Van Horn is in rarified air as a coach who is arguably the greatest skipper in the history of two storied college baseball programs, Nebraska and Arkansas. His first stop at Northwestern State also makes him one in a long line of great coaches who have passed through Natchitoches, La. He has won a regular-season title at each stop, and across all three, he has been to the postseason 22 times and to the CWS on nine occasions.

7. Rich Hill, Hawaii (1,106 wins): Hill took over at Hawaii a year ago following a 23-year run at San Diego, where he led the Toreros to the NCAA Tournament eight times. He started his career with successful stints at Cal Lutheran and San Francisco. Now, he’s trying to lead the Warriors back to prominence in the Big West.

8. Paul Kostacopoulos, Navy (1,004 wins): Kostacopoulos began his head coaching career at Providence, where he won 220 games in seven seasons and led the Friars to two regionals before departing three years before the program was discontinued. At Maine, he won 274 games and got the Black Bears into the postseason in 2002. Most recently, he has turned Navy into a consistent threat at the top of the Patriot League and this year eclipsed the 1,000-win mark for his career.

9. Steve Owens, Rutgers (985 wins): Owens has won everywhere he’s gone in his career, from SUNY-Cortland to LeMoyne to Bryant and, now, Rutgers. He this year led the Scarlet Knights to a program-record 44 wins, but they just missed out on their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007. 

10. Rick Heller, Iowa (966 wins): Heller has made four stops as a head coach in his career—Upper Iowa, Northern Iowa, Indiana State and Iowa—and he has guided each to the postseason. Most recently, he has turned a downtrodden Iowa program into one that competes well in a competitive Big Ten year after year.

11. Mike Bianco, Mississippi (954 wins): Bianco this year led Ole Miss to the national title, the program’s first in its history. He’s been a consistent winner throughout his coaching career, which began with three seasons, 100 wins and a regional appearance at McNeese State. He’s spent the last 20 years in Oxford, leading the Rebels to 18 postseason appearances, eight super regionals and an SEC regular-season title in 2009.

12. Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt (947 wins): An assistant under Jack Leggett at Clemson from 1994-2002, Corbin actually got his start as a head coach prior to that at Presbyterian, where he won 106 games in six seasons. Since arriving in Nashville, he has taken Vanderbilt from a forgotten program in the SEC to a behemoth in the world of college baseball that won national titles in 2014 and 2019.

13. Tony Rossi, Siena (934 wins): The longest-tenured head coach in Division I, Rossi has coached at Siena in six different decades. When he took over at 27 years old in 1970, the Saints were a Division II independent program that played about 20 games a season. Since then, Siena has been a Division I independent and a member of three different conferences. Rossi has guided his team to two postseason appearances, the most recent coming in 2014.

14. Rich Maloney, Ball State (917 wins): The highlight of Maloney’s 10 seasons and 341 wins as the head coach at Michigan were four straight regional appearances and three Big Ten regular-season titles from 2005-2008. Sandwiched around that time in Ann Arbor are two different stints and 17 total seasons as the coach at Ball State, during which the Cardinals have been consistent contenders in the MAC, falling just shy of regional appearances in each of the last two seasons.

15. Matt Senk, Stony Brook (898 wins): Senk has been at Stony Brook long enough that it was a Division III program when he first took over prior to the 1991 season. Since then, he has not only guided the Seawolves (or the Patriots, as they were known in Division III) all the way up to Division I, but he has turned them into one of the best teams in the Northeast and led them to the CWS in 2012.

16. Mike Batesole, Fresno State (895 wins): Batesole is known mostly for being the coach who led the 2008 Fresno State Bulldogs, known as the Wonderdogs, to the national title. In total, he has led the Bulldogs to seven postseason appearances in 20 seasons. But also of note is that he is the last coach to take Cal State Northridge to the postseason, as he got the Matadors there in 2002 in the last of his seven seasons at the helm.

17. Rodney Hennon, Georgia Southern (876 wins): After two seasons and 78 wins at Western Carolina, Hennon took over at Georgia Southern prior to the 2000 season and has been there for the 23 seasons since. The Eagles have made six NCAA Tournament appearances under Hennon and this year they hosted regionals.

18. Jim Schlossnagle, Texas A&M (855 wins): Schlossnagle this year won 44 games took Texas A&M to the College World Series in his first season with the Aggies. Previously, he built Texas Christian into a powerhouse, taking the Horned Frogs to Omaha five times. He began his head coaching career with two seasons at Nevada-Las Vegas, winning 77 games.

19. Tracy Smith, Michigan (805 wins): Smith this year is taking over as head coach at Michigan, the fourth Division I program he has led. Previously, he has been at Arizona State, Indiana and Miami (Ohio). At Indiana, he led the Hoosiers to a breakthrough appearance at the 2013 College World Series, the first by a Big Ten school in the 21st century.

20. Mike Kennedy, Elon (803 wins): Kennedy has led his alma mater as head coach for 26 years, taking Elon to the NCAA Tournament five times. He’s averaged more than 30 wins per season, peaking in 2006 with a 45-win year. Prior to taking over as head coach, he also served as a graduate assistant and volunteer assistant for four years at Elon.

21. Ed Servais, Creighton (800 wins): Servais has led the Bluejays for 19 seasons and this year won his 600th game with the program. He’s led Creighton to the NCAA Tournament five times, most recently in 2019 when it won 41 games. Prior to taking over at Creighton, Servais spent seven years as head coach of Saint Mary’s (Minn.) and a year at Viterbo (Wisc.), compiling 182 wins at the two schools.

22. Tom Walter, Wake Forest (794 wins): For the last 13 seasons, Walter has led Wake Forest and has won 366 games with the Demon Deacons, making him the second-winningest coach in program history. Prior to taking over at Wake Forest, he was also head coach of New Orleans and George Washington. He has led all three programs to the NCAA Tournament and in 2017 took the Demon Deacons to super regionals.

23. Brian O’Connor, Virginia (789 wins): O’Connor, the 2015 Coach of the Year, has led Virginia for 19 years, averaging 41.5 wins per season. He’s built the Cavaliers into a national power and led them to the College World Series five times, including the 2015 national title. He is the winningest coach in program history.

T-24. Darin Hendrickson, Saint Louis (781 wins): Hendrickson has led Saint Louis for 15 seasons, taking the Billikens to the NCAA Tournament three times. Prior to his time at SLU, he led Central Missouri for four seasons, twice taking the Mules to the Division II College World Series.

T-24. Jayson King, Dayton (781 wins): King just finished his fifth season at Dayton, where he has twice guided the Flyers to the championship game of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Prior to taking over at Dayton, he was head coach for 18 seasons at Franklin Pierce (N.H.), leading the Ravens to the Division II College World Series seven times. He also was head coach for two years at UMass-Boston.