Most Coaching Wins in College Baseball History

These college baseball coaches have defined the game at the NCAA Division I level with wins and College World Series championships.

The greatest college baseball coaches of all time have defined what the game means at the NCAA level by winning College World Series championships and racking up a mind-boggling amount of wins.

While all of the coaches have had one thing in common — winning — they haven’t all gone about it in the same way. Some have toiled away in relative anonymity, winning in the far corners of Division I but winning all the same.

These are the college baseball coaches with the most NCAA Division I wins in history.

15. Pete Dunn

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Teams: Stetson (1980-2016)

Career record: 1,312-887-3

Winning percentage: .597

National championships: None

Bottom line: Pete Dunn played catcher for Stetson in the late 1960s and early 1970s before he returned as an assistant coach in 1977, then took over the program in 1980.

Dunn carved out an epic career in relative anonymity. He was named Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year six times and guided Stetson to the NCAA tournament 17 times. He also coached several major league players, including two pitchers who won multiple Cy Young Awards each with Corey Kluber and Jacob deGrom.

Dunn was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014 and retired in 2016 with 1,312 wins.

All career records are through the 2023 college baseball season.

14. Paul Mainieri

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Teams: Air Force (1989-94), Notre Dame (1995-2006), LSU (2007-21)

Career record: 1,326-654-6

Winning percentage: .667

National championships: 1 (2009)

Bottom line: Paul Mainieri spent his first six seasons as a head coach at NAIA school St. Thomas University before making the leap to NCAA Division I at Air Force in 1989, then to Notre Dame in 1995, and finally landing at LSU in 2007.

LSU made it to the College World Series in 2008 and won the national championship in 2009 as Mainieri was named Collegiate Baseball Coach of the Year and Baseball America Coach of the Year.

Mainieri and LSU made it to the College World Series finals again in 2017, where they lost to Florida. He retired from coaching following the 2021 season.

13. Jack Leggett

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Teams: Vermont (1978-82), Western Carolina (1983-91), Clemson (1994-2015)

Career record: 1,332-770-1

Winning percentage: .634

National championships: None

Bottom line: Jack Leggett was a baseball and football star at the University of Maine in the 1970s, leading the Black Bears to a College World Series appearance in 1976. He coached Vermont’s club team in 1977 before returning the school to NCAA status in 1978.

Leggett took the job at Western Carolina in 1983 and led the Catamounts to five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances before spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Clemson and then taking over the program in 1994.

Leggett coached Clemson for 21 years and led the Tigers to the College World Series six times in that stretch.

12. Rod Dedeaux

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Teams: USC (1942-86)

Career record: 1,342-597-17

Winning percentage: .691

National championships: 11 (1948, 1958, 1961, 1963, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978)

Bottom line: If this list were based on sheer greatness — not just wins — former USC head coach Rod Dedeaux would be at the top of the list.

Dedeaux coached USC for 44 years, won a record 11 national championships and coached dozens of MLB players while taking an annual salary of $1 from the school because of the success of his lucrative trucking business.

Dedeaux’s life away from coaching was just as fascinating. Aside from his success as a businessman, he played several games at shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1935 and served as the baseball consultant on the 1989 film “Field of Dreams,” starring Kevin Costner.

Dedeaux died in 2007, at 91 years old.

11. Jim Gilligan

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Teams: Lamar (1973-86, 1992-2016)

Career record: 1,345-885-6

Winning percentage: .601

National championships: None

Bottom line: Jim Gilligan spent one season at NCAA Division II Western New Mexico before making the leap to Lamar, where he had two lengthy stints as head coach.

Gilligan coached Lamar from 1973 to 1986. He then left briefly to coach an Independent League team in Salt Lake City owned by actor and comedian Bill Murray. Gilligan returned to Lamar in 1992 and coached the team for 24 years before he retired in 2016.

10. John Anderson

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Teams: Minnesota (1982-present)

Career record: 1,347-964-3

Winning percentage: .583

National championships: None

Bottom line: Minnesota native John Anderson was a walk-on at the University of Minnesota in the mid-1970s before injuries ended his career, and he became a student assistant. Then, he became a graduate assistant and a full-time assistant for the Gophers before he was hired as head coach in 1981. At 26 years old, he was the youngest head coach in Big Ten history.

Anderson has remained the coach at Minnesota for 41 years — a stretch in which he’s won nine Big Ten Tournament championships, been named Big Ten Coach of the Year eight times and made the NCAA Tournament 18 times.

One thing Anderson’s team has never done? Made it to the College World Series. Their last appearance came in 1977, when he was a student assistant.

9. Danny Hall

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Teams: Kent State (1988-93), Georgia Tech (1994-present)

Career record: 1,348-722-1

Winning percentage: .651

National championships: None

Bottom line: Danny Hall led Kent State to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 1992 and 1993 and was named MAC Coach of the Year both seasons before making the lead to Georgia Tech.

Hall led the Yellow Jackets to a College World Series runner-up finish in his first season in 1994 and has made it back to the CWS two more times, but not since 2006.

8. Ron Polk

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Teams: Georgia Southern (1972-75), Mississippi State (1976-97), Georgia (2000-01), Mississippi State (2002-08)

Career record: 1,373-702-2

Winning percentage: .662

National championships: None

Bottom line: Ron Polk is one of three coaches to lead three different teams to the College World Series — Georgia Southern, Mississippi State and Georgia — although he never won the CWS with any of them.

Polk is best known for his time at Mississippi State and, more specifically, as the head coach of the MSU team in 1985 that went 50-15 and featured future MLB stars Rafael Palmeiro and Will Clark.

7. Dave Van Horn

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Teams: Northwestern State (1995-97), Nebraska (1998-2002), Arkansas (2003-present)

Career record: 1,381-665-0

Winning percentage: .678

National championships: None

Bottom line: Dave Van Horn won an NCAA Division II national championship in his lone season at Central Missouri in 1994 before making the leap to Division I. He started at Northwestern State, went to the Big 12 at Nebraska and landed at Arkansas in 2003.

Van Horn has led teams he coached to the NCAA tournament a staggering 17 seasons in a row, stretching across both his time at Nebraska and Arkansas. Under Van Horn, Arkansas has made it to the College World Series seven times, including five in the last decade.

Arkansas finished as national runner-up in 2018. In one of the more heartbreaking finishes in CWS history, the Razorbacks were just one out from winning the national championship when a dropped fly ball saw their title hopes come undone.

6. Cliff Gustafson

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Teams: Texas (1968-96)

Career record: 1,427-373-2

Winning percentage: .792

National championships: 2 (1975, 1983)

Bottom line: Cliff Gustafson made it to the College World Series as a player at the University of Texas in 1952, then returned to coach the team in 1968.

In 29 seasons as the head coach of the Longhorns, Gustafson won a pair of national championships in 1975 and 1983 and finished his career with an incredible winning percentage of 79.2 percent over 29 seasons.

One amazing fact about Gustafson’s coaching career that puts his win total in perspective is he spent 14 seasons as the head coach at South San Antonio High before coming to Texas. During that stretch, he won six Class 3A state championships. Dude is just a winner.

5. Mark Marquess

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Teams: Stanford (1977-2017)

Career record: 1,585-862-7

Winning percentage: .647

National championships: 2 (1987, 1988)

Bottom line: Mark Marquess played football and baseball at Stanford in the late 1960s before serving as an assistant baseball coach under Ray Young in the mid-1970s and taking over as the Cardinal’s head coach in 1977.

Marquess coached Stanford for 40 years, winning back-to-back national championships in 1987 and 1988. Stanford made the CWS 13 times under Marquess and finished as national runner-up three times.

4. Jim Morris

University of Miami head coach Jim Morris

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Teams: Georgia Tech (1982-93), Miami (1994-2018)

Career record: 1,594-716-4

Winning percentage: .690

National championships: 2 (1999, 2001)

Bottom line: Jim Morris was an assistant coach to Mike Martin at Florida State for the first two seasons of Martin’s tenure at FSU before becoming the head coach at Georgia Tech. He led the Yellow Jackets to nine consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 1985 to 1993.

Morris’ next job was the one that would cement his status as one of college baseball’s greatest coaches. Hired by the University of Miami in 1994, Morris led the Hurricanes to the College World Series 13 times in 24 years, including two national championships in 1999 and 2001.

3. Gene Stephenson

Wichita State head coach Gene Stephenson

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Teams: Wichita State (1978-2013)

Career record: 1,768-675-3

Winning percentage: .723

National championships: 1 (1989)

Bottom line: Gene Stephenson rebooted the baseball program at Wichita State in 1978 after it had been shut down for seven years and quickly turned the Shockers into a national powerhouse.

Under Stephenson, WSU made the College World Series seven times, which included five appearances in six seasons from 1988 to 1994 and a national championship in 1989. The Shockers made it to the CWS for the final time under Stephenson in 1996.

After 36 seasons as WSU’s head coach, Stephenson was fired in 2013.

2. Augie Garrido

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Teams: Cal Poly (1970-72), Cal State Fullerton (1973-87), Illinois (1988-90), Cal State Fullerton (1991-96), Texas (1997-2016)

Career record: 1,950-937-2

Winning percentage: .674)

National championships: 5 (1979, 1984, 1995, 2002, 2005)

Bottom line: One of the most beloved and unique coaches in NCAA history — not just baseball — Augie Garrido retired in 2016 with the NCAA record for most wins.

Garrido won five national championships over his career, with three at Cal State Fullerton and two at Texas, and won the titles across four different decades. Garrido was as famous (and well paid) as any coach in NCAA baseball history. He had high-profile friendships with actor Kevin Costner, director Richard Linklater and former president George W. Bush — Garrido even appeared as the manager of the New York Yankees in Costner’s film “For Love of the Game” in 1999.

Garrido’s rants were as legendary as his baseball coaching skills and his life coaching skills.

Garrido died in 2018, at 79 years old.

1. Mike Martin

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Teams: Florida State (1980-2019)

Career record: 2,029-736-4

Winning percentage: .733

National championships: None

Bottom line: Mike Martin spent 39 years as the head coach at Florida State and set the record for most wins in Division I college baseball history before he retired in 2019, the same year he was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame.

Martin coached five National Player of the Year Award winners over his career and made it to the College World Series 15 times, finishing as national runner-up in 1986 and 1999, when they lost to rival University of Miami.

Florida State now plays on Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium. Howser and Martin both played for the Seminoles, and Martin took over for Howser as head coach following the 1979 season.