Bill Walkenbach is an American college baseball coach, currently the head coach of

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Previously, he was the head coach at

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach a ...

from 2009 season to 2015 season and at Franklin & Marshall from 2006 to 2008. Walkenbach led both of these schools to an NCAA tournament appearance.

Playing career

Walkenbach attended Cornell, where he played baseball from 1995 to 1998. A shortstop, he was named All-Ivy League as a first-teamer in his freshman and sophomore seasons and a second-teamer in his junior and senior seasons.

Coaching career

Assistant positions

Walkenbach's coaching career began in the early 2000s, when he served as an assistant at

Emory from 2002 to 2003. In 2003, Walkenbach served as assistant coach of the

Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox The Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox, or Y-D Red Sox, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Red Sox play thei ...

, a collegiate summer baseball team in the Cape Cod Baseball League. His first Division I came as an assistant at

from 2004 to 2005. In 2005, the Big Red won their first Gehrig Division title but lost to Harvard in the Ivy Championship Series.

Franklin & Marshall

His first head coaching job was at

Franklin & Marshall (F&M), where he coached from 2006 to 2008, replacing

Brett Boretti Brett Boretti (born December 14, 1971) is an American college baseball coach who has been the head coach of Columbia Lions baseball, Columbia since the start of the 2006 NCAA Division I baseball season, 2006 season. Prior to that, he was the hea ...

, who had left to become the head coach at Columbia. In three seasons, the Diplomats had a 69–42 record under Walkenbach. They won the

Centennial Conference The Centennial Conference is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member teams are located in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Eleven private colleges compose the Centennial Conference. Five of ten members of the Centenn ...

regular season title in 2006 and 2007 and the Centennial Tournament in 2006. In the 2006 NCAA tournament, the team went 1–2 in the Mid-Atlantic Regional. It beat Gwynedd Mercy in the opener, then lost to

TCNJ The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is a public university in Ewing Township, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Established in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School, TCNJ was the first normal school, or ...

and Montclair State and was eliminated. F&M's Ted Serro won the 2006 Centennial Pitcher of the Year award, and Gary Kruger was named the Player of the Year. Serro was selected by the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

in the 2006 MLB Draft.

Cornell

Ahead of the 2009 season, Walkenbach was hired as the head coach at

. He replaced his old coach,

Tom Ford Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford wrote and direct ...

, who was demoted to associate head coach. In 2009, Cornell shared the Gehrig Division title with

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

. They defeated the Tigers in the divisional playoff game but lost to Dartmouth in the Ivy Championship Series. After losing records in conference in 2010 and 2011, Cornell won the Gehrig Division again in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. The Big Red went 29-14-1 (15-5 Ivy) in the regular season. Cornell hosted a rematch against Dartmouth in the Ivy Championship Series at Hoy Field. After splitting the first two games, Cornell won the decisive third game 3–1 in 11 innings on a Chris Cruz

walk-off home run In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. For a home run to end the game, it must be hit in the bottom of the final inning of the game and generate enough runs to exceed the opponent's score. Because the opponent will no ...

. It was Cornell's first Ivy League Title and gave them an automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA tournament. They went 0–2 at the Chapel Hill Regional, losing to host

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

7-4 and second-seeded East Carolina 10–6. Between 2009 and 2015, Cornell had one major award winner and two draftees under Walkenbach. In 2011, the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

selected Jadd Schmeltzer in the 49th round. In 2012, pitcher Kellon Urbon was unanimously selected the Ivy League Rookie of the Year. In 2014, the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

took pitcher Brent Jones in the fourth round of

the draft Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

Prior to the 2016 season, Walkenbach left Cornell to accept the head coaching position at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, a

program in his hometown.

Head coaching record

Below is a table of Walkenbach's yearly records as a collegiate head baseball coach.

Personal

Walkenbach's wife, Beth, also graduated from Cornell. She has served as a

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

coach at

, Franklin & Marshall, and

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...

References

External links

April 2011 Interview
at Cornell.edu {{DEFAULTSORT:Walkenbach, Bill Living people Baseball coaches from California Cape Cod Baseball League coaches Cornell Big Red baseball coaches Cornell Big Red baseball players Emory Eagles baseball coaches Franklin & Marshall Diplomats baseball coaches Georgia State University alumni Sportspeople from Claremont, California Year of birth missing (living people)