William Arthur Kinneberg (born July 4, 1957) is a former American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach. He served as head baseball coach of the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' ...

in 1996 and from 2005 to 2021. Coach Kinneberg lead the Utes to the university's first ever men's Pac-12 championship in the 2016 season, finishing with a 26–29 overall record.

Early life and education

Born in

Sewell, Chile Sewell is an uninhabited Chilean mining town located on the slopes of the Andes in the commune of Machalí in Cachapoal Province, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region, at an altitude of between 2,000 and 2,250 metres. In 2006, it was des ...

, Kinneberg grew up in

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

and

Morenci, Arizona Morenci is a census-designated place (CDP) and company town in Greenlee County, Arizona, United States, and was founded by the Detroit Copper Mining Company of Arizona. The population was 2000 at the 2000 census and 1,489 at the 2010 census. Th ...

and

Silver City, New Mexico Silver City is a town in Grant County, New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat and the home of Western New Mexico University. As of the 2010 census the population was 10,315. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,704. History ...

, where he graduated from

Silver High School Silver High School is a high school in Silver City, New Mexico. The school was opened in its current location in 1967. It was previously known as Western High School and was part of Western New Mexico University. History In 1949, New Mexico Stat ...

in 1975. Kinneberg began his college baseball career at the junior college level pitching for

Central Arizona College Central Arizona College (CAC) is a public community college near Coolidge, Arizona. CAC serves the population of Pinal County. History and campus Since 1969, Central Arizona College has been serving and educating the communities of Pinal Coun ...

from 1976 to 1977 and transferred to the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

to play for the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

from 1978 to 1979 under

Jerry Kindall Gerald Donald Kindall (May 27, 1935 – December 24, 2017) was an American professional baseball player and college baseball player and coach. He was primarily a second baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB) who appeared in 742 games played over ...

. As a senior in 1979, Kinneberg had a 7–4 record and led Arizona to an appearance in the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

. Kinneberg was a pitcher for the

, owning a 7–4 record with 7 saves over two seasons. He appeared in the 1979 College World Series with the Wildcats.

Coaching career

After ending his playing career, Kinneberg was hired as an assistant at

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stude ...

. He served in that role for four seasons before assuming the head coaching role for the 1985 season. In what was to be the last season of baseball at UTEP, Kinneberg led the Miners to a program record 33 wins. After the end of UTEP's program, he moved to

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, setting a program record for wins in Laramie in 1990 with a 37–18 record. Kinneberg earned

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, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

Coach of the Year honors for the 1990 season, and coached 16 All-Conference players at Wyoming. Ironically, the Cowboys program was shut down in 1996, just four years after Kinneberg's departure for

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. Kinneberg spent two seasons with the Sun Devils, helping to guide them to consecutive

appearances. Kinneberg spent one season as a pitching coach in the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

system, before returning to college head coaching at Utah for the 1996 season. He led the Utes to a 30–22 season and a third-place finish in the WAC. He then accepted an associate head coaching position at Arizona, helping the Wildcats to a

Regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

appearance during his five years in Tucson. Utah again offered him their head coaching position 2005. During his second stint with the Utes, Kinneberg led the team to their first-ever MWC title and first NCAA tournament appearance since 1960, coached three high level

Major League Baseball Draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

picks, including Utah's first-ever first round pick ( C. J. Cron), and now leads the Utes in their new home in the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

. Kinneberg was named Pac-12 Baseball Coach of the Year in 2016 after leading the Utes to their first-ever Pac-12 Conference title. Kinneberg also has coached

USA Baseball USA Baseball is the national governing body for organized baseball in the United States, and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee and the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The organization selects and trains the World Basebal ...

's National Team (collegiate), beginning as a pitching coach in 1999, and as head coach in 2007 and 2010.

Personal life

Kinneberg and his wife, Janet, have two sons, Joe and David.Joe currently plays baseball at Western Nebraska Community College (WNCC)

Head coaching record

The following is a table of Kinneberg's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinneberg, Bill 1957 births Living people Arizona Wildcats baseball players UTEP Miners baseball coaches Wyoming Cowboys baseball coaches Arizona State Sun Devils baseball coaches Arizona Wildcats baseball coaches University of Texas at El Paso alumni Utah Utes baseball coaches People from Sandy, Utah People from Cachapoal Province People from Douglas, Arizona Central Arizona Vaqueros baseball players People from Silver City, New Mexico People from Morenci, Arizona Baseball pitchers Chilean emigrants to the United States