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updated 06/11/2008

  Rose-Hulman News Baseball Coaching Staff
 

Jeff Jenkins

* Athletic Director
* Head Baseball Coach

E-mail the Coach!

Jeff Jenkins, in his 20th year as head baseball coach at Rose-Hulman, enters his seventh year as director of athletics this season.  Jenkins previously served as the associate athletic director for 13 years.

Jenkins has rewritten the Rose-Hulman single-season school record for victories in baseball five times, including during the 2004 season for a team that won 36 games and the second consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Eastern Division baseball championship. 

Jenkins led the 2008 squad to the third NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in his era as Fightin' Engineer head coach.  Rose-Hulman earned 32 victories for the second best season in school history to help the Engineers earn a spot in the Mideast Regional that was held on campus.  Previously, the Engineers qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament in 1992 and 1996.

The Engineers won three of their last four SCAC Eastern Division titles, before transferring to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference in 2007.  Rose-Hulman also won four division titles in their eight years in the SCAC and has recorded 17 winning seasons in the past 18 years.

A Closer Look

Years at Rose-Hulman:  20th
Years of College Coaching:  23rd
Baseball Record:  470-287-1 (.621) at Rose-Hulman; career mark of 515-352-2
NCAA Tournament Appearances:
1992, 1996, 2008
Coaching Honors:
1999 -- SCAC Tri-Coach of the Year
1992 & 1996 -- ICAC Coach of the Year
1996-2001 -- Chairman NCAA III Mideast Regional Committee
College Coaching Experience:  
1990-present: Rose-Hulman
1989: Bethany College
1987-88: Heidelberg College
Education:  B.S., Ohio Northern University, 1981.

As associate athletic director for the decade prior to his promotion, Jenkins was one of several forces behind the college’s move to coeducational athletics in 1995, construction of the Sports and Recreation Center, and the school’s hosting roles in the NCAA III National Championships for women’s basketball, golf and indoor track and field.

Rose-Hulman's baseball facilities have also improved dramatically under Jenkins' watch.  His efforts helped the Engineers land the 2005, 2006 and 2008 NCAA Division III Mideast Baseball Regionals, which sent Wooster, Marietta and Adrian into the Division III World Series.  Lights were added to the facility in 2001, with new dugouts and a club-seat, press box structure completed in 2004.

Jenkins, who owns the most victories and highest winning percentage in school history (.621), has surpassed the 500-victory plateau for his college coaching career. His career record is 515-352-2, and his record at Rose-Hulman is 470-287-1.

Jenkins was named the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference’s Coach of the Year in both 1992 and 1996.  He earned the honor in 1996 after leading the Engineers to a school record 28 wins and the school’s third straight Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship. The Engineers reached the NCAA III Tournament in both 1992 and 1996, and won both ICAC regular season and tournament titles in 1996. 

Rose-Hulman also claimed the 1994 regular season ICAC championship and won the 1995 conference baseball tournament.  Prior to Jenkins’ arrival on campus, the Engineers had recorded just one 20-win season. In the previous 19 years, Rose-Hulman has recorded seventeen 20-win campaigns.

Rose-Hulman has also sent two players to minor league baseball under Jenkins. Pitchers Eric Tryon and Matt Sims continued their careers after earning their Rose-Hulman degrees, with Tryon reaching the AA level in the Cincinnati Reds organization.  Tryon, 1999 graduate Andy Cain and 2008 graduate Michael Matsui earned All-American honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association under Jenkins' watch.

Jenkins started his coaching career at Heidelberg College in Ohio in 1987, inheriting a team that won only six games in the four previous seasons. He led Heidelberg to 15 wins in his first season, and was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 1988. He coached at Bethany College (W.V.) one season before coming to Rose-Hulman.

The Urbana, Ohio, native and Ohio Northern University graduate chaired the NCAA III’s Mideast Regional Committee from 1996-2001. That committee makes the selection of participants for the NCAA III Tournament.

Jenkins and his wife, Cindy, have two sons - Travis and Justin.

E-mail: jeffrey.jenkins@rose-hulman.edu
Phone: (812) 877-8209
Fax: (812) 877-8407

Sean Bendel

* Assistant Baseball Coach
E-mail the Coach!

Sean Bendel begins his 11th season as assistant baseball coach at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology this fall. 

Bendel served as an assistant coach at Metropolitan State College for three years and received a bachelor’s degree in human performance, sport, and leisure in 1997.

He also served as an assistant football and baseball coach at Northglenn High School in Colorado from 1996-98 and has been involved in coaching at various levels for nearly 25 years.

The Engineers have compiled a record of 264-155-1 in the 10 seasons that Bendel has served as assistant coach.  Team accomplishments in the last decade include a school record 36 wins in 2004; a trip to the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament in 2008; and Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Eastern Division Championships in 1999, 2003, 2004 and 2006.

Bendel and his wife Kathleen relocated to Terre Haute in 1998.   Bendel earned a master's degree in physical education and coaching at Indiana State in December 1999.

E-mail: sean.bendel@rose-hulman.edu
Phone: (812) 877-8967
Fax: (812) 877-8407

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