Cleveland State tabs Kevin Kocks as new baseball coach

July 27, 2006

Cleveland, Ohio - Kevin Kocks, who has won 469 games in his 13-year collegiate head-coaching career, has been named the head baseball coach at Cleveland State University. CSU Director of Athletics Lee Reed made the announcement on Thursday (July 27).

Kocks replaces Jay Murphy, whose contract was not renewed last month after compiling a 184-387 record in 10 seasons at Cleveland State.

"I am excited about the addition of Kevin Kocks as head coach," CSU Director of Athletics Lee Reed said. "What impressed me the most about Kevin was his passion for the game of baseball,dedication towards developing his student-athletes and his work ethic.

"Kevin's approach to the game of baseball has allowed his teams to achieve great success. It took him just three years to take the Spalding program from its infancy to national prominence and that speaks volumes about the type of coach that he is," Reed added.

Kocks owns a 13-year collegiate head coaching record of 469-328 that includes winning marks in all but two campaigns. He has led his teams to post-season play seven times, earning six league Coach of the Year awards.

Kocks joins the Viking baseball program after serving the last seven years as head coach at Spalding University in Louisville, Ky. The only head coach in school history, he compiled a 312-195 record which included 50-win seasons in four of the last five years, five conference championships and three regional titles.

After starting the program from scratch and leading the Pelicans to a 20-50 record in 2000, Spalding improved to 35-32 in 2001, wining the conference title and advancing to the NAIA Regional.

The program took off in its third season (2002), going 56-19, winning conference and regional titles en route to finishing seventh at the NAIA World Series.

The success continued in 2003 as the Pelicans went 55-21, repeated as conference and regional champions, finishing seventh again at the NAIA World Series.

The 2004 campaign saw the Pelicans break the school record for wins for the fourth time in five seasons, going 57-22. Spalding returned to the NAIA World Series in 2005, finishing fifth after a 54-23 campaign.

The streak of 50-win campaigns was snapped this spring when Spalding won its fifth conference title in six years but could manage only a 35-28 mark.

A 1982 graduate of Eastern Kentucky with a degree in health recreation, Kocks went on to receive a master's in sports administration/supervision from Austin Peay in 1983.

Kocks began his coaching career as head coach at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky., earning league co-Coach of the Year kudos in 1985 after leading the Knights to a 34-18 mark.

In six seasons at Bellarmine, Kocks posted a 157-133 record, leaving following the 1990 season to become assistant coach at cross-town Louisville, a position that he would hold for five years.

Kocks moved to New Mexico State University, serving as an assistant coach for the Aggies during the 1997 season and as interim head coach for a short period following the year.

Kocks returned to Kentucky in the spring of 1999 to start up the Spalding program, taking a full calendar year to build the program that would average almost 45 wins per season during his tenure.

The Pelicans succeeded in the classroom as well as 98 percent of the Spalding players went on to earn their degrees.

Kocks inherits a young Viking program that loses just one field starter and one pitcher from this year's squad that posted a 10-42 record. Twelve freshman and 13 sophomores made up the majority of the 36-player roster this year.