Robert William Fornelli (born August 9, 1966) is an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

coach and current head baseball coach at

Pittsburg State University Pittsburg State University (Pitt State or PSU) is a public university in Pittsburg, Kansas. It enrolls approximately 7,400 students (6,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students) and is a member of the Kansas Board of Regents. History P ...

. Previously, Fornelli coached at his alma mater

Emporia State University Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. Em ...

from 2004 to 2018 where he guided the

Hornets Hornets (insects in the genus ''Vespa'') are the largest of the eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to their close relatives yellowjackets. Some species can reach up to in length. They are distinguished from other vespine wasps by th ...

to five

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, headquartered ...

regular season championships and two conference tournament championships, 13 trips to the NCAA Tournament, two World Series appearances and a national runner-up finish. Fornelli was the coach at Fort Hays State from 1996 to 2003.

Career

After graduating from Emporia State in 1991 and playing four years at Emporia State, Fornelli spent five seasons as

Butler Community College Butler Community College (BCC) is a public community college in El Dorado, Kansas. Campus There are a number of branch campuses throughout the area, in Andover, Council Grove, Marion, McConnell, Rose Hill, and a number of distance-learning ...

's pitching coach.

Fort Hays State

In 1996, Fornelli became head coach of the Fort Hays State Tigers. During his seven years, Fornelli compiled a 306–113 record. In 2003, the Tigers won the

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N ...

regular season and postseason tournament titles. Fornelli is the winningest coach in FHSU history and led the Tigers to the RMAC championship four times in his seven years. Fornelli led FHSU to the NCAA Division II national championship game in 2000 and was in the NCAA regional tournament six times.

Emporia State

In May 2003, Fornelli left Fort Hays State for his alma mater. former Emporia State player under Embery, was named the head coach. Since 2004, Fornelli has taken the Hornets to the NCAA Tournament 10 times, have made 2 World Series appearances and a national runner-up finish in 2009. The Hornets finished the 2006 season by winning the MIAA Regular Season Championship and NCAA Central Region Championship, as well as advancing to the school's first NCAA World Series appearance. In 2009, the Hornets advanced to the school's first NCAA national championship game in

Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh–Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 Census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh largest muni ...

. In 2014, the Hornets won the MIAA Tournament, and earned another trip to the NCAA Tournament. In 2016, Fornelli picked up his 800th overall win. On April 25, 2018, Fornelli became the winningest head baseball coach in Emporia State history with 558 wins. A week later on May 6, 2018, Fornelli captured his 900th win overall.

Pittsburg State

On June 4, 2018, local radio station

KVOE (AM) KVOE (1400 AM broadcasting, AM) is an area news radio, news, talk radio, talk, and sports radio, sports radio station that airs local programming such as ''Talk of Emporia'', ''The Emporium'', and ''Area Coach's Corner'' in Emporia, Kansas. KVOE al ...

reported that Fornelli had accepted the head coaching job at in-state MIAA rival,

, after 15 seasons at his alma mater. He was formally introduced the next day, June 5.

Head coach record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fornelli, Bob 1966 births Living people Emporia State Hornets baseball players Butler Grizzlies baseball coaches Fort Hays State Tigers baseball coaches Emporia State Hornets baseball coaches Pittsburg State Gorillas baseball coaches People from Lenexa, Kansas Sportspeople from Johnson County, Kansas Baseball catchers