FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Dusty Napoleon and Brian Miller have been named to the University of Iowa baseball coaching staff, head coach Jack Dahm announced Monday. Napoleon will serve as the undergraduate assistant coach and Miller has been named director of baseball operations.
Napoleon played at Iowa from 2006-07 before being drafted by Oakland in the 19th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft. He played at all four minor league levels from 2007-2010 and made it to the Triple A level in 2010.
As a Hawkeye, Napoleon appeared in 105 games and made 100 starts. The former catcher and first baseman led the team with 34 RBIs and tied for the team lead with two home runs in 2006 as a freshman. In 2007, Napoleon ranked third on the team with a .354 batting average. He ranked first on the team in RBI (56), walks (50), on-base percentage (.506) and was second with 12 doubles, 44 runs scored and 62 hits.
“We are excited to have Dusty back in the program,” said Dahm. “Any time you can get former alumni back with the program, it is definitely a positive. Dusty just got done playing pro ball with the Oakland A’s and had an outstanding career in professional baseball. He is going to be working with our catchers and helping Coach (Ryan) Brownlee with our hitters.”
Miller has worked as a baseball coach since 1992, including serving as the head baseball coach at Mid-Prairie High School from 2000 to 2010. He served as the Kirkwood Community College pitching coach from 2006 to 2011. Miller also coached the Iowa City High School sophomore baseball team from 1993 to 1999 and was an assistant baseball coach at Iowa City Regina High School in 1992.
Miller was named the district coach of the year six times (2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009), the Iowa High School Association All-Star Coach twice (2005, 2009) and the A.B.C.A Regional Coach of the Year in 2008 and the Iowa state Coach of the Year in 2004. He led Mid-Prairie to its first ever EIHC conference title in 2000 in his first year as head coach. In 2001, Miller led Mid-Prairie to the state semi-finals for the first time in school history. He also led the school to the state semi-finals in 2004, 2006 and 2007, including a state championship in 2004.
“Brian has a lot of coaching experience,” said Dahm. “He was a long-time high school coach and served as the pitching coach over at Kirkwood Community College. To be able to bring him in is going to be a big positive for our program. We are very excited.”
