Troy William Buckley (born March 3, 1968) 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 former

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

. He is the pitching coach for the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

. He played college baseball at

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

from 1987 to 1989 for coach John Oldham. He served as the head coach at

California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

from 2011 season until April 11, 2019. He has also coached in the minor league systems of the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

Playing career

Born in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census. Most of the city's growth occurred between 1950 and 1980. Originally a ...

, Buckley attended

Bellarmine College Preparatory Bellarmine College Preparatory is an all-male, Jesuit, private secondary school located in San Jose, California. Founded in 1851, it is the oldest secondary school in California and the second-oldest west of the Mississippi River. In 2020, Niche ...

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, earning all-conference honors from the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...

'' as a senior in 1986. At

, Buckley played at catcher from 1987 to 1989 on the

Santa Clara Broncos baseball The Santa Clara Broncos baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team that represents Santa Clara University in NCAA Division I college baseball. Santa Clara Baseball competes in the West Coast Conference, of which the Santa Clara Br ...

team. Buckley earned

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

Player of the Year and second-team All-American honors in 1988. After the 1988 season, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the lea ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. He was drafted in the ninth round of the

1989 Major League Baseball Draft First-round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1989 Major League Baseball draft on June 5. Supplemental first round selections Other notable players * Brian Hunter, 2nd round, 35th overall by the Houston Astros * Ti ...

by the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

. He played in the minor leagues from 1990 to 1995, rising as high as Class-AAA before turning to coaching.

Coaching career

Buckley began coaching with the Montreal Expos Class AA affiliate as a hitting instructor and third base coach. After one season at Ottawa, he became a pitching coach for the GCL Expos. Santa Clara then hired him as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, a post in which he served for three seasons before moving to Long Beach State in the same capacity. With the 49ers, Buckley coached future All Star

Jered Weaver Jered David Weaver (born October 4, 1982) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres. Weaver was drafted in the first round (12th overall ...

, among many others. Weaver won the

Dick Howser Trophy The Dick Howser Trophy is bestowed annually to the national college baseball player of the year. The award is named after former collegiate and Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager Dick Howser, who died of brain cancer in 1987 at the age ...

and

Roger Clemens Award The Roger Clemens Award was an award that honored the top NCAA Division I college baseball pitcher of the year. The award was created prior to the 2004 season and succeeded the Rotary Smith Award. :''"Roger Clemens has become synonymous with exce ...

for National Player of the Year and pitcher of the year in college baseball. The 49ers (also known as the Dirtbags) were among the nation's best in team ERA, finishing in the top 5 nationally three times. In 2008, Buckley accepted the role of pitching coordinator for the

minor league system. He served in that role for two seasons before returning to Long Beach State as associate head coach. Buckley served in that role for one year before taking the head coaching role in 2011. In his three years back with the 49ers, the team ERA has improved from 4.67 to a

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

-best 3.08 and finished above .500 in both seasons with Buckley as head coach. On April 11, 2019, Long Beach State fired Buckley after the Dirtbags started the 2019 season 5–26, including 0–3 in conference games. Assistant coaches Greg Bergeron and Dan Ricabal became interim co-head coaches. On July 9, 2019, Buckley was named the associate head coach and pitching coach at the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

. On December 8, 2022, Buckley was named the pitching coach at

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

Head coaching record

Below is a table of Buckley's yearly records as an NCAA head baseball coach.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, Troy 1968 births Living people Baseball catchers Santa Clara Broncos baseball players Santa Clara Broncos baseball coaches Cotuit Kettleers players Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball coaches People from Los Altos, California Visalia Oaks players Portland Beavers players Fort Myers Miracle players Chattanooga Lookouts players Winston-Salem Spirits players Harrisburg Senators players Nevada Wolf Pack baseball coaches Anchorage Bucs players Fresno State Bulldogs baseball coaches