Coaches

Pat Casey, Head Coach

 

Oregon State head coach Pat Casey is continually referred to as one of the finest coaches in the country, and for good reason.  His team succeeds, year-in and year-out.

 

In 2015, he took charge of a young program and guided the club to a second place finish in the Pac-12 Conference.  The club, which finished with 39 wins, including 19 in league play, regularly started upwards of nine underclassmen in their lineup.  The team's most veteran lineup had just four upperclassmen.

 

The 2015 season continued the most productive stretch in OSU history as the club made its seventh consecutive postseason appearance - extending a program record - which also gives the team 10 appearances in the last 11 seasons.

 

Casey guided the Beavers to their second consecutive Pac-12 Conference title in 2014, and did so in impressive fashion.  The Beavers had a mix of veterans and youth, and battled back from a 6-3 start in conference play for the crown.

 

At one point during conference play, Casey's club won 11 consecutive league games, and the Beavers won nine of 10 series for the second consecutive season.

 

Overall, Oregon State finished with 45 wins in 2014, hitting the 40-win plateau for the fourth consecutive season and seventh time during his 20-year tenure with the Beavers.

 

Casey's players were recognized for their efforts, as Michael Conforto, Ben Wetzler, and Jace Fry were all named All-Americans.  That gives Casey 15 All-Americans since arriving in Corvallis in 1995.

 

The Beavers won 52 games in 2013, setting a school record, and advanced to their fourth College World Series under Casey, who took over the program prior to the 1995 season. The 2013 Beavers won 24 games in Pac-12 Conference play and had winning streaks of 15 and 12 games, respectively, to help the club advance to its eighth postseason in nine seasons.

 
Oregon State’s 15 and 12-game win streaks marked the first year since 2007 the Beavers had two win streaks of 10 or more.

 
The Beavers won the Pac-12 Championship for the third time since the league unified prior to the 1999 season and set a conference record for most wins in league play. The team’s .800 winning percentage (24-6) against conference foes marks the best percentage by any Pac-12 school since the 1999 league unification.

 
Now with 670 wins in his 19 seasons at Oregon State, Casey will need 19 victories in 2014 to surpass California’s Bob Milano for the 10th-most wins all-time by a Pac-12 Conference coach.

 
Casey won his 614th career game on May 25, 2012, surpassing Jack Riley as the winningest coach in school history.

 
Casey’s club finished the 2012 season with 40 wins as he and OSU won seven Pac-12 series, going 9-5 against Pac-12 foes who advanced to the postseason.

 
The Beavers have won 40 games seven times in school history, all occurring under Casey.

 
Casey guided the Beavers to 41 wins during the season in 2011, reaching the 30-win plateau for the 11th time in his 17 seasons in Corvallis.

 
In doing so, Casey guided the Beavers to their third regional host nomination since 2005, at the time.

 
He was named the 2011 Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year for the third time, previously reaching the accomplishment in 2005 and 2006. He has since picked up his fourth conference coach of the year honor, in 2013.

 
Casey has guided Oregon State to two national championships and three conference titles. He has won an outstanding 42 games in the postseason, which accounts for better than 85 percent of the program’s all-time NCAA wins.

 
Arguably one of the most successful active Division-I head coaches in the country, Casey has established a level of winning unrivaled in the program’s history.

 
Prior to the start of the 2010 season, he was named as the top collegiate coach of the last decade by Baseball America in a vote by his peers. The Beavers, meanwhile, were named as the No. 2 program of the decade, trailing only Texas. The Beavers and Casey earned the special recognition after winning back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007 and winning Pacific-10 Conference titles in 2005 and 2006.

 
Perhaps an even more special honor was bestowed upon Casey just prior. He and his wife, Susan, were recipients of the Nell and John Wooden Coaching Achievement Award. The honor goes to a head coach and his spouse for their dedication to success on the field and in making an impact on the lives of their players.

 
Truly, Pat Casey has been the right person to led Oregon State baseball over the last decade and a half.

 
In the past nine seasons alone, Casey has guided the Beavers to 397 victories, which is second in the Pac-12. During that same stretch, Casey’s clubs have won 139 conference games, which is second-most among division clubs.

 
In that nine-year stretch, 10 players have earned All-America honors while 26 players have been recognized as all-league performers. That includes three league Most Valuable Player awards and two Defensive Player of the Year selections.

 
The Beavers reached the postseason for the fifth time in six seasons in 2010, advancing to the Gainesville Regional. The Beavers bowed out in three games, but just days after, the Beavers had eight players selected in the MLB Draft, seven of whom would eventually sign their first professional contracts.

 
Casey and the Beavers advanced to the championship game of the Fort Worth Regional in 2009. Oregon State finished the 2009 campaign with a 37-19 record and 15-12 mark in Pac-10 play, tying the club for third.

 
On May 19, 2009, Casey became just the third head coach in school history to record 500 victories with the Beavers when OSU defeated Oregon.

 
In 2008, Casey and the Beavers went 28-24 and missed out on the postseason. But the Beavers played perhaps their most ambitious schedule in school history and took series from five schools that earned either No. 1 or No. 2 seeds in NCAA Regionals. Oregon State posted a 5-5 record against College World Series teams, taking 2-of-3 in separate series against Arizona State and Georgia.

 
In 2008, Casey made marks on the program, literally. He spearheaded a fundrasing campaign to expand Goss Stadium, adding nearly 1,000 permanent seats, a stadium suite, new player’s lounge, academic room and Hall of Fame room. The additions transformed Goss Stadium from one of the best in the West into one of the nation’s finest collegiate stadiums.

 
In 2007, Casey, his staff and the team’s players worked hard to build team chemistry, coming together at the right time for a second-straight national championship. Oregon State went an incredible 39-4 in non-conference games, including an 11-1 mark in the postseason. After losing their second game at the Charlottesville Regional, the Beavers went on a dynamic run, winning their last 10 games -- including five in Omaha -- to claim the national title.

 
That title thrusted Oregon State into NCAA baseball lore. The Beavers became just the fifth program to win back-to-back national titles, joining Texas (1949-50), USC (1970-74), Stanford (1987-88) and LSU (1996-97).

 
For his ability to mold the Beavers into the nation’s finest, Casey was again recognized as a national coach of the year, this time by Collegiate Baseball and the American Baseball Coaches Association. The honors comes a year after Casey was the consensus national coach of the year in leading Oregon State to its first title.

 
That 2006 title was just as special, as the Beavers became the first program from the Pacific Northwest to the NCAA Division I College World Series.

 
The 2006 Beavers had a storybook season, capped by a run through the CWS that saw them win six elimination games in Omaha to win the national championship. After being beaten by Miami (Fla.) in its opening game, OSU won four straight - including back-to-back shutouts of top-ranked Rice - to reach the championship series. In the best-of-three finals against North Carolina, OSU lost the opening game and trailed by five runs in the second game before rallying for wins of 11-7 and 3-2 for the title.

 
Oregon State’s 50-16 season set a school record for wins for the second straight season, and the Beavers refuse-to-lose style of play captured the hearts of not only those watching in Omaha, but college baseball fans across the nation.

 
After the 2006 season, Oregon State signed Casey to a new 10-year contract to guarantee his future in Corvallis. Casey had become an attractive candidate for coaching vacancies at a number of high-profile schools given the Beavers’ amazing success.

 
In retaining Casey, Oregon State instantly kept its most successful coach in Corvallis. It also allowed the Beavers to have the knowledge they have one of the most recognized coaches in the nation. In 2006, after winning the team’s first title, was Casey was recognized as the National Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA).

 
In 2005, he was named the Pac-10’s Coach of the Year after guiding the Beavers to their first of two straight conference titles. He earned the honor again in 2006 with the second title. In both years, he was recognized as the ABCA’s West Region Coach of the Year.

 
With back-to-back titles comes increased exposure. For the second time under Casey’s tenure, Oregon State has expanded the Beavers’ home field, and both times, Casey has been a driving force behind the renovations.

 
In 1999, Oregon State expanded what is now known as Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, adding increased seating, improved locker rooms and a full press box.

 
And Casey and the Beavers have rewarded the fans with increased chances to watch the team play. In each of their three College World Series years, the Beavers played a super regional at venerable Goss, and it has paid off. Oregon State has gone 6-1 at super regionals in Corvallis, defeating USC, Stanford and Michigan.

 
In 2005 and 2006, Casey earned both the Pacific-10 Conference and NCAA West Region Coach of the Year honors for guiding the Beavers to back-to-back Pac-10 championships and berths in the CWS.

 
Since Casey became Oregon State’s head coach prior to the 1995 season, the Beavers have moved into a prominent position on the national scene.

 
OSU has had players earn spots on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team eight times, earn All-America honors 17 times, and had players taken in the top 10 rounds of the Major League Baseball draft 38 times - including first-rounders Jacoby Ellsbury in 2005 and Kunz and Canham in 2007. Ellsbury became Oregon State’s first former player to win a Major League World Series when he and the Boston Red Sox won their second title in four seasons in 2007.

 
In 2005, OSU had been picked to finish sixth in the Pacific-10 in the annual coaches poll; Casey guided the Beavers to the Pac-10 championship and the College World Series. OSU’s 46-12 record was a school record for wins in a season, the Beavers’ No. 7 finish in the the final polls was Oregon State’s highest ever, and OSU’s No. 2 ranking during the season was the highest it had ever climbed in the national rankings.

 
Casey was also named Co-Coach of the Year in the Pacific-10 Northern Division for the 1997 season, and the Beavers have set numerous school records during Casey’s time at OSU.

 
Casey was instrumental in the drive to build Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, the 1999 renovation to Oregon State’s longtime ballpark. The OSU head coach was heavily-involved in fundraising for the $2.3 million project; when the go-ahead was given for construction, he had a hand in the ballpark’s design to assure that it would be one of the most user-friendly facilities in college baseball. In 2002, the ballpark also received its first set of lights for night play.

 
For the 2007 season, a new scoreboard with video replay capabilities and a new FieldTurf infield were installed at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. In all, Casey has been a guiding force in each step of renovation at Goss, and those improvements have made the picturesque ballpark one of the finest in the nation and in the Pac-10.

 
Oregon State hired Casey in the summer of 1994, asking him to follow in the large footsteps of Jack Riley, who retired after 22 seasons as head coach.

 
Most of the key players from OSU’s 1994 Northern Division pennant-winning team had graduated, but Casey’s first season saw the Beavers battle to a winning record of 25-24-1 in 1995. That set the stage for one of the finest three-year runs in the long history of baseball at Oregon State.

 
In 1996, the Beavers posted a 32-16-1 record and went into the final weekend of the season with a chance to win the Pac-10 Northern Division pennant. In 1997, Oregon State set a school record for wins in the regular season with a record of 38-12-1 and took postseason hopes into the final weekend.

 
In 1998, Oregon State broke into the national rankings for the first time in four years and went 35-14-1. The season included series sweeps of Arizona, which was ranked in the top 10 at the time, and UCLA.

 
In 2001, Oregon State again made a strong bid for the postseason, finishing with a 31-24 record. OSU had five wins over teams ranked in the final Baseball Weekly/USA Today coaches poll of the regular season and had a 10-9 record against schools selected for the NCAA Regionals.

 
In 2004, OSU’s 7-0 start was the school’s best in 42 years. That team had a then-school-record six players selected in the MLB draft and another signed as a free agent, and it set the stage for the magic of 2005 and 2006.

 
Casey came to OSU after seven seasons at George Fox College, a NAIA school in his hometown of Newberg, Ore. Under Casey, the Bruins went 171-113-1 (.602) overall and were 155-54-1 against NAIA competition; they won three District 2 titles, five Metro Valley Conference titles and two Cascade Conference titles.

 
During his time at George Fox, Casey was named Coach of the Year three times in District 2, four times in the Metro Valley Conference and twice in the Cascade Conference.

 
Casey earned his bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from George Fox in 1990. He played for the University of Portland from 1978-80 and was a first-team All-NorPac Conference outfielder his final two seasons. He was a second-team All-Region selection in 1980. He also lettered in basketball one season.

 
After being drafted in the 10th round by the San Diego Padres in 1980, Casey played seven professional seasons. He reached Class AAA with the Calgary Cannons in 1985-86 and the Portland Beavers in 1987.

 
After concluding his professional playing career, Casey took over George Fox’s baseball program; while coaching the baseball team, he  also played basketball for the Bruins while completing his degree.

 
Casey, 53, was born in McMinnville, Ore. He graduated in 1977 from Newberg High, where he starred in football, basketball and baseball.

 
He and his wife, Susan, have four children - Jonathan (26), Brett (25), Ellie (21) and Joseph (14).