WESTMINSTER, Md. – David Seibert '78 has announced that he will retire after 38 seasons as head baseball coach, announced by Director of Athletics Paul Moyer on Friday.
"On behalf of the College, I want to thank Dave for his many years of dedicated service to his alma mater," Moyer said. "He has had tremendous success as a coach and has been a valuable faculty member in the Kinesiology department for his entire career. We are grateful for Dave and his dedication to McDaniel athletics and the College."
The Dean of Green Terror coaches, Seibert took over the reins of the baseball program in 1981 – just three years after graduating from then-Western Maryland. He also served more than 20 years as an assistant football coach, including 14 seasons as defensive coordinator and four years as quarterbacks coach, coaching two of the Centennial Conference's best signal-callers – Brian Van Deusen and Ron Sermarini.
"I've really enjoyed my coaching and teaching career at McDaniel College," Seibert said. "It has never felt like a job to me. I've thoroughly enjoyed my association with the people of the College community and I've been blessed over the years with a great group of student-athletes. I've also really appreciated the tremendous support of the baseball program by the alumni and Friends of Baseball."
In 1984, Seibert coached the Green Terror to the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship. In 1989, his squad won the Southwest League championship. In 1995, the team set a then-program record for wins in a season (19), resulting in Seibert being named Maryland's College Coach of the Year by the Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches.
In 2012, Seibert guided his Green Terror squad to its best year ever. The team amassed a 24-13 record for the first 20-win season in program history and returned to the Centennial Conference (CC) playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons and its first-ever postseason berth with an appearance in the ECAC South Championship.
The 2012 McDaniel squad also recorded its first perfect spring training trip with an 8-0 record in Winter Haven, Fla. The end of that stretch coincided with Seibert's 400th victory. The Green Terror added two more wins onto that streak for a program-best 10-game winning streak and later added a seven-game winning streak.
For an encore, the Green Terror made it consecutive 20-win campaigns. The squad finished 22-16 and advanced to the championship game of the ECAC South tournament.
McDaniel returned the postseason in 2015 with berths in the CC and ECAC tournaments, including advancing to the championship game as the top seed of the ECAC Southeast tournament.
In the 2016, Seibert took his squad to new heights, guiding the team to a 31-10 record. The 31 wins established a new program-best mark and was good enough to get McDaniel into the CC tournament once again, where the Green Terror captured its first tournament win.
With a 6-2 home win over Ursinus on the final day of the regular season, Seibert joined the 500-win club as head coach. Seibert enters the 2018 campaign with 515 triumphs.
In 2009, Seibert produced the program's first player to be drafted to play Major League Baseball. Harold Baines, Jr., son of former White Sox and Orioles great Harold Baines, Sr., was taking by his father's White Sox in the 45th round and spent the summer playing for the franchise's Advanced Rookie team in Bristol, Tenn.
Seibert has served as a senior coach lecturer in the Kinesiology department, including serving as the lone person to teach the popular fencing activity course. For years, he also taught the popular course, "America's Game: Baseball," which was offered as a first-year seminar.
Away from the College, Seibert is the director of the Central Pennsylvania Rotary International District 7390 Youth Leadership Conference. In 2017, he earned the Paul Harris Fellow recognition, which shows appreciation for and encourages substantial contributions to what was then the Foundation's only program, Rotary Foundation Fellowships for Advanced Study, the precursor to Ambassadorial Scholarships.
The 1978 graduate received his bachelor's degree in physical education and earned his master's degree in educational administration in 1981. As an undergraduate, Seibert played on both the football and baseball teams.
"Given the strength of the current team and the talented prospects who have already committed for next year, I am confident we will attract a highly competitive candidate pool," Moyer added. "We hope to have the position finalized before the end of the spring."
A committee to conduct a national search is currently being formed and will begin work soon for Seibert's replacement.
The Green Terror opens the 2018 season with a doubleheader at St. Mary's on Saturday, Feb. 24. The first game begins at 12 p.m. The regular season concludes at home with a doubleheader against CC-foe Swarthmore, beginning at 12:30 p.m.