Carl Keiji Iwasaki (October 30, 1961 – February 7, 2024) was an American baseball coach and

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

at Northern Colorado for coach

Tom Petroff Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tom'' (1973 film), or ''The Bad Bunch'', a blaxploitation film * ''Tom'' (2002 film) ...

from 1981 to 1984. He then served as the head of the Austin Kangaroos (2005–2010) and the

Northern Colorado Bears The Northern Colorado Bears are the athletic teams representing the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors seventeen teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, go ...

(2011–2022).

Early life

Iwasaki graduated from

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through 12th grade. The school was established by P ...

in 1980, then played four seasons at Northern Colorado from 1981 through 1984, graduating in 1985.

Coaching career

Iwasaki spent five years coaching the Bakersfield Braves select team and three years with

Hawaii Winter Baseball Hawaii Winter Baseball (HWB), based in Honolulu, Hawaii, was a professional baseball league in the Hawaiian islands. It was loosely affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB). History The HWB league first began play in 1993. Funded by Major Lea ...

. He then served as an assistant coach for two seasons with the

Saddleback Gauchos Saddleback College is a public community college in Mission Viejo, California. It is part of the California Community College system and awards over 300 associate degrees, academic certificates, and occupational skills awards in 190 programs. ...

junior college team in

Mission Viejo, California Mission Viejo ( ; language change, corruption of ; ) is a Commuter town, commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest Planned community, master-planned commu ...

. Next, he worked two seasons at Division III before being elevated to the top job for five seasons. He made the rare jump from Division III to newly Division I Northern Colorado in the summer of 2010. In first three seasons with the Bears, he led the team to a

Great West Conference The Great West Conference (GWC) was an NCAA college athletic conference in the continental United States. Originally a football-only league, it became an all-sports entity during the 2008–09 season. The GWC stopped sponsoring football following ...

title and the championship game of the 2011 Great West Conference baseball tournament. Iwasaki earned GWC Coach of the Year honors in 2013. The Bears 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 ...

for the 2014 season. Iwasaki retired from coaching following the 2022 season.

Death

Iwasaki died on February 7, 2024, at the age of 62.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Northern Colorado bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iwasaki, Carl 1961 births 2024 deaths Baseball players from Honolulu Baseball coaches from Hawaii Punahou School alumni Austin Kangaroos baseball coaches Northern Colorado Bears baseball coaches Northern Colorado Bears baseball players Saddleback Gauchos baseball coaches 20th-century American sportsmen