Wake Forest Baseball Coach George Greer Steps Down
6/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 5, 2004
George
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest Director of Athletics Ron Wellman announced Saturday that George Greer has stepped down as head baseball coach and accepted a position within the Demon Deacon athletic department.
Greer will serve Wake Forest in the Athletic Development Office.
"I appreciate George Greer's contributions to our department the last 17 years as our baseball coach," Wellman said. "Our baseball program enjoyed much success during his tenure, including an exceptional run from 1998 to 2002 when we won three ACC baseball championships. I look forward to his contributions to our department in the future as one of our development officers."
After 17 seasons at the helm, Greer is the winningest coach in school history. He finished his Demon Deacon career with a record of 608-382-4. He became only the fourth coach in ACC history to reach 600 wins while a coach in the prestigious conference. Only Bill Wilhelm of Clemson, Mike Roberts of North Carolina and Mike Martin of Florida State have accomplished the feat. Earlier this season, Greer earned his 700th career coaching victory at the Division I level -- moving into fourth place on the ACC all-time wins chart. Including his six-year tenure at Davidson, Greer's overall mark closes at 714-504-8 in 23 seasons.
Greer, a member of the Cape Cod Baseball Hall of Fame, served as the architect of three ACC Tournament Championships teams (1998, 1999, 2001) and five straight NCAA Tournament appearances 1998 through 2002. His consistency for winning was one of his best assets. Greer won at least 30 games in 14 of his 17 seasons, including 40-plus wins in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
In 1998, he guided his squad to a 43-23 overall record and a 13-10 league mark, tying the school record for most ACC wins in a season. The Demon Deacons boasted the ACC's leading batter in Jon Palmieri as well as the conference's winningest pitcher and ACC Tournament MVP in John Hendricks.
In 1999, he led the Demon Deacons to a school-record 16 ACC wins and a second place finish in the league, the school's best regular-season league finish since 1979. Wake Forest won a school-record 47 games and earned a top-10 national ranking. Three of his players -- Palmieri, Mike MacDougal and Danny Borrell -- earned All-American honors and MacDougal became the second first-round draft pick in school history when he was selected 25th by the Kansas City Royals.
In 2001, the Deacons captured its third ACC title in a span of four years behind seven All-ACC selections, including Cory Sullivan who was a first team All-American and David Bush, a third-team All-American closer. Four players off the team were drafted in the top ten rounds of the June 2001 draft.
In 2002, Greer was selected by his peers as the ACC Coach of the Year. He led Wake Forest to a 47-13-1 record, a second-place finish in the ACC and coached four players to All-America status including Adam Bourassa, Bush, Ryan Johnson and Kyle Sleeth.
Last spring, Sleeth was again named All-American and was joined by ACC Player of the Year Jamie D'Antona. Sleeth was selected with the third overall pick by Detroit. D'Antona was taken in the second round by Arizona. Bourassa, Johnson and Adam Hanson were taken in the 6th, 13th and 42nd rounds, respectively.
Greer produced 19 All-Americans in his tenure at Wake Forest. First-team selections included Billy Masse, John Hendricks, Jon Palmieri, Mike MacDougal, Cory Sullivan, Dave Bush and Jamie D'Antona. Second-team selections also included Bret Wagner, Danny Borrell, Ryan Johnson and Kyle Sleeth. Third-team selections included Jake Austin, Chris Kowilcik, Dave Lardieri and Adam Bourassa. Palmieri, Sullivan, Bush and Sleeth were two-time All-Americans.
D'Antona was named Collegiate Baseball's National Freshman of the Year in 2001 and the ACC Player of the Year in 2003. Dave Lardieri earned Academic All-America honors in 1997. Greer guided 14 Freshman All-Americans in 17 years, including Pat Malloy, Palmieri, MacDougal, Borrell, Corey Slavik, Ben Clayton, D'Antona, Sleeth, Hanson, Steve LeFaivre, Josh Hansen, Ben Ingold, Daniel Davidson and Tim Morley.
This past season, the Demon Deacons went 17-33 overall and 4-20 in conference action. The Demon Deacons finished tied with the Maryland for eighth place in the ACC Regular Season standings.