Gary Van Tol (February 3, 1967) is an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach and former player who is a coach for the

Arizona Complex League Reds The Arizona Complex League Reds are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona. The team is composed m ...

. Van Tol 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, ...

Treasure Valley Community College Treasure Valley Community College is a Public college, public community college in Ontario, Oregon, at the western edge of the Treasure Valley. Its service area is sections of Malheur County, Oregon, Malheur and Baker County, Oregon, Baker co ...

from 1986 to 1988 before transferring to

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

where he played for coach Steve Hertz in 1989 and 1990. He served as the head coach at

Centralia College Centralia College is a public community college in Centralia, Washington. Although it primarily offers certificates and Associate degrees, it also offers a few Bachelor's degrees. Founded in 1925, Centralia is the oldest continuously operatin ...

from 1994 to 1995 and

from 1997 to 2001. He was the coach of the minor league

Boise Hawks The Boise Hawks are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. Home games are played at Memorial Stadium in unincorporated Ada County, Idaho, near ...

in 2013 and 2014, the

Eugene Emeralds The Eugene Emeralds (nicknamed the Ems) are a Minor League Baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Eugene, Oregon. The Emeralds are members of the Northwest League and the High-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Eugene plays ...

in 2015, and became the head baseball coach at

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a Public university, public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has b ...

in 2017, first helming a team in 2020. After that team disbanded that year, he returned to coach the Boise Hawks in 2021, now an independent team.

Playing career

Van Tol enrolled at

Ontario, Oregon Ontario is the largest city in Malheur County, Oregon, Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It lies along the Snake River at the Idaho border. The population was 11,645 at the 2020 censusThe city is the largest community in the region of far ea ...

, and played

for the Chukars. After earning an associate degree from TVCC, he transferred to

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

. As a senior in 1990, Van Tol was named first team All-

Pac-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

North Division. Van Tol played for the Canadian national team from 1989 to 1991, playing at the

1990 Goodwill Games The 1990 Goodwill Games was the second edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held between July 20 and August 5, 1990. Following an inaugural edition in Moscow, the second games took place in Seattle, Unit ...

1990 Baseball World Cup The 1990 Baseball World Cup (BWC) was the 31st international Men's amateur baseball tournament. The tournament was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation, which titled it the Amateur World Series from the 1938 tournament through the ...

, 1991

World Port Tournament The World Port Tournament was an international baseball tournament held at the ''Neptunus Familiestadion'' in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The tournament was held every other year ( excluded) in odd-numbered years since , alternating with the Haarl ...

, and 1991 Pan-Am Games, where the team failed to qualify for the

1992 Olympics 1992 Olympics may refer to: *1992 Summer Olympics, which were held in Barcelona, Spain *1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provença ...

. After playing in the Dutch World Port Tournament, Van Tol was a

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

for

Neptunus Neptunus is a professional baseball and softball club in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Following its 2014 championship season, the club signed a sponsorship contract for the 2015 through 2017 seasons with Curaçao and competes under the name Cura ...

in 1992 and 1993, winning the

Holland Series The Holland Series is the annual championship series of the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. It is the conclusion of the postseason of Honkbal Hoofdklasse, played between the two winners of the league's playoffs. The serie ...

in 1993.

Coaching career

Van Tol was an assistant coach with Gonzaga from 1991 to 1993. He then coached at

before returning to Treasure Valley Community College, as an assistant in 1996 then as a head coach. In 1996, he was also an assistant for the Great Britain national team. He was an assistant coach for the

Class A Short Season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (crea ...

in 2001 and 2002. He then became the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for the University of Portland Pilots. On October 6, 2005, Van Tol returned to Gonzaga as an assistant coach. He returned to the Boise Hawks in 2008. The

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

named Van Tol the manager of the Hawks ahead of the 2013 season. He then became the manager of the

when the Cubs switched minor league affiliates in 2015, before being an assistant coach for the team in 2016 and 2017. On November 27, 2017, Van Tol was named the head baseball coach at

. He was the first coach the Broncos have had since 1980, when the school disbanded the program. Van Tol had two years to prepare before the Broncos began play in 2020. However, the team played only 14 games, going 9–5, before the 2020 season ended early due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In July, the university eliminated its baseball program to reduce expenses. In 2021, Van Tol became the coach of the Boise Hawks, which were now in the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Pioneer League. The team declined to pick up his option after the 2024 season. He joined the

for the 2025 season.

Head coaching record

Personal life

Van Tol and his wife have four children. His wife worked in the Boise State athletics department. In 2015, his oldest son was a batboy for the

while his wife and other children lived in Boise. As a child, Van Tol also played hockey. He was the

Alberta Junior Hockey League The Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) is an Alberta-based Junior A ice hockey league that belongs to the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL). It was formed as a five-team league in 1964. The 2023–24 season began with 16 teams, however 5 ...

Rookie of the Year in 1985.

References

External links

Boise State Broncos profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Tol, Gary Living people 1967 births Treasure Valley Chukars baseball players Gonzaga Bulldogs baseball players Gonzaga Bulldogs baseball coaches Centralia Trailblazers baseball coaches Treasure Valley Chukars baseball coaches Portland Pilots baseball coaches Minor league baseball managers Boise State Broncos baseball coaches Baseball players at the 1990 Goodwill Games Canada national baseball team players Expatriate baseball players in the Netherlands Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Canadian baseball coaches Baseball people from Alberta Minor league baseball coaches Curacao Neptunus players