Stu Fritz, the winningest and longest-tenured coach in Hope College baseball history, has announced that he will retire following the 2024 season.
Fritz has guided the Flying Dutchmen on the diamond since 1994. Over 31 seasons and 1,124 games, Hope has won 652 games, earned 10 MIAA championships and made four NCAA Division III Tournament appearances.
During his tenure, Fritz also served as assistant football coach for 17 seasons and as an associate professor of kinesiology with a specialty in assessing Hope's future physical educators. He was president of the American Baseball Coaches Association for one year.
"My journey has been indescribable, not only from the coaching side, but also from the instructional side. From my point of view, there is just nothing better than being able to mentor young people during their college years," Fritz said. "To my department colleagues and Physical Plant friends, thank you. My heart is full. I leave at this time having had the honor to coach at an incredible institution and walk alongside so many fantastic young men through our baseball and football programs, specifically. Victories on the field have been fulfilling, but more importantly, seeing players victorious in their lives as men has been my wife Carol's and my biggest blessing. We have made this a way of life and to have her love and support has been a difference-maker for me and our student athletes. It truly brings me great pride to see how they represent our program and institution daily in the lives they lead. I'm looking forward to continuing to tell the Hope story and supporting Hope College for many years to come. Thank you to all who have contributed to my journey and added to my story, most importantly the numerous players and coaches. You truly are and will be my greatest joy in this profession."
Relationship Builder
Director of Athletics Tim Schoonveld said Fritz has been a transformational force on campus as a coach, professor, colleague and friend.
"Today is bittersweet for the athletic department and the college. We are so grateful to Stu and celebrate his amazing career. He has had a transformational impact on thousands of lives during his time at Hope," Schoonveld said. "While he has had a tremendous impact on the field, the real beauty of his career has been his ability to develop deep and meaningful relationships with those from all walks of life. Baseball players, students in his classes, colleagues across the country in the baseball world, and all of his colleagues at Hope have had their lives positively impacted through their relationship with Stu.I am so thankful for the legacy he is leaving behind within our program and campus," Schoonveld said. "He is a friend who has helped me in my role, has been a leader in our department, and can share the story of Hope and Hope athletics as well as anyone at the college. The impact of Stu and Carol on the lives of student-athletes at Hope will be felt for years to come. We look forward to enjoying this season with them and thank them for all they have done and are doing."
A search for a new head coach will begin this spring, Schoonveld said.
Fritz's overall record heading into the 2024 season is 652-468-2, a winning percentage of .575. He reached the 600-win mark on May 7, 2021, with a 6-4 victory at Boeve Stadium in Game 1 of a doubleheader vs. Trine University.
Fritz's teams have won nearly two-thirds of their MIAA games (444-246, .643). His 10 MIAA titles are the second-most in league history.
Hope claimed MIAA regular-season championships in 2022, 2013, 2007, 2006, 2003, 2001, 1999, 1998, 1997 and 1994. The Flying Dutchmen appeared in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships in 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2007.
"Unbelievable Mentor"
Associate head coach Chad Ruby has coached with Fritz for 25 years and played for him on Hope's MIAA championship teams in 1997 and 1998. Ruby called their connection through baseball for 30 years a blessing.
"I have been able to witness a guy who truly cares about the sport, his players and his college. He's been an unbelievable mentor but an even better friend during those years we've spent together, and I will really miss being on the diamond with him," Ruby said. "He's been the skipper of a successful program for just north of three decades and has been a genuine ambassador of the game. He has taught so many young men the nuances of the game but, more importantly, how it should be played, and how you should represent and respect yourself and the program on and off the field."
Pitching coach Rick Huisman rejoined Fritz's staff for the upcoming 2024 season after taking time to coach his own sons. He previously coached with Fritz for 12 seasons at Hope following his own professional baseball career, which included two seasons with the Kansas City Royals in 1995 and 1996.
Huisman reached out to Fritz when he landed in Holland in 1996 during an offseason and needed to find a catcher to prepare for spring training. A friendship started that led Huisman to become Hope's pitching coach after he retired as a baseball player.
"As someone who had spent many years of my life surrounded by coaches, watching the way Stu guided his teams through the successes and challenges that are a part of baseball is something I will never forget," Huisman said. "Of course, there is the winning record and the MIAA championships, but what I admire most about Stu is his ability to know who he needed to be to each player in each moment. Sometimes all he needed to be was 'Coach'. Other times he needed to be 'Dad' or 'Big Brother'. Trust me when I say, that is not a skill someone learns. It is something someone is, and that is Stu."
"Grateful" to Be Led to Hope
Fritz said he is grateful for a chance meeting that started a journey to Hope College for a native of Postville, Iowa.
"No one knows what their journey holds and I certainly didn't as a 25-year-old visiting a former coach at St. Olaf College in the fall of 1992, 31 years ago. It was there that I met Glenn Van Wieren, who quickly started introducing me to Hope College," Fritz said. "Looking back, I could have never begun to know the impact Glenn, Ray Smith, George Kraft, Nancy Miller, Jim Bekkering and Jack Nienhuis would have on my life. I can't thank them enough for taking a chance on me."
From 1993 through 2009, Fritz served as assistant football coach for the Flying Dutchmen.
During the summers from 1996 to 1998, Fritz coached a youth team through the Roberto Clemente All-Stars program in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In the summer of 2001, he coached a U.S. youth all-star team in Australia.
In 2007, he coached the Hope baseball team that played in the 26th annual "Prague Baseball Week" tournament in the Czech Republic. He also spent a week in Switzerland working with the Swiss Baseball Federation on two separate occasions.
In 2020, Fritz became president of the American Baseball Coaches Association after serving several terms as a vice president. He has also chaired the NCAA Baseball Championships national committee.
Before coming to Hope, Fritz taught in the Humboldt, Iowa, school system. He was an elementary physical education teacher, the high school baseball coach and the offensive coordinator for the high school football team. He led the Humboldt High School baseball team to a 72-30 record over four seasons, including a trip to the state semifinals in 1990.
Fritz graduated from Wartburg College (Iowa) in 1988 after lettering in baseball and football. He received a master's degree in sports administration from the University of Northern Colorado in 1992. He was named Wartburg's Alumni Coach of the Year in 1998.