| Rick Ferchen, who has won
more than 700 games in 30 years as a collegiate baseball coach, was
hired to take over the Keuka College baseball
program. Oneonta State athletics photo |
Keuka (12-19) won 12 games in the 2013 season under head coach Michael Barry, the most in one year since 2006 as the Storm’s student-athletes bounced back from an 0-11 start with 12 wins in their final 20 games.
Knowing there is plenty of talent returning to Keuka Park and needing to fill the coaching vacancy with a proven leader, the Storm have hired longtime baseball coach Rick Ferchen, who has won more than 700 games in 30 years coaching at the Division I and III level, to oversee the Keuka baseball program.
Ferchen, who at the start of the 2013 season ranked 18th all-time among Division III coaches in wins, had amassed a career record of 715-497-17 (.589 winning percentage) in a 30-year career that saw him coach at Valparaiso (Division I), Hobart College (Division III) and most recently at Oneonta State (Division III).
“To be selected and offered this position, especially when there were so many talented candidates, I’m just honored to have the opportunity to develop Keuka into a consistent winner,” said Ferchen, whose coaching style earned him conference coach of the year honors six times in his career.
“Keuka was exactly what I was looking for in a coaching position. I enjoy the competition of Division III athletics, the philosophy and what it means to be a student-athlete. Keuka has an excellent reputation for academics and athletics, and I like the size of the school. I wanted the opportunity to develop another program into a winner, that’s been the story of my career, turning programs that may be struggling and transforming them into winners.”
Ferchen takes over a Green and Gold squad that closed the 2013 season strong, winning nine of its last 12 games. As a team, the Storm batted .305, led by Jon Borchert (Upper Arlington, OH/Upper Arlington), a third-team All-Region first baseman who equaled the school record for home runs in a season (7) and set school records for runs batted in (42), slugging percentage (.701) and total bases (82) during the 2013 season.
Led by Borchert, seven student-athletes batted .306 or better in 2013: Justyn Schuck (Hammondsport, NY/Hammondsport) batted .378, Billy McDermott (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) hit .359, Gavin Corbin (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) batted .348, Tom Fowler (Batavia, NY/Elba) hit .321, Kyle Dailey (Yonkers, NY/Yonkers) batted .317, and Kyle McVannan (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) sported a .306 average.
With the amount of talented student-athletes returning for the 2013-14 school year, Ferchen said he’s excited to get started on this latest career challenge.
“My philosophy has always been to develop successful student-athletes first, and winning second. I want to show these student-athletes I care about them, not the things they can do for me,” said Ferchen, who listed former Atlanta Braves/New York Yankees/Los Angeles Dodgers’ skipper Joe Torre as the Major League Baseball manager he most admires.
“We need to change the team culture at Keuka and get a different mindset of how to win and what it takes to be a winner. We need to learn to respect the sport and earn the respect and gain the trust of our teammates, our coaches and the college personnel. I want our players to have fun and I won’t be a micro-manager or a dictator coach. I’m not going to get our program turned around by myself; I’m not a miracle worker. We’re doing this together and I’m going to need the help of the student-athletes, the assistant coaches and the administrators to build this program together.”
Over 16 years as the head coach at Oneonta (from 1995 through 2011), Ferchen guided the Red Dragons to an overall record of 400-240-4. His teams appeared in 13 SUNYAC (State University of New York Athletic Conference) and 11 ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) tournaments and he was named SUNYAC Coach of the Year twice (2002 and 2006).
During his final seven seasons in Oneonta, Ferchen led the Red Dragons to three 30-win seasons, including the first-ever back-to-back 30-win seasons in school history in 2005 and 2006.
The 32 wins in 2005 were a school record and the Red Dragons followed that successful campaign with 31 wins in 2006.
The 2010 squad earned the school’s first-ever baseball NCAA tournament appearance after going 31-13. During the 2011 season, his last leading Oneonta, Ferchen became the 19th Division III head coach to reach 700 career victories.
Before coming to Oneonta, Ferchen took over a Hobart program that had not had a winning season in ten years. During his eight-year tenure with the Statesmen, Ferchen’s squads compiled a 168-120-5 record, won an Empire Athletic Association conference championship, an ECAC championship and made one NCAA Tournament appearance.
Ferchen’s coaching success earned him Empire Athletic Association Coach of the Year honors in 1988 and 1994.
Before his tenure with Hobart, Ferchen spent six years as the head coach at his alma mater, Division I Valparaiso, and led the program to a 147-137-8 record including four winning seasons and two appearances in the Mid-Continent Conference Championships. Ferchen twice garnered Coach of the Year honors.
A native of Niagara Falls, N.Y., Ferchen graduated from Valparaiso in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. He was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 1978 before deciding to continue his education and earning a master’s degree in arts and liberal studies from Valparaiso.
He said the chance to move closer to home (his wife, Mary Lou, is from Geneva and his children Kyle and Brianna are enrolled in college in Rochester at Monroe Community College and the College at Brockport, respectively) heavily swayed his decision to apply for Keuka’s coaching vacancy.
“Everything about the Keuka job was exactly what I was looking for and I’m excited to develop this program and compete for NEAC championships every year.”
“I like Athletic Director Dave Sweet’s vision for the department, and I liked what I heard from both Dr. Jorge L. Díaz-Herrera (president of the College) and Jim Blackburn (vice president for student development and dean of students) about their commitment to success. It was very exciting to see that kind of commitment and caring towards athletics. I’m going to come in running. The biggest challenge is in recruiting and cultivating relationships with potential recruits. We have a beautiful campus, the facilities are good and Keuka is just a hidden jewel that people need to take a look at.”