Steve Traylor (born February 15, 1951) is an American former

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 ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach. In basketball, he was the head coach of

Greensboro College Greensboro College is a private college in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and was founded in 1838 by Rev. Peter Doub. The college enrolls about 1,000 students from 32 states, the District of Columbi ...

. In baseball, he was the head coach at

Florida Atlantic Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-cam ...

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, and Wofford. Traylor had 776 career wins and led both Florida Atlantic and Wofford to their first NCAA tournaments.

Playing career

Traylor played football, basketball, and baseball at both

Westerville South High School Westerville South High School is a public high school located in Westerville, Ohio, northeast of Columbus, Ohio. Originally Westerville High School, it is the oldest of the three high schools in the Westerville City School District. It serves mos ...

and

Otterbein College Otterbein University is a private university in Westerville, Ohio. It offers 74 majors and 44 minors as well as eight graduate programs. The university was founded in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and named for United Bre ...

. At Otterbein, Traylor was a team captain and all-conference player in all three sports. After graduating from Otterbein in 1973, he attended

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

but was cut.

Coaching career

Baseball

Otterbein

While working on his graduate degree at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, Traylor served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Otterbein, from 1974 to 1976. He then coached basketball for three seasons before returning to baseball.

Florida Atlantic

In 1979, Traylor got his first baseball head coaching job when

(FAU) hired him to start their baseball program. The Owls, then an NAIA program, went 15-16 in their first season (1981). They then made the NAIA Tournament in 1982 and 1983, advancing to the District Championship in 1982 and as far as the Area Championship in 1983. The Owls moved to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

for the 1984 season, competing in Division II. In their first game as an NCAA member, they defeated

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, 4-3; overall, the team went 40-15 in 1984. In 1985, the program made the NCAA tournament for the first time. There, it was swept by

Florida Southern Florida Southern College (Florida Southern, Southern or FSC) is a private college in Lakeland, Florida. In 2019, the student population at FSC consisted of 3,073 students along with 130 full-time faculty members. The college offers 50 undergradu ...

in the best-of-five South Regional. FAU had five straight 40-win seasons from 1982 to 1986. In Traylor's seven years as head coach, the program went 268-105-2. During Traylor's tenure, six Owls were selected in the

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 ...

, including Jeff Forney, a first-round pick in the June secondary draft in 1985, and Mike Ryan, a seventh-round pick in 1984.

Duke

Following the 1987 season, Division I

hired Traylor to replace Larry Smith. After three losing seasons in his first four, the Blue Devils had seven straight 30-win seasons from 1992 to 1998; Traylor was named the ACC Coach of the Year in the first of these seasons. Duke's deepest run in the ACC tournament, which at the time included each member of the conference, came in 1997. They received the seventh seed after a 31-23 (9-14 ACC) regular season. After losing to second-seeded

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

in the opening round, Duke beat sixth-seeded

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and top-seeded

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

before being eliminated by a second loss to Florida State. Duke had 25 MLB Draft selections in Traylor's 12 seasons. 1996 third-round pick

Scott Schoeneweis Scott David Schoeneweis (; born October 2, 1973) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed relief pitcher who played for several teams between 1999 and 2010. In the five seasons from 2003 to 2007, Schoeneweis allowed only one home r ...

was his highest. Schoeneweis, along with

Mike Trombley Michael Scott Trombley (born April 14, 1967) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. During an 11-year major league career, Trombley pitched for the Minnesota Twins (– and ), Baltimore Orioles (–) and Los Angeles Dodgers ( ...

John Courtright John Charles Courtright (born May 30, 1970) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds. Courtright graduated from Marion Harding High School in Marion, Ohio, played college baseball at Duke and was selected in t ...

Quinton McCracken Quinton Antoine McCracken (born August 16, 1970) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played all or parts of 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), and was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays franchise's first center fielder and bat ...

, Ryan Jackson, and

Chris Capuano Christopher Frank Capuano (born August 19, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher whose professional playing career spanned from 2000 through 2016. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwau ...

, went on to play in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. In 1999, Duke went 24-31 and finished last in the ACC. Traylor was fired after the season. His overall record at Duke was 356-286-1.

Wofford

Traylor became Wofford's head coach for the 2000 season. His highest win total came in 2003, when the Terriers went 26-31 and tied for sixth in the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

(SoCon). In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, Traylor announced his retirement in the closing weeks of the regular season, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. The Terriers tied for last in the conference but made the conference tournament in a season in which the entire SoCon qualified. There, it beat Furman in a play-in game, then defeated

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...

UNC Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. UNCG, like all members of the UNC system, is a stand-al ...

, and

The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a Public college, public United States senior military college, senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one ...

twice to win the tournament. In doing so, it won the SoCon's automatic bid to the program's first NCAA tournament. In the Columbia, SC Regional, Wofford went 0-2, losing games to host

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

and second-seeded

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

Basketball

Traylor served as

Greensboro Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

's head men's basketball coach for three seasons (1976 to 1979). During his tenure, the Pride went 30-40. His best season was his first, in which the team went 17-7. Traylor was also Greensboro's athletic director during his time there.

Head coaching record

Below is a table of Traylor's yearly records as a collegiate head baseball and basketball coach.

Baseball

Basketball

Hall of Fame inductions

Traylor is a member of several Halls of Fame: Westerville South High School Athletics, Otterbein Athletics, FAU Athletics, and FAU Baseball.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Traylor, Steve 1951 births Living people American men's basketball players Baseball coaches from Ohio Baseball players from Ohio Basketball coaches from Ohio Basketball players from Ohio Duke Blue Devils baseball coaches Florida Atlantic Owls baseball coaches Greensboro Pride men's basketball coaches Ohio State University alumni Otterbein Cardinals baseball coaches Otterbein Cardinals baseball players Otterbein Cardinals football players Otterbein Cardinals men's basketball players People from Westerville, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio Wofford Terriers baseball coaches