Bob Bennett (baseball)

Robert Gene Bennett (born June 22, 1933) is a retired baseball coach. Bennett coached the Fresno State Bulldogs baseball team.

Born in Atwood, Oklahoma, Bennett attended Roosevelt High School in Fresno, California and graduated in 1951. In college, Bob caught for Fresno State, setting a school record for fielding in 1953 by going 224 chances without an error. Bennett began his coaching career in 1956 after graduating college with a degree in physical education. He was 41-19 from 1956-1957 at Kingburg High School. He then spent 11 seasons coaching Bullard High School.

Bennett took a break from Bullard in 1967 to coach Fresno State when Pete Beiden took a sabbatical; the team went 38-10. When Beiden retired after 1969, Bennett became head coach, a job he held until his retirement in 2002. He would go 1,302-759-4 to finish 7th in NCAA Division I history in career victories; he only had two losing seasons in his career. He won 14 Conference Coach of the Year honors and was named NCAA Coach of the Year in 1988 by The Sporting News.

Bob coached for Team USA in 1977 and 1979 and managed the team in the 1983 Intercontinental Cup (when they won a Silver Medal) and 1986 Amateur World Series.

Bennett took Fresno State to the 1988 College World Series and 1991 College World Series.

He helped develop Dick Ruthven, Ron Johnson, Terry Pendleton, Eric Fox, Mark Gardner, Tom Goodwin, Steve Hosey, Bobby Jones, Todd Johnson, Jeff Weaver, Dan Gladden, Adam Pettyjohn and Dennis Springer among other major leaguers.

...
Wikipedia