BOWLING GREEN — For the first time in 30 years, Bowling Green State University will have a new baseball coach.
The program, which was reinstated Tuesday after being cut on May 15, announced that longtime coach Danny Schmitz will move to an advisory role with the program. Bowling Green named assistant coach Kyle Hallock as the interim head coach and said fellow assistant Ryan Shay has been retained as well.
Schmitz had been the coach of the Falcons since 1991, won coach of the year honors in the Mid-American Conference three times, and helped the Falcons make the NCAA Tournament in 1998, 1999, and 2013.
“I am so thankful for 30 incredible years as head baseball coach at BGSU. I am going out on my own terms and fully trust the staff that is in place,” Schmitz said in a statement released by Bowling Green. “This program has new life, and I think it’s time for a new direction. I am not leaving Bowling Green. I am excited to be staying on at BGSU and will help the department and baseball program in any way that I can.
“I am excited to see the baseball program thrive for years to come.”
In the release, Bowling Green said Schmitz will work “to cultivate alumni relationships,” which helped save the program in recent weeks.
After the university cut the baseball team due to budget shortfalls stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, many of Schmitz’s former players helped start the Save BGSU Baseball fund-raiser that ultimately raised more than $1.5 million to fund the program for the next three years.
The group met with administration and ultimately revived the team, which BGSU committed to reinstating on Tuesday.
Columbus Clippers manager Andy Tracy, who played for Schmitz at Bowling Green, was among them. Schmitz thanked the former players in announcing that he had coached his last game at Bowling Green.
“First and foremost, I want to thank Andy Tracy and everyone involved with the process of reinstating BGSU Baseball,” Schmitz said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the collective effort and I’m thrilled to no end that the baseball family came together. Their efforts were truly remarkable.”
Bowling Green director of athletics Bob Moosbrugger said earlier Wednesday that alumni relations will be a bigger focus in the future, and that he saw the fund-raiser for baseball as a potential model for other teams.
A former Falcons baseball player, Moosbrugger thanked Schmitz for his time at Bowling Green.
“We are extremely thankful for Danny’s 30 years of service to BGSU,” Moosbrugger said in a prepared statement. “He is the longest tenured coach in the history of the BGSU athletics department and his legacy is unmatched.”
First Published June 3, 2020, 11:25 p.m.
