FROM USA BASEBALL RELEASE
(DURHAM, N.C.) – USA Baseball announced Monday the naming of Bill Kinneberg as head coach and Dave Serrano as pitching coach of the 2010 USA Baseball National Team (Collegiate).
In 2009 Kinneberg led Utah to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1960 – an automatic bid it received for its first ever Mountain West Conference title. Utah won two games at the NCAA’s, defeating Gonzaga and Georgia Southern in the Fullerton Regional. The win over Gonzaga was his 400th career victory. Kinneberg established school records for wins in a season at UTEP (1985), Wyoming (1990) and Utah (1996), and in 1990 he was named Western Athletic Conference coach of the year. “I’m very honored and extremely humbled for the opportunity to put on the uniform and represent USA Baseball again,” Kinneberg said. “I would like to thank everyone at USA Baseball for the opportunity, and I look forward to the challenge of putting a great staff and team together to ultimately win the FISU Championships next year.”
Kinneberg has a long history with USA Baseball, first appearing in the red, white and blue as the pitching coach for the 1999 National Team, which ended the summer at 24-15. He worked for several years as the director of the organization’s Athlete Development Program, and most recently was the pitching coach for the 2007 National Team. The 2007 club went 25-12, finishing with a stellar 1.93 team ERA.
“Bill was part of Mike Weathers’ staff in 2007 – a year that saw us go through the toughest schedule and selection process on record for a National Team,” said Eric Campbell, general manager of USA Baseball National Teams. “He did a great job managing the pitching staff to a silver in Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro as well as working through three mid-summer roster moves within that pitching staff.”
In his first two seasons at the helm of Cal State Fullerton’s baseball program, Dave Serrano has continued the Titans’ long tradition of success that was set in motion years earlier by his predecessors and has already guided the school to a conference championship, two Regional titles, and two Super Regional appearances and one trip to Omaha. He has also produced nine All-Americans, a Big West Pitcher of the Year, a pair of Freshman Pitchers of the Year, and seven all-conference first teamers in his first two years back in pinstripes.
“Words can’t describe how humbled and honored I feel to have been asked to be part of the coaching staff for Team USA next summer,” Serrano said. “I will feel so blessed when I eventually get to wear the colors of our great country.”
Serrano has coached several players who have gone on to star for a USA Baseball National Team, including Christian Colon, who played on the 2008 team and is currently in trials for the 2009 National Team. This year marked Serrano’s seventh trip to Omaha as a coach, going four times as a Titan assistant coach, once as a Tennessee assistant coach, once as skipper of UC Irvine, and once as a Titan head coach.
The 2010 National Team schedule will culminate in the FISU World University Championship in Japan. Team USA is the three-time defending champion of the event, which is held every-other year in different countries across the world. The event was last held in 2008 in the Czech Republic, with the U.S. defeating Japan in the final, 1-0, in 12 innings.
