Rocky Ward 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, most recently the head coach of the

New Mexico State Aggies baseball The New Mexico State Aggies baseball team represents New Mexico State University, which is located in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Aggies are an NCAA Division I college baseball program that competes in the Western Athletic Conference. They began c ...

program He was given that position before the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

and left after the 2014 season to join Hittinguru 3D. He had previously had the same position from 1997 through 2000. In the intervening years, his father, Hall-of-Famer Gary Ward, worked as head coach of the Aggies while Rocky assisted.

Playing career

Ward first enrolled at Connors State, which compiled at 72–13 record in 1985. He then played one season at Western Oklahoma State before completing his eligibility at

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

while playing for his father. In his two seasons in Stillwater, the Cowboys reached the 1987 College World Series final and amassed a 61–8 record in 1988 and were at the top the

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

poll for 12 weeks.

Coaching career

After graduating from Oklahoma State, Ward established the Mid-America Baseball School, and was marketing director and an instructor with the program which helped develop the skills of young players until 1994, when he became an assistant coach at

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. After one season with the Greyhounds, he moved to

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

, where he spent two years as recruiting co-ordinator and worked with infielders and hitters. He earned the head coaching position at New Mexico State beginning in 1997 and completed four seasons before giving way to his father. After two seasons as an assistant, he was again in charge of the Aggies. Since then, New Mexico State has appeared in the NCAA tournament twice and won 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 (state), Washington, and Texa ...

regular season title once. Ward left at the end of the 2014 season as the most successful coach in NMSU history (455), the most All-Americans (10), the most post-season appearances (11), the most NCAA tournament appearances (3). He is now the CEO of Guru Products LLC which provides development and sales for Guru Training Systems based in Belgium. GTS has developed the first artificially intelligent hitting coach, called the Swinguru Hitting.

Head coaching record

The table below reflects Ward's record as a head coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Rocky Living people 1968 births Connors State Cowboys baseball players Indianapolis Greyhounds baseball coaches Kansas State Wildcats baseball coaches New Mexico State Aggies baseball coaches Oklahoma State Cowboys baseball coaches Western Oklahoma State Pioneers baseball players

Playing career

Coaching career

Head coaching record

See also

References