Rocky Ward

Rocky Ward is an American college baseball coach, most recently serving as the head coach of the New Mexico State Aggies baseball program. He was named to that position prior to the 2003 season and left after the 2014 season to join Hittinguru 3D. He previously served in the same position from 1997 through 2000. In the intervening years, his father, Hall-of-Famer Gary Ward, worked as head coach of the Aggies while Rocky assisted.[1][2]

Rocky Ward
Current position
TitleVP of Business Development - Coaches/Academy
Team3D Sports Partners, Inc
Biographical details
Born (1964-04-29) April 29, 1964
Playing career
1984Connors State
1985Western Oklahoma State
1987–1988Oklahoma State
Position(s)3B, C
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1994Indianapolis (Asst.)
1995–1996Kansas State (Asst.)
1997–2000New Mexico State
2003–2014New Mexico State

Playing career

Ward first enrolled at Connors State, which compiled at 72–13 record in 1985. He then played one season at Western Oklahoma State before completing his eligibility at Oklahoma State while playing for his father. In his two seasons in Stillwater, the Cowboys reached the 1987 College World Series final and amassed a 61–8 record in 1988 and were atop the Baseball America poll for 12 weeks.[1]

Coaching career

After graduating from Oklahoma State, Ward established the Mid-America Baseball School, and served as marketing director and an instructor with the program which helped develop the skills of young players until 1994. In that year, he became an assistant coach at Indianapolis. After one season with the Greyhounds, he moved to Kansas State, where he spent two years as recruiting coordinator and worked with infielders and hitters. He earned the head coaching position at New Mexico State beginning in 1997 and served four seasons before giving way to his father.[3] After two seasons as an assistant, Rocky again assumed the top spot with the Aggies. Since then, New Mexico State has appeared in the NCAA Tournament twice and claimed the Western Athletic Conference regular season crown once.[1]

Ward left at the end of the 2014 season as the winningest coach in NMSU history (455), the most All-Americans (10), the most post season appearances (11), the most NCAA tournament appearances (3). He is now the CEO of Guru Products LLC which provides development and sales for Guru Training Systems based in Belgium. GTS has developed the first artificially intelligent hitting coach, called the Swinguru Hitting.

Head coaching record

The table below reflects Ward's record as a head coach.

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
New Mexico State Aggies (Big West Conference) (1997–2000)
1997 New Mexico State 21–338–224th Northern (4)
1998 New Mexico State 23–298–214th Northern (4)
1999 New Mexico State 18–387–238th (8)
2000 New Mexico State 19–364–268th (8)
New Mexico State: 81–13627–92
New Mexico State Aggies (Sun Belt Conference) (2003–2005)
2003 New Mexico State 43–1815–92nd (9)NCAA Regional
2004 New Mexico State 33–25–112–125th (9)
2005 New Mexico State 28–2913–115th (9)
New Mexico State: 104–63–140–32
New Mexico State Aggies (Western Athletic Conference) (2006–2014)
2006 New Mexico State 19–366–187th (7)
2007 New Mexico State 22–346–187th (7)
2008 New Mexico State 28–3315–175th (7)
2009 New Mexico State 44–1712–12T-3rd (7)
2010 New Mexico State 36–23–114–9T-2nd (7)
2011 New Mexico State 34–249–156th (7)
2012 New Mexico State 35–2411–7T-1st (7)NCAA Regional
2013 New Mexico State 29–2813–14T-6th (10)WAC Tournament[lower-alpha 1]
2014 New Mexico State 23–3112–137th (10)WAC Tournament[lower-alpha 2]
New Mexico State: 260–240–198–123
Total:455–458–2

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

  1. The top 8 finishers of the WAC's 10 teams qualified for the Tournament in 2013.
  2. The top 8 finishers of the WAC's 10 teams qualified for the Tournament in 2013.

See also

References
  1. "Rocky Ward Biography". New Mexico State Aggies. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  2. Brian Foley (September 19, 2012). "NMSU Extends Rocky Ward Through 2015 Season". College Baseball Daily. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  3. "Baseball; A Father Replaces His Son". New York Times. June 22, 2000. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
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