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Gary Henderson (baseball coach)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gary Henderson
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamUtah
ConferenceBig 12
Record81–81–2 (.500)
Biographical details
Born (1961-02-03) February 3, 1961 (age 63)
Eugene, Oregon, U.S.
Alma materSan Diego State University
Playing career
1980Linfield
1982–1984San Diego State
Position(s)Pitcher
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1988San Diego State (JV HC)
1989Cal State Fullerton (Asst.)
1990Riverside CC (Asst.)
1991–1992Chapman (Asst.)
1993Chapman
1994Pepperdine (Asst.)
1995–1998Florida (Asst.)
1999–2002Oregon State (Asst.)
2003–2008Kentucky (Asst.)
2009–2016Kentucky
2016–2018Mississippi State (Asst.)
2018Mississippi State (Interim)
2020–2021Utah (Asst.)
2022–presentUtah
Head coaching record
Overall400–338–2 (.542)
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
1996 Collegiate Baseball National Assistant Coach of the Year
2012 SEC Coach of the Year [1]
2018 Perfect Game/Rawlings Coach Of The Year[2]
2018 National College Baseball Writers Association Coach Of The Year[3]

Gary Henderson (born February 3, 1961) is an American baseball coach and former pitcher, who is the current head baseball coach of the Utah Utes. He played college baseball at Linfield in 1980 and at San Diego State for head coach Jim Dietz from 1982 to 1984. He was the head coach of the Chapman Panthers (1993), the Kentucky Wildcats (2009–2016) and Mississippi State Bulldogs (2018).[4]

Playing career

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Henderson pitched one year at Linfield College before transferring to San Diego State University, compiling a 19–5 career record at the two schools.[5]

Coaching career

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Henderson started coaching at his alma mater, San Diego State, as the junior varsity head coach. He had assistant coaching stints at Cal State Fullerton, Riverside Community College, Chapman College (served as head coach for 1 season), and Pepperdine.

Henderson became an assistant at Florida in 1995. Following a trip to the 1996 College World Series, he was named the National Assistant Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.[5] With Henderson's assistance, Florida returned to the 1998 College World Series. After a successful stay at Florida, he moved back to the west coast as an assistant coach at Oregon State.

In 2003, he joined John Cohen's staff at Kentucky as the associate head coach. Following the 2008 season, Cohen accepted the head coaching position at his alma mater, Mississippi State, resulting in Henderson's promotion to head coach.[5]

In 2012, Henderson was named Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year.[1]

On June 1, 2016, Henderson resigned as Kentucky Baseball Coach, citing burnout due to the demands of being a head coach in the SEC.[6]

In June 2016, Henderson was named pitching coach at Mississippi State, re-joining John Cohen.

In February 2018, Henderson was named interim head coach at Mississippi State after Andy Cannizaro resigned due to off the field indiscretions. After a poor start, the team turned around and reached the college world series. As a result, Henderson was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Coach of the Year. Despite the success of the team, Mississippi State did not retain Henderson as head coach.[7]

On June 20, 2019, Henderson was named the associate head coach at the University of Utah.[8] When Bill Kinneberg resigned as head coach of the Utes, Henderson was elevated to head coach.[9]

Head coaching record

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Chapman Panthers (Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (1993)
1993 Chapman 22–32
Chapman: 22–32 (.407)
Kentucky Wildcats (Southeastern Conference) (2009–2016)
2009 Kentucky 28–26 12–18 5th (East)
2010 Kentucky 31–25 13–17 4th (East)
2011 Kentucky 25–30 8–22 5th (East)
2012 Kentucky 45–18 18–12 T–2nd (East) NCAA Regional
2013 Kentucky 30–25 11–19 4th (East)
2014 Kentucky 37–25 14–16 4th (East) NCAA Regional
2015 Kentucky 30–25 14–15 4th (East)
2016 Kentucky 32–25 15–15 4th (East)
Kentucky: 258–199 (.565) 105–134 (.439)
Mississippi State Bulldogs (Southeastern Conference) (2018)
2018 Mississippi State 39–26 15–15 T–3rd (West) College World Series
Mississippi State: 39–26 (.600) 15–15 (.500)
Utah Utes (Pac-12 Conference) (2022–2024)
2022 Utah 26–27–1 10–20 10th
2023 Utah 22–32–1 9–20–1 11th
2024 Utah 33–22 16–14 7th Pac-12 Tournament
Utah Utes (Big 12 Conference) (2025–present)
2025 Utah 0–0 0–0
Utah: 81–81–2 (.500) 35–54–1 (.394)
Total: 400–338–2 (.542)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

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  1. ^ a b "Cousino, Henderson Highlight 2012 SEC Awards". UK Athletics. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Henderson Named 2018 Perfect Game/Rawlings Coach Of The Year". MSU Athletics. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  3. ^ "NCBWA Tabs Henderson Coach Of The Year". MSU Athletics. Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  4. ^ "Gary Henderson, Assistant Coach". Mississippi State University. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  5. ^ a b c "Gary Henderson bio". University of Kentucky. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  6. ^ "Henderson Resigns as Kentucky Baseball Coach". UK Athletics. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  7. ^ "Mississippi State's Gary Henderson named NCBWA National Coach of the Year". 16 June 2018. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  8. ^ "Gary Henderson named Utah associate head coach". www.wkyt.com. Gray Digital Media. June 20, 2019. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  9. ^ Jay Drew (June 9, 2021). "Gary Henderson hired to replace Bill Kinneberg as Utes' new skipper". www.deseret.com. Desert News Publishing. Retrieved June 11, 2021.