Jim Schmitz is an American

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, ...

coach, formerly the head coach at Wilmington (OH) (1984–1986),

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

(1987–1990), and

Eastern Illinois Eastern Illinois University (EIU) is a public university in Charleston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradual ...

(1995–2015).

Coaching career

Schmitz earned his first head coaching job at his alma mater Wilmington in

Wilmington, Ohio Wilmington is a city in Clinton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 12,664 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Micropolitan statistical area, Wilmington micropolitan area ...

in 1984. He served three seasons and led the program to its first 20 win season and first NAIA Tournament appearance in 1986. He then became head coach at

. While with the Bearcats, he led the program to a then-record 31 wins and its first back to back winning seasons in the

Metro Conference The Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference, popularly known as the Metro Conference, was an NCAA Division I athletics conference, so named because its six charter members were all in urban metropolitan areas, though its later members di ...

. Nine Bearcats went on to play professionally. After four seasons, he moved to

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

as an assistant. He served as recruiting coordinator, and his 1993 class was ranked 17th by ''

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 ...

''. He served four seasons with the Rebels before moving to Eastern Illinois. In 21 seasons, his Panthers were regular contenders in the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

, winning four regular season titles and a pair of tournament titles while usually finishing in the top half of the league. His 1999 team reached the

NCAA Division I Baseball Championship The NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is held each year from May through June and features 64 college baseball teams in the United States, culminating in the eight-team College World Series, Men's College World Series (MCWS) at Charles Schwa ...

for the first time in program history. He was named OVC Coach of the Year three times. 20 of his players were drafted, including Tyler Kehrer at number 48 overall in 2009. Schmitz holds the record for most wins in program history.

Head coaching record

The following table reflects Schmitz's record as a head coach at the collegiate level.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitz, Jim Living people Cincinnati Bearcats baseball coaches Eastern Illinois Panthers baseball coaches Ole Miss Rebels baseball coaches Wilmington Quakers baseball coaches Year of birth missing (living people)