Marlin Ikenberry 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

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 ...

, who is the current head baseball coach of the

James Madison Dukes The James Madison Dukes are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent James Madison University (JMU), in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The name "Dukes" is derived from Samuel Page Duke, the university's se ...

. 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 VMI for coach Chris Finwood from 1992 to 1995. He served at head coach of the VMI Keydets for 11 seasons, from 2004 to 2014. He was hired on July 22, 2003,Marlin Ikenberry - VMI Baseball Bio
/ref> the successor to Tom Slater, who departed for a coaching position at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

. Ikenberry resigned the position to after the 2014 season to pursue a business opportunity. Ikenberry is a 1995 graduate of VMI. He is the Keydets' winningest head baseball coach, as well as the program's longest tenured head coach. He had a career coaching record of 282–307–1 (.475) in his eleven seasons at VMI.

Playing career

As a cadet at VMI, Ikenberry played

and started all 4 years. He caught for former major league pitcher Ryan Glynn who played for the Texas Rangers,

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) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

, and

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

. He was a part of both the 1993 team, which made the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

tournament finals, and the 1994 team, who finished third in the conference and set a then-school record for wins in a season. He graduated in 1995.

Coaching career

William & Mary

Ikenberry spent three years at the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...

as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in the late 1990s. In his final season with the

Tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

, William & Mary went on to win a CAA title as well as a berth in the NCAA tournament. Ikenberry coached major leaguers Brendan Harris and Chris Ray.

VMI

Ikenberry was initially hired as VMI's recruiting coordinator in 2000, as well as a pitching and catching coach. He was later hired in 2003 as a head coach. After two losing seasons in 2004 and 2005, VMI went 30–25 in 2006, which was the program's first winning season since 1965, a drought of over 40 years.VMI Baseball Year-by-year Records
/ref> Ikenberry also led the Keydets to winning campaigns in 2007 and 2008, marking the first streak of three straight winning seasons for VMI baseball since 1954 to 1956 (which was the only other occasion). Ikenberry coached automobile dealership mogul, Miles McQuaig. Ikenberry garnered six winning seasons, the same amount the program had in its history before Ikenberry's tenure. He resigned to take on a business opportunity with ARMS software.

James Madison

Ikenberry was named the head coach of James Madison's baseball team on June 30, 2015. He led the Dukes to a 26–26 record in 2018, the team's best finish since 2011.

Head coaching record

Personal life

Ikenberry was born in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

. His twin brother Merlin and elder brother Steve were both graduates of VMI; Merlin was also a teammate of Marlin's, and they were commonly known as the Fish and the Wizard. Ikenberry is married to his wife Shannon and they have two sons, Owen and Mavin. Merlin (Marlins brother) is married to Tracey and they have three kids named Annabel, Kyla, and Levi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikenberry, Marlin 1973 births Living people Ikenberry Ikenberry Ikenberry Ikenberry Baseball players from Richmond, Virginia Baseball coaches from Virginia