Denning Guided Tommies To Two Div. III National Championships
St. Paul, MN Dennis Denning, a legendary baseball coach in Minnesota for parts of five decades, has announced plans to retire from the University of St. Thomas (Minn.), effective Feb. 1.
Denning took the St. Thomas baseball program to new heights during the last 15 seasons. His Tommie teams won NCAA Division III championships in 2001 and 2009 and claimed national runner-up finishes in 1999 and 2000.
Denning, who turned 65 last week, won 80% of his games and recorded 901 victories at St. Thomas (1995-2009) and Cretin-Derham Hall (1978-94). At UST, his 522-157 overall record (.769 win%) was the best mark since 1995 among all NCAA Division III coaches.
Denning led St. Thomas to DIII national titles in 2001 & 2009
In each of the last 14 seasons, the Tommies have won either the regular-season or postseason title in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC).
Prior to his Tommie era, he was head coach for 17 seasons at nearby Cretin-Derham Hall High School, where his Raider teams won six Minnesota state large-class championships, 15 St. Paul City Conference titles, and amassed a 379-76 record (.833).
Denning was named ABCA/Rawlings Division III National Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2009. The latest honor came last summer after his Tommies won six elimination games at the regional and national tournaments to capture the NCAA championship among 381 Division III programs. Besides the two NCAA crowns, Denning guided the Tommies to three other major feats. In 1999 they became the first MIAC team ever to reach the College World Series. In April 2001, St. Thomas became the first conference team to receive a No. 1 national ranking. In 2009, the Toms won an unprecedented seventh consecutive MIAC title.
St. Thomas qualified for the NCAA playoffs in 14 of 15 seasons under Denning and reached the region finals seven times. St. Thomas’ 72-36 postseason record in his era includes an impressive 16-6 record in four appearances in the College World Series.
Denning’s teams captured MIAC regular-season championships 11 of 15 times and also won the postseason tournament seven of the 10 years it’s been held. Under Denning, the Toms are 280-63 (.816) in all games vs. conference foes. That includes 150 regular-season conference doubleheaders (250-50 record) in which St. Thomas swept 104 twinbills, split 42 and were been swept itself just four times.
Denning’s 15-year run was also marked by 12 players being named Division III All-Americans and four voted CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.
“I’ve said it often, but Dennis is the best,” said St. Thomas athletics director Steve Fritz. “We knew we had something special when we hired him, and the results over these last 15 years speak for themselves.”
Fritz said St. Thomas expects to soon appoint an interim head coach for the 2010 season, and in fall 2010 open a search for a full-time coach.
(St. Thomas Release)