Jeff Messer enters his 38th season as head baseball coach at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania in 2023. He has amassed a career record of 1,072-696-5 (.605) since taking over the program 1986, finishing the 2022 season with a 33-18 record and advancing to the program’s 13th NCAA Tournament appearance under his watch.
Messer will begin the 2023 season ranked 12th all-time in career victories among NCAA Div. II coaches and fourth among active NCAA Div. II coaches.
Following the Rock’s 19th season of 30 or more wins under his leadership, Messer was named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Coach of the Year for the eighth time in his career in 2022. He is also a two-time ABCA/Diamond Sports NCAA Div. II Atlantic Region Coach of the Year (2000, 2003).
Slippery Rock has made 28 PSAC Tournament appearances under Messer’s guidance, capturing 15 PSAC West titles and two PSAC Tournament titles while advancing to the NCAA Div. II World Series four times (1989, 1997, 2000, 2003). Since 1999, he has coached six Slippery Rock student-athletes to PSAC West Athlete of the Year honors, and he is the all-time winningest coach in PSAC history.
Messer has seen 13 former players selected in the MLB draft throughout his coaching career, including 2009 Daktronics Division II Player of the Year Matt Adams and MLB regular Lou Trivino. Dozens more Slippery Rock alumni have signed professional contracts in various minor league and independent leagues across the nation.
Messer’s program has also experienced success in the classroom, as Slippery Rock baseball has had more than 150 PSAC Scholar-Athletes and has had six players named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team since 1997.
In addition to his coaching role at Slippery Rock, Messer was also an assistant professor in Slippery Rock’s health and physical education department until 2008, when he relinquished his teaching role to focus solely on coaching.
A Massachusetts native, Messer played shortstop at Springfield College, graduating in 1980 with a degree in physical education before heading overseas to play professionally in Holland. He began his coaching career in 1983, spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Westfield State College (Mass.) under head coach Dave Jauss, before becoming an assistant at Oklahoma City University in 1985 under head coach Charley Lodes.
A Lifetime ABCA member, Messer currently serves on the ABCA Board of Directors after serving multiple terms as the ABCA NCAA Div. II chair and eventually serving as ABCA President in 2017.
