PULLMAN, Wash. — Don Marbut (Donnie), a highly successful community college coach and a Washington State University assistant for the past year, has been named the WSU Cougars’ new head baseball coach following the resignation of Tim Mooney. The announcement was made Monday by WSU Athletics Director Jim Sterk.
Mooney submitted his resignation to Sterk last week and Sunday, after the final game of the season, told team members he would not return for a fifth year as the Cougar head coach.
“Tim expressed to me he felt it was in the best interests of the program and his family to make the change,” Sterk said. “He heartily endorsed Marbut and as a staff we felt hiring Donnie as the new head coach was a plus-plus for WSU. He is very highly regarded among high school and community colleges in the Northwest, knows our players, the program’s tradition and will continue to bring leadership and a tremendous amount of energy to the program, just as he has done as an assistant coach.”
Marbut (MAR-butt) is a 1992 graduate of Aberdeen High and attended Edmonds Community College for two years and then played two seasons at Portland State, graduating in 1997 with a degree in social sciences.
Marbut becomes the 14th WSU baseball head coach in the 109 years of the program that began in 1892 and was the first official sport at the school.
The new Cougar head coach began his coaching career at Capital High in Olympia in 1998. The Cougars won the State 3-A State baseball title that spring. He then spent one year at Bellevue Community College as an assistant coach, helping guide the team to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges Northern Division title in 1999.
A year later Marbut took over at his community college alma mater and in four seasons won 152 games, lost 38, and captured the NWAACC Championship in 2002 and 2003. His last Edmonds CC team won a NWAACC record 43 games, finishing 43-7.
The Washington native then joined Mooney’s staff in the summer of 2003 and took over as recruiting coordinator, in addition to tutoring the WSU infielders. Last fall WSU signed 12 recruits, all but one from the Washington high school ranks. He is expected to announce several more signings this spring.
TIM MOONEY UPDATE: Mooney was appointed head coach at WSU in August, 2000…during four seasons he compiled a 84-135 record and this year guided WSU to a 29-26 record, the first winning season since 1998 and just the second since 1994…his current career record is 556-263-3…WSU finished 15-39 in 2001, 21-33 in 2002, 19-37 in 2003 and 29-26 this year…Mooney came to WSU after 14 years as the head coach at Albertson College.
For more information, click on the following link: http://wsucougars.collegesports.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/053104aaa.html
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