Nischwitz Offered Coach Emeritus Position
1/28/2004 12:00:00 PM | General
January 28, 2004
Nischwitz Offered Coach Emeritus Position
Ron Nischwitz, entering his 30th season as the head baseball coach at Wright State University, will be offered the position of Coach Emeritus at the end of the upcoming baseball season, according to WSU Athletics Director Dr. Michael Cusack. His contract expires in November and the search for his successor will begin this spring.
"Ron's influence has gone far beyond the fine baseball program he built. He has been an integral part of our entire athletic program for many years," Cusack said. "He has developed a baseball program with integrity that will continue to grow stronger and stronger in the future. His name in the community has always been associated with nothing but class and he has been a role model for generations of Raider athletes."
Coach Emeritus is a designation that would provide the coach with an office in the baseball stadium that bears his name and clerical support for any baseball-related projects he undertakes.
"I am excited to offer this position to Nish," Cusack said. "He has given so much for so long it is only natural that we would create the position for him."
In addition, at the conclusion of the season Nischwitz's number 29 will become only the second Raider baseball number to be retired. All American and current Kansas City Royal pitcher Brian Anderson's number was the first to be retired.
In 29 years as the Raiders' mentor, Nischwitz has collected 845 wins, four regular-season conference titles, two conference tournament championships, a runner-up finish in the NCAA Division II College World Series and a trip to the NCAA Division I Regionals. He has led the Raiders to 20 winning records, including a trio of 40-win seasons.
Nischwitz has amassed an impressive number of credits to his name. The Raider head coach has presided over the baseball program's evolution.
Nischwitz did not wait long to begin his milestones at Wright State. In his first season, he secured Wright State's first winning season in its five years of varsity competition and a trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament in 1975. The following three seasons, the Raiders returned to tournament play and claimed second place in the 1976 NCAA Division II Mideast Regional.
In 1980, WSU reached post-season play again and posted an impressive 16-8 record versus Division I opponents. Sweeping through the NCAA Division II North Central Regional, the Raiders earned a bid to the 1987 College World Series in Montgomery, Alabama, where they finished in a tie for second place. Honored for his dedication to collegiate baseball, Nischwitz received the 1987 NCAA Division II District Coach of the Year Award and served as the chairman of the Division II baseball committee in 1986 and 1987.
By 1988, Wright State's first season in Division I, Nischwitz had built the baseball program into one of national prominence. The 1989 squad set the school record for wins with 45 and boasts five team records at WSU. Nischwitz proved his reputation as a top evaluator of college talent as eight players from the 1990 roster reached the professional level. Keith Gordon, the starting shortstop that season, became the first Raider to play in the majors as he was called up by the Cincinnati Reds in July of 1993 and saw action in the outfield.
Wright State entered the Mid-Continent Conference in 1991, enabling Nischwitz to coach his club for the first time in conference action. Taking the Mid-Con by storm, Nischwitz compiled three consecutive regular-season titles and was named the 1992 Mid-Continent Coach of the Year, as well as WSU's Coach of the Year for the 1993-94 year.
The 1992 and 1993 squads were highlighted with the dominating pitching of one of Nischwitz's many great pitching pupils, Brian Anderson. Anderson led the nation with a 1.14 earned run average in 1993 and earned first-team All-American as well as GTE Academic All-American honors. He was chosen as the third selection in the first round by the then California Angels and was the first player to reach the major league level from the 1993 draft.
Nischwitz made his first impact upon the Division I national ranks in 1994 when the club swept the United States Naval Academy, the Patriot League champion, in a three-game NCAA play-in hosted at Wright State. The Raiders opened up NCAA tournament play with a 14-12 win over North Carolina State and finished fourth out of six teams at the Mideast Regional.
The 1995 team made the most of its first year in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference by stunning Notre Dame on its home field to take the MCC Tournament title and then hosting a pair of NCAA play-in games with Troy State. The 1997 squad won the MCC regular-season crown and advanced to the championship game before losing to Detroit.
2000 saw the opening of Nischwitz Stadium, considered to be one of the finest baseball facilities in the Midwest. Nischwitz then picked up his 800th career win in 2001 as the Raiders beat UW-Milwaukee.
More than 30 of Nischwitz's players have followed the footsteps of their coach to the professional ranks of baseball. Nischwitz spent four seasons in the major leagues pitching for the Detroit Tigers (1961-62, 1965), the Cleveland Indians (1963) and the New York Mets (1966). As a relief pitcher, his finest season was in 1962 with the Tigers, when he posted a 3.90 ERA.
Nischwitz played AAA ball in Denver in 1961 and moved to Detroit in August of 1962. He returned to AAA in mid-season 1963, playing for Jacksonville that year and Toronto the next. Nischwitz pitched in Cleveland and ended his career as a player and coach with the New York Mets.
During spring training of 1967, an arm injury ended his professional baseball career. He pitched against some of baseball's greats, including Pete Rose, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Brooks Robinson and Carl Yastrzemski. At the time of his injury, Nischwitz was Tom Seaver's pitching coach.
Nischwitz majored in engineering at Ohio State and earned his degree in electrical engineering in 1961. A strong left-handed hurler for the Buckeyes, he earned All-American honors in 1958 after posting an 11-1 record. A native of Dayton and a graduate of Fairview High School, Nischwitz earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Dayton in 1969.
While playing professionally, Nischwitz worked as a computer designer at NCR during the off season. After several years with NCR, he joined ACB Advantage Financial Services, the professional collection agency that he purchased three years later. Annually, he holds a memorial baseball tournament for his son Gregg, the second of four children, who was killed in a freak construction accident and played for his father at WSU in 1980.
In all, Nischwitz has accumulated a record of 845 wins, 680 losses and seven ties for a .554 winning percentage in his 29-year tenure. In 12 years of conference play, he has recorded a 142-108 record and a .568 winning percentage.
Ron and his wife, Sandy, have three children: Jeff, Brad and Lisa.
Nischwitz's Record at Wright State
Overall Conference
Year Won Lost Tied Pct. Won Lost Pct. Accomplishments
1975 23 16 0 .590 NCAA Division II
1976 27 22 0 .551 NCAA Division II
1977 25 21 0 .543 NCAA Division II
1978 17 16 2 .515 NCAA Division II
1979 17 28 1 .378
1980 35 15 1 .700 NCAA Division II
1981 19 32 0 .372
1982 21 28 1 .428
1983 29 17 0 .630 NCAA Division II
1984 29 22 0 .569
1985 33 24 2 .579
1986 37 20 0 .649 NCAA Division II
1987 41 14 0 .745 NCAA Div. II
College World Series (2nd Place)
1988 34 26 0 .533
1989 45 12 0 .789
1990 35 20 0 .636
1991 39 16 0 .709
1992 40 16 0 .714 17 3 .850 Mid-Con Champions
1993 39 15 0 .722 17 3 .850 Mid-Con Champions
1994 39 21 0 .650 16 8 .667 Mid-Con Champs/
NCAA Div. I Regionals
1995 33 28 0 .541 10 6 .625 MCC Champs
NCAA Play-In Series
1996 20 28 0 .417 10 12 .455
1997 31 28 0 .525 16 8 .667 MCC Champs
1998 20 34 0 .370 9 11 .450
1999 26 28 0 .481 8 10 .444
2000 19 39 0 .328 8 12 .400
2001 31 27 0 .534 12 8 .600
2002 20 33 0 377 9 14 .391
2003 21 34 0 .382 10 13 .435
Totals 845 680 7 .554 142 108 .568
Nischwitz's Milestone Victories
1st win: 6-4 vs. Miami (OH), March 26, 1975
50th win: 7-4 vs. Eastern Illinois, 1976 Mideast Regional
100th win: 4-0 vs. Dayton, April 7, 1979
150th win: 5-3 vs. Otterbein, March 25, 1981
200th win: 11-1 vs. Dayton, April 16, 1983
250th win: 4-0 vs. Otterbein, March 22, 1985
300th win: 4-3 vs. Cincinnati, April 23, 1986
350th win: 3-1 vs. Wittenberg, May 11, 1987
400th win: 6-2 vs. Eastern Kentucky, April 11, 1989
450th win: 8-6 vs. Austin Peay, April 21, 1990
500th win: 2-0 vs. Youngstown State, May 21, 1991
550th win: 5-3 vs. Arizona, March 24, 1993
600th win: 6-2 vs. Eastern Illinois, April 2, 1994
650th win: 8-2 vs. Dayton, May 4, 1995
700th win: 4-3 vs. Butler, April 27, 1997
750th win: 12-5 vs. Ohio Dominican, May 2, 1999
800th win: 6-5 vs. UW-Milwaukee, May 5, 2001
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