Edwin Servais (born c. 1958) 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 small-ball connoisseur, currently the head coach at

Creighton University Creighton University is a private Jesuit research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate and undergra ...

, a member of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

. He has held the position since July 2003, and has led the Bluejays to four appearances in the NCAA Tournament. "Niner" celebrated his 600th career win with the Bluejays on April 1, 2022 with a shower in his favorite beverage, Coca-Cola.

Coaching career

Division III and NAIA

Servais' first college coaching position was with Saint Mary's in

Winona, Minnesota Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, Minnesota, Winona County, in the U.S. state, state of Minnesota. Located in bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf (Winona, Minnesota ...

, an

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their ...

program where he was an assistant from 1984 to 1986. Following the 1986 season, he was hired by NAIA member

Viterbo Viterbo (; Viterbese: ; lat-med, Viterbium) is a city and ''comune'' in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history ...

to start the school's baseball program. The team went in 1988, its first season. Following one season at Viterbo, Servais was rehired by Saint Mary's as head coach. He held the position for seven seasons and had an overall record of . Saint Mary's qualified for the 1993 Division III tournament, and were runner-up in the Midwest Regional. In both 1990 and 1993, Servais was named the

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) is a college athletic conference which competes in NCAA Division III. All 13 of the member schools are located in Minnesota and are private institutions, with only two being non-sectarian. ...

Coach of the Year.

Division I assistant

Prior to the start of the 1996 season, Servais was hired as an assistant coach at

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

, his first Division I coaching position. He served as an assistant to head coach Lyle Smith for two seasons From 1998–2003, Servais was an assistant and infield coach at Creighton under head coach Jack Dahm. While he was an assistant, Creighton appeared in two NCAA Tournaments (

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Creighton

Missouri Valley Conference

After a 20–37 season in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

, Dahm resigned as Creighton's head coach in late June. Servais was named interim head coach and later hired as the program's head coach on July 29. In Servais' first season in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

, Creighton went and finished second in the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

(MVC), after finishing fifth the previous season. Servais was named the MVC Coach of the Year and became the first first-year coach to receive the award. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

, the team went 48–17 and won the MVC regular season championship. After losing the MVC Tournament championship game to

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study ...

, Creighton received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. In the tournament, the team went 2–2 and lost in the Lincoln Regional final to

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

. Servais was again named MVC Coach of the Year. Creighton finished fourth in the MVC in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, but qualified for a second NCAA Tournament under Servais in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

. It received the MVC's automatic bid to the tournament by defeating Wichita State in the MVC championship game, 10–9 in 12 innings. As the second seed in the Fayetteville Regional, it went 1–2. Servais was named the MVC Coach of the Year. The program's win totals declined from 2007–2010. After finishing second in the MVC in 2007, it finished third in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, fourth in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, and sixth in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. In

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, however, Creighton appeared in consecutive NCAA Tournaments. In 2011, the team won both the MVC regular season and tournament titles and was named the second seed in the Corvallis Regional. It defeated

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, 2–1, in its opening game, but lost consecutive games to

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

and Georgia and was eliminated. For the season, Servais received his fourth MVC Coach of the Year award. In 2012, the Bluejays finished last in the MVC, but won the conference tournament to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. As the fourth seed in the Los Angeles Regional, Creighton lost to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

in the regional final. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, Creighton's final season in the MVC, the team finished third in the conference.

Big East Conference

Creighton joined the new

ahead of the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

season. The Bluejays won the inaugural regular season title, then lost to Xavier in the tournament championship game. Servais was named the Big East Coach of the Year.

Personal life

Servais is the uncle of current

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

manager

Scott Servais Scott Daniel Servais ( '); born June 4, 1967) is an American professional baseball manager and former player who currently manages the Seattle Mariners. A major league catcher for eleven seasons, Servais was previously the assistant general m ...

(b.1967), a former major league

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 ...

who played at Creighton in the late 1980s.

Head coaching record

The following is a table of Servais' yearly records as an NAIA and NCAA head baseball coach.

Notes

References

External links

Creighton profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Servais, Ed Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Creighton Bluejays baseball coaches High school baseball coaches in the United States Iowa State Cyclones baseball coaches Saint Mary's Cardinals baseball coaches Viterbo Hawks baseball coaches Wisconsin–La Crosse Eagles baseball players Baseball players from Wisconsin Sportspeople from La Crosse, Wisconsin Aquinas High School (La Crosse, Wisconsin) alumni