Eric Kibler started the baseball program at Horizon High School in Phoenix, Arizona in 1980, and over the course of 38 seasons, he went on to become the all-time wins leader in Arizona high school baseball history and capture multiple state titles.
Kibler amassed 881 career victories, with 808 of those wins coming at the helm of Horizon High School, good for the most in state history. His Horizon teams captured six 5-A state championships, finishing runner-up three times, to go along with 20 regional championship victories.
The five-time Arizona Baseball Coaches Association (AzBCA) State Coach of the Year mentored three first round MLB draft picks and had 28 former players advance to professional baseball. More than 150 of his players went on to play college baseball, and in 2019, Horizon honored Kibler by retiring is No. 1 jersey.
Kibler has an extensive history with USA Baseball. After leading the 16U National Team to a gold medal at the 2010 Pan Am Games, Kibler was honored by USA Baseball with their prestigious Rod Dedeaux Coach of the Year Award. In addition, he served as an assistant coach on the gold medal-winning 16U team in 2009 and the 18U team in 2015.
He developed and designed the USA Baseball National Development Program (NTDP) and has served as the field coordinator for numerous NTDP teams, including the inaugural 14U and 17U NTDP teams in 2012. For his efforts, he was named the 2012 USA Baseball Developmental Coach of the Year, an award which is given to the manager or coach who most prepares his players for the next level of baseball and their future.
Kibler also wrote the high school coaching manual for USA Baseball which was developed to support high school coaches around the country in their quest to provide a positive, development-based experience to their student-athletes.
Since 2018, Kibler has also served as a Sport Development contributor for USA baseball, assisting with the organization’s educational efforts. He currently runs the Arizona School of Baseball in Scottsdale, Arizona, which focuses on the development of youth athletes in the area.
He is a member of the AzBCA Hall of Fame, the Arizona High School Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame and was inducted into the National High School Baseball Coaches Association in 2019.
