William Craig Kernen (born August 1, 1948) is an American baseball coach and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. He was the head coach at Cal State Northridge from 1989 to 1995 and at Cal State Bakersfield from 2009 to 2015. Other coaching positions as an assistant included North Carolina State (2001–02), Cal State Fullerton (1977–82, 1987, 2006–07), University of Illinois (1988) and Sacramento State (2019).

Early life and education

Born in

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

, Kernen graduated from San Gorgonio High School in

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

and started his college baseball playing career in 1966 at

University of Redlands The University of Redlands is a private university in Redlands, California, United States. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Calif ...

. A four-year

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for the Bulldogs, Kernen had a successful playing career as a pitcher. In 1970, his senior season, he won 11 games with a 1.26 ERA in 106 innings, earning him first-team all-conference, All-NAIA and Player of the Year honors from the

SCIAC The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that operates in NCAA Division III. The conference was founded in 1915 and it consists of twelve small private schools that are locat ...

. Was named Student Athlete of the Year 1970 at University of Redlands. Kernen completed his bachelor's degree ''cum laude'' in psychology at

in 1970. He played two seasons of

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

organization, first with the

Aberdeen Pheasants The Aberdeen Pheasants was the primary moniker minor league baseball teams located in Aberdeen, South Dakota between 1920 and 1997. The Pheasants played in the Northern League from 1946 until the league folded in 1971. Aberdeen was the Class C ...

in 1970 and

Stockton Ports The Stockton Ports are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Athletics. They are located in Stockton, California, and are named for the city's seaport. The team plays its home games at Banner I ...

in 1971.

Coaching career

High school and college assistant (1975–1988)

Kernen began his head coaching career for his alma mater, San Gorgonio High School, spending two years with the program from 1975 to 1976 before moving up to the junior college level as pitching coach at

Orange Coast College Orange Coast College (OCC) is a Public college, public community college in Costa Mesa, California, Costa Mesa in Orange County, California. It was founded in 1947, with its first classes opening in the fall of 1948. It provides Associate of Ar ...

in 1977. From 1977 to 1982 and again in 1987, Kernen was pitching coach at

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...

under Augie Garrido. Kernen helped to turn the Titans into a perennial postseason contender winning the Big West Conference 5 straight seasons, including trips to the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, with the Titans winning the national championship in the 1979 season. During his time at Fullerton, he coached 14 pitchers who were selected by

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

in the amateur draft, four of whom reached the big leagues in Gary Buckles, Larry Casian, Jeff Robinson, and No. 1 draft pick Mike Harkey. Following his father's passing, Kernen left the Titans after the 1982 season to manage his family's business and returned to Cal State Fullerton for the 1987 season. In 1988, Kernen followed Garrido to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Cal State Northridge (1989–1995)

Kernen's first major college head coaching position was at Cal State Northridge, where he led the Matadors from 1989 to 1995 in their transition from Division II to Division I. The Matadors, who had been successful at the Division II level, having won national titles in 1970 and 1984, transitioned to Division I under Kernen's auspices. 1990 was the last year of Division II play for the Matadors, and in this final year Kernen guided the team to the NCAA Division II College World Series title game. This effort earned Kernen the Division II West Region Coach of the Year honors. In 1991, the first year of Division I play for the Matadors, Kernen led CSUN to a 44–18–1 record, the West Regional championship game and a #10 ranking in the final NCAA Division I poll, only the second time in NCAA baseball history a first year team finished in the Top 10, the other being Augie Garrido's Cal State Fullerton team in 1975. In seven seasons with the Matadors, Kernen's record was 240–154–3. In August 1995, Kernen resigned from Cal State Northridge to pursue a career in theater in New York City. He studied dramatic writing at Columbia University in 1995 and 1996. At Cal State Northridge, several future college head coaches worked under Kernen. Rick Vanderhook, who was an assistant coach from 1989 to 1990, has been head coach at

since 2012. Jody Robinson, an assistant on the 1991 team, was head coach at

Loyola Marymount Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

from 1992 to 1996. Following one season on staff in 1992, Stan Sanchez has been head coach at Southern Colorado (now CSU–Pueblo) since 1993. Mike Batesole, an assistant from 1994 to 1995, was head coach at Cal State Fullerton from 1996 to 2002 and has been head coach at

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

since 2003.

NC State and Cal State Fullerton assistant (2002–2007)

Kernen returned to coaching in the 2002 season, hired in September 2001 as pitching coach at NC State under Elliott Avent. He left a week before the 2003 season. In 2007, Kernen returned to Cal State Fullerton, this time as a volunteer assistant coach on a team that made the

Cal State Bakersfield (2009–2015)

Cal State Bakersfield hired Kernen to be its inaugural baseball head coach in May 2007. He put together a roster of 25 for the program's debut season in 2008 entirely from freshmen and junior college transfers. In its debut season of 2009, Cal State Bakersfield defeated defending College World Series champions

three out of five times to become the first-ever first-year Division I baseball team to defeat a defending national champion. On March 7, 2011, Cal State Bakersfield received its first ever national ranking, at no. 30 on the ''

Collegiate Baseball ''Collegiate Baseball Newspaper'' (also known as ''Collegiate Baseball Magazine'' and ''Collegiate Baseball'') was an American publication based in Arizona that considered itself the "voice of amateur baseball" and was published for over 40 yea ...

'' poll. After four seasons as a Division I independent, Cal State Bakersfield joined the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC) beginning in the 2013 season and won the regular season title that year, for which Kernen won WAC Coach of the Year honors. On May 8, 2014, Kernen announced that he would retire after the season. Kernen reversed course three weeks later and decided to remain as head coach on a year-by-year basis. In his final season as head coach, Cal State Bakersfield made the NCAA tournament and won the WAC tournament title for the first time in program history. Cal State Bakersfield went 1–2 in the tournament, including a 2-1 win that eliminated 2014 College World Series participant

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from the tournament. On August 31, 2015, Cal State Bakersfield promoted assistant coach Bob Macaluso to be head coach. Macaluso went 19–37 in his only season as head coach before being fired in December 2016. During Kernen's seven seasons, Cal State Bakersfield went 197–198–1 and produced 15 players selected in the

Major League Baseball Draft The Major League Baseball draft (officially the Rule 4 Draft; also known as the first-year player draft or amateur draft) is the primary mechanism by which Major League Baseball (MLB) assigns amateur baseball players from high schools, colleg ...

Head coaching record

Below is a table of Kernen's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach.

Theatre career

After coaching at Cal State Northridge, Kernen left college baseball to pursue a career in theatre and film.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kernen, Bill 1948 births Living people Aberdeen Pheasants players 20th-century American sportsmen Baseball pitchers Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners baseball coaches Cal State Northridge Matadors baseball coaches Cal State Fullerton Titans baseball coaches High school baseball coaches in the United States Illinois Fighting Illini baseball coaches NC State Wolfpack baseball coaches Redlands Bulldogs baseball players Baseball players from San Bernardino County, California Stockton Ports players Orange Coast Pirates baseball coaches Sportspeople from San Bernardino, California Sportspeople from Boise, Idaho