Las Cruces, N.M. - There will be a change at the head of the New Mexico State Baseball program, but the job will stay in the family.
Rocky Ward will return as head coach of the NMSU Aggies in 2003, taking over for his father, Gary Ward. Rocky has been with the Aggie baseball program the past six years.
Rocky, head coach of the Aggies from 1997-2000, has served as Gary's top assistant the past two years.
"Gary felt that the timing was right both for him and the baseball program to step down as head coach and focus his energies in a different direction," said NMSU Athletics Director Brian Faison. "The good news is that Gary will remain in the Las Cruces community and will continue to be a vital part of the program."
"This is something we pushed for and something we are excited about," said Gary. "This transition leads to a better opportunity to reach our goals. My intent is to remain in Las Cruces and support Aggie baseball in any way possible from the private sector."
The reorganization of the staff will include Chad Wolff moving into the lead assistant role as pitching coach, the hiring of a new assistant coach and the addition of a full-time volunteer assistant.
"I'm excited about it," said Rocky. "The additional coaching help is really going to help our program and with dad working in the private sector to help raise funds for the program, it's an added bonus."
The Aggies are coming off their best season ever, posting a 37-25 record, winning the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. Four players from this year's team were taken in the June draft, Gabe Veloz and Ryan Kenning earned all-America honors on the field and David Licini earned Verizon Academic All-America honors for his efforts in the class room. Kenning also won the 2002 NCAA Home Run Challenge.
The reorganization of the staff is a move that the Aggies hope will pay off in the continued development of the NMSU program.
"We need to bring more money into the program for it to achieve long term success," said Gary. "The best way for me to help the program achieve its goals are not from the dugout, but out in the community generating revenue and fan interest."
Gary also emphasizes that the transition of Rocky back to head coach should not be drastic.
"Rocky has really been the co-head coach for me the past two seasons."
"It doesn't change a lot of things," said Rocky. "We are in a lot better position now than when I took over as head coach in 1997. We've reached some major goals and it makes the future both exciting and challenging."
"Our goals remain the same. We want to make the conference tournament every year, finish in the top four in the regular season in conference play, and contend for an NCAA Tournament bid."
Ward posted a 81-136 record in his four years as head coach at NMSU. Under his guidance, the Aggies developed into one of the top offensive programs in the country. In 2000, the Aggies finished 11th in the country in doubles and ranked 21st in scoring. In 1998, the Aggies ranked fifth in the country in batting average at .351 and ranked third in the nation in scoring. At the conclusion of the 1999 season, four Aggies were taken in the major league draft.
Rocky's teams posted some impressive wins including a pair of victories over #1 ranked Texas Tech in 1997. The Aggies also posted wins over nationally ranked Nevada and Long Beach State.
Rocky has been coaching at the college level since 1994. Before coming to New Mexico State as head coach in 1997, Ward was an assistant coach at Kansas State (1995-96) and the University of Indianapolis (1994).
A 1988 graduate of Oklahoma State, Ward played third base and catcher for the Cowboys from 1986 to 1988. The 1987 team finished runner-up at the College World Series and the 1988 team posted a 61-8 record and was ranked #1 in the country for 12 consecutive weeks. Rocky was a two-time Phillips 66 Academic All-Big Eight selection at OSU.
Gary Ward steps down with a career record of 1,022-361-1 in 21 seasons as an NCAA Division I head coach. At the conclusion of the 2002 season, Ward was the third winningest active coach in the country with a winning percentage of .739. He is currently the 10th winningest coach of all time by percentage and the 24th winningest coach of all-time by victories.
After posting a 240-83 record and winning two national JUCO titles at Yavapai Junior College (1971-77), Ward became the head coach at Oklahoma State in 1978. In his 19 years with the Cowboys, he led OSU to a record of 953-313-1, 17 Big 8 Conference titles and 10 trips to the NCAA College World Series.
In his two seasons at New Mexico State, Ward guided his alma mater to a 69-48, the best two-year record since 1989-90.