Dave Schrage is an American baseball coach and former outfielder.[1] He played college baseball at Creighton University for head coach Dave Underwood from 1980 to 1983. He then served as the head coach of the Waldorf Warriors (1988–1990), Northern Iowa Panthers (1991–1999), Northern Illinois Huskies (2000–2002), Evansville Purple Aces (2003–2006), Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2007–2010)[2][3][4] South Dakota State Jackrabbits (2012–2016) and the Butler Bulldogs (2017–2022).[5][6]

Dave Schrage
Playing career
1980–1983Creighton
Position(s)OF
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1984St. Thomas (FL) (Asst.)
1985–1986Creighton (Asst.)
1988–1990Waldorf
1991–1999Northern Iowa
2000–2002Northern Illinois
2003–2006Evansville
2007–2010Notre Dame
2012–2016South Dakota State
2017–2022Butler
Head coaching record
Overall804–870–3 (NCAA) 61-66 (NAIA)
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
MVC Coach of the Year: 1995, 1997

Playing career

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Schrage played four seasons as an outfielder at Creighton from 1980 to 1983, earning all-conference and Academic All-American honors. He hit .400 or higher in both his junior and senior seasons.[5]

Coaching career

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After completing his degree at Creighton, Schrage accepted a position as a graduate assistant at St. Thomas, working for Paul Mainieri in 1984. The following season, he returned to Creighton as an assistant coach before coaching the Queensland Rams club team in Australia. He earned his first head coaching job at Waldorf, then a junior college in 1987. After three seasons and a 61–66 record, Schrage moved to Northern Iowa. He would remain with the Panthers for nine seasons, improving the team's win totals from 2 to 18 during his tenure and earning a pair of Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year awards. He would be honored as the only person to be named All-Conference and Coach of the Year in baseball by the MVC at their Centennial Celebration.[5] From 2000 to 2002, Schrage served as head coach at Northern Illinois. He took over a team that recorded only 4 wins the previous season and guided them to 24 wins in his first year and a winning season in his second. He was named runner-up for the National Coach of the Year Award by Collegiate Baseball.[6] Schrage then moved to Evansville, where he led the Purple Aces to 130 wins and a regional final in the 2006 NCAA tournament. Schrage then earned what he called his dream job, succeeding Mainieri as head coach at Notre Dame.[7] Prior to coaching a game, his wife Jody died from cancer.[8] Schrage was not able to continue Mainieri's success with the Irish, and was fired after four years. He was hired to coach the Jackrabbits in the summer of 2011.[5] After coaching the Jackrabbits to a 136–144–1 record over the past 5 seasons, on July 5, 2016 he was hired to be the head coach of Butler University within the Big East conference.[1] Retired from coaching on 5/21/22

Head coaching record

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Below is a table of Schrage's yearly records as a head baseball coach.[9][10][11][12][13]

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Waldorf Warriors (Iowa Community College Athletic Conference) (1988–1990)
Waldorf: 61–66
Northern Iowa (Mid-Continent Conference) (1991)
1991 Northern Iowa 13–44 1–9 3rd (Gray) Mid-Con Tournament
Northern Iowa Panthers (Missouri Valley Conference) (1992–1999)
1992 Northern Iowa 22–34 2–17 8th
1993 Northern Iowa 12–39 1–20 8th
1994 Northern Iowa 24–32 5–16 T-7th
1995 Northern Iowa 24–32 12–20 T-7th
1996 Northern Iowa 26–32 13–19 6th MVC Tournament
1997 Northern Iowa 32–23 18–8 2nd MVC Tournament
1998 Northern Iowa 26–30 9–22 8th
1999 Northern Iowa 28–26 13–17 7th
Northern Iowa: 211–292 74–148
Northern Illinois Huskies (Mid-American Conference) (2000–2002)
2000 Northern Illinois 24–33 11–15 3rd (West) MAC Tournament
2001 Northern Illinois 28–27 10–17 T-5th (West)
2002 Northern Illinois 23–32 11–14 5th (West)
Northern Illinois: 75–92 32–46
Evansville Purple Aces (Missouri Valley Conference) (2003–2006)
2003 Evansville 24–31 12–20 9th
2004 Evansville 28–32 12–20 T-5th MVC Tournament
2005 Evansville 35–22 12–12 4th MVC Tournament
2006 Evansville 43–22 16–8 1st NCAA Regional
Evansville: 130–108 52–60
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Big East Conference) (2007–2010)
2007 Notre Dame 28–28 11–15 7th (12) Big East tournament[a]
2008 Notre Dame 33–21–1 16–10 3rd (12) Big East tournament[b]
2009 Notre Dame 36–23 15–12 5th (12) Big East tournament[c]
2010 Notre Dame 22–32 10–17 9th (12)
Notre Dame: 119–104–1 52–54
South Dakota State Jackrabbits (Summit League) (2012–2016)
2012 South Dakota State 18–33–1 7–14 6th (7)
2013 South Dakota State 35–24 16–10 2nd (6) NCAA Regional
2014 South Dakota State 28–29 11–11 2nd (5) Summit tournament
2015 South Dakota State 33–23 17–11 2nd (6) Summit tournament
2016 South Dakota State 22–35 13–17 4th (6) Summit tournament
South Dakota State: 136–144-1 64–63
Butler Bulldogs (Big East Conference) (2017–2022)
2017 Butler 31–20 7–10 5th
2018 Butler 34–20 9–8 3rd
2019 Butler 26–26 6–11 6th
2020 Butler 8–6 0–0 Season canceled due to COVID-19
2021 Butler 14–23 8–13 7th
2022 Butler 20–35–1 4–16–1 8th
Butler: 133–130-1 34–58-1
Total: 804–870–3

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

  1. ^ The top 8 finishers of the Big East's 12 teams qualified for the tournament in 2007.
  2. ^ The top 8 finishers of the Big East's 12 teams qualified for the tournament in 2008.
  3. ^ The top 8 finishers of the Big East's 12 teams qualified for the tournament in 2009.

Personal

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Schrage's wife Jody passed away on January 9, 2007.[8] They had two daughters, Kaitlyn and Brianne.[7][14]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Tabs Dave Schrage to Lead Program".
  2. ^ "Dave Schrage Bio". Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  3. ^ Sean Stires (June 14, 2010). "Schrage Fired At Notre Dame". College Baseball 360. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  4. ^ "Dave Schrage Will Not Be Retained As Notre Dame Head Baseball Coach". Notre Dame Fighting Irish. June 14, 2010. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  5. ^ a b c d "Dave Schrage Bio". South Dakota State Jackrabbits. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  6. ^ a b "SDSU hires former Notre Dame baseball coach Dave Schrage". Brookings Register. Brookings, SD. August 11, 2011. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  7. ^ a b Marlen Garcia (May 10, 2007). "Notre Dame coach Dave Schrage stays strong". USA Today. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  8. ^ a b "Notre Dame baseball coach's wife dies". ESPN. January 9, 2007. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
  9. ^ "Yearly College Baseball Standings". BoydsWorld.com. Boyd Nation. Archived from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  10. ^ "MAC Tournament History" (PDF). MAC-Sports.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 9, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  11. ^ "2014 The Summit League Baseball Record Book" (PDF). TheSummitLeague.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 9, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  12. ^ "2014 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Record Book" (PDF). MVC.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  13. ^ "2014 The Summit League Baseball Standings". D1Baseball.com. Jeremy and Cynthia Mills. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  14. ^ Jacob Boyer (July 29, 2008). "Baseball in the blood". Wednesday Journal. Retrieved November 12, 2013.