Carl Keiji Iwasaki (born October 30, 1961) is an 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 t ...

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 ca ...

. He played

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 p ...

at Northern Colorado for coach

Tom Petroff Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

from 1981 to 1984. He then served as the head of the Austin Kangaroos (2005–2010) and the

Northern Colorado Bears The Northern Colorado Bears are the athletic teams representing the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors seventeen teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, gol ...

(2011–2022)

Early life

Iwasaki graduated from Punahou School in 1980, then played four seasons at Northern Colorado from 1981 through 1984, graduating in 1985.

Coaching career

Iwasaki spent five years coaching the Bakersfield Braves select team and three years with

Hawaii Winter Baseball Hawaii Winter Baseball (HWB), based in Honolulu, Hawaii, was a professional baseball league in the Hawaiian islands. It was loosely affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB). History The HWB league first began play in 1993. Funded by Major ...

. He then served as an assistant coach for two seasons with the Saddleback Gauchos junior college team in Mission Viejo, California. Next, he worked two seasons at Division III before being elevated to the top job for five seasons. He made the rare jump from Division III to newly Division I Northern Colorado in the summer of 2010. In first three seasons with the Bears, he has led the team to a

Great West Conference The Great West Conference (GWC) was an NCAA college athletic conference in the continental United States. Originally a football-only league, it became an all-sports entity during the 2008–09 season. The GWC stopped sponsoring football followin ...

title and the championship game of the 2011 Great West Conference baseball tournament. Iwasaki earned GWC Coach of the Year honors in 2013. The Bears joined the

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, and Texas. Due to mos ...

for the 2014 season. Iwasaki retired from coaching following the 2022 season.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Northern Colorado bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iwasaki, Carl 1961 births Living people Sportspeople from Honolulu Baseball players from Honolulu Baseball coaches from Hawaii Punahou School alumni Austin Kangaroos baseball coaches Northern Colorado Bears baseball coaches Northern Colorado Bears baseball players Saddleback Gauchos baseball coaches