Todd Is Winningest Coach In OSU History

Retiring head coach Bob Todd has a record of 897-471-2 at Ohio State. (Photo courtesy OSU)

COLUMBUS, Ohio - After 39 years as a baseball coach, including 37 years on the Division I collegiate level, Ohio State head baseball coach Bob Todd will end his coaching career at the conclusion of the 2010 season. The 61-year-old Todd informed his team, the defending Big Ten Conference champion and vying for a second consecutive championship, of his decision to resign from his position, and retire from coaching, Wednesday following the game with Louisville.

“I think I’m ready,” said Todd, the winningest coach in Ohio State history with 897 wins. “I always said I wanted a career and not just a job. I think I found that. I still feel good and I love this game because it has been a very enjoyable and prominent part of my life and that of my family, but I have always felt I’d rather leave this game too early than too late.”

“Bob Todd’s dedication and passion for Ohio State baseball is immeasurable,” Ohio State Director of Athletics Gene Smith said. “He has personified Buckeye Baseball for 23 seasons and has guided our program onto the national landscape. Most importantly, he has impacted countless numbers of young men that have played for us and his legacy will live through them. We will always appreciate everything he has done for The Ohio State University.”

CLICK HERE to see video of Todd speaking with Columbus area media about his pending retirement.

A Legacy of Achievement

There isn’t much that Todd, a 1971 graduate of Missouri with a master’s from Missouri-St. Louis, hasn’t experienced. He is a member of two Halls of Fame – the American Baseball Coaches Association (2009) and the Ohio State Varsity “O” (2008) – and earlier this season – Feb. 21 vs. Richmond – he coached his 1,000th victory, becoming just the 41st Division I coach to achieve the milestone.

Milestone accomplishments don’t begin to tell the story of Todd’s coaching legacy, which includes two years at Ritenour High School in St. Louis, Mo., nearly 10 years as an assistant coach to Gene McArtor at Missouri, four years as a head coach at Kent State, 23 years here at Ohio State and two stints as a coach with Team USA. The following achievements can help frame the career journey, though:

• Todd has never had a losing season in 27 years as a head coach.
• He has never won fewer than 30 games at Ohio State and he has won at least 40 games 11 times, including a school-record 52 in 1991 and 50 in 1999.
• He is the first and only five-time winner of the Big Ten’s Coach of the Year award.
• His teams have won seven Big Ten championships and eight Big Ten Tournament titles for 15 combined conference titles.
• Every player who has played four years at Ohio State has been a Big Ten or Big Ten Tournament champion.
• Seventy-two of his players have signed Major League Baseball contracts, 19 have been named All-America and eight have earned Academic All-America distinction.
• The Buckeyes have played in 13 NCAA Regionals under Todd and have hosted two NCAA Super Regionals.

Proud & Respectful Champions

The coach of Ohio State’s oldest varsity sport has emphasized pride, hard work and respect for both opponents and tradition as the key attributes for any player who puts on the school’s jersey and colors. That’s why his Buckeyes don’t just have a history of winning championships, they have a history of competing to the last out for championships. Who can forget…

• The 2007 team becoming the first sixth-seed to win the Big Ten Tournament;
• The 2005 team winning 15 of its final 17 games just to make the Big Ten tourney and then winning four more to qualify for the NCAAs;
• The finish in 2003 – winning the Auburn Regional – and coming within two wins of the College World Series despite losing Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and All-American Scott Lewis in the final Big Ten series;
• The 1999 team that won 50 games, won a school-record 21 consecutive games and broke new ground in college baseball by being one of two northern schools to host an NCAA regional;
• Ohio State coming within one win of the 1999 College World Series;
• The 1995 team winning three Big Ten Tournament games in one day – May 21 over Purdue and Minnesota twice – to win the championship;
• The 1994 squad’s best-in the nation 49-9 record, including a dominant 25-2 record in the Big Ten, the first of two 25-win Big Ten seasons (1999 was the other); and
• The 1991 team’s – Todd’s fourth at Ohio State – school-record 52 wins and NCAA appearance, ending an eight-year NCAA dry spell for the Scarlet and Gray.

Best in the Big Ten

No program in the Big Ten has won more games since 1988 than Ohio State, Todd’s first season in Columbus. In fact, no program in the Big Ten has won or accomplished more of anything than Todd’s Ohio State teams over the last 22 years. Consider these records and accomplishments since 1988:

• Ohio State has won more Big Ten championships – seven – than any other school.
• No team comes close to the eight Big Ten Tournament titles that Ohio State has won.
• Ohio State’s 13 NCAA appearances are tied for tops in the league with Minnesota.
• Ohio State was the first school to host an NCAA Super Regional and it is the only Big Ten school to host two Super Regionals.
• No team has more overall wins or Big Ten Conference wins than Ohio State’s 873 and 402, respectively.
• No coach has more Big Ten Coach of the Year honors than Todd’s five.

OSU’s 10th Coach

Just the 10th head coach in OSU history, Todd’s all-time head coaching record is 1,021-553-2. He was 124-82 at Kent State between 1984-87 and he is currently just three wins shy of 900 Ohio State wins with an 897-471-2 mark.

Todd’s teams are 392-224 in Big Ten Conference play. His teams have won 20 or more conference games six times and they have played in the Big Ten tournament 21 times, missing only once. Ohio State has played in the tournament the last 13 seasons, the longest current streak by any team and the Big Ten record.

Outside the Lines

Highly respected in college baseball, Todd has served on numerous national committees, most notably the prestigious NCAA Division I Baseball Committee, which he served from 1998-2004.

More importantly for the baseball program and Ohio State fans, Todd was the energy behind the building of Bill Davis Stadium, Ohio State’s 4,450-seat stadium that raised the bar for college stadiums in the Big Ten and sparked stadium upgrades throughout. The team is playing its 14th season in the stadium this year.

Todd and his wife, Glenda, have four grown children – Scott, a 1996 Ohio State graduate and a four-year baseball letterwinner; Jeff, a 1997 graduate and three-year baseball letterman at Southern Mississippi; Brad, a 2001 graduate and two-year wrestling letterman at Ohio State and Stacey, a 2003 graduate and three-time field hockey letterwinner at Ohio State.

Todd and Glenda reside in Worthington, a Columbus suburb, and they also have a home in Florida, which is about to be frequented a little more by the entire Todd family, a growing family that now includes seven grandchildren, all of whom are about to see “Grandpa” a little more.

(Courtesy OSU Sports Information)