ST. LOUIS ? After turning around an Indiana State baseball program that finished 18-32 in 2008 into the No. 2 seed in the 2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, ISU head coach Lindsay Meggs was named the 2009 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year on Tuesday, in a vote by the league's head coaches.
Meggs becomes the first Sycamore skipper to earn the award since Bob Warn won back-to-back honors in 1983 and 1984. In 2009, Meggs led his ISU squad to a 33-18 record overall and a 15-7 mark in Valley play after being picked to finish sixth in the league's pre-season poll. The 33 wins were the most by an ISU squad since 2003 and the team's second place finish in the conference standings was its best effort since 1998, when the Sycamores finished second to league champion Wichita State.
The third-year skipper also helped nine of his players earn All-Missouri Valley Conference honors including four players who earned first team plaudits: Brady Shoemaker (OF), Ryan Strausborger (UTL), Nick Ciolli (OF) and Joe Rodriguez (SP).
In his first season, Meggs coached the Sycamores to a 26-26 mark and a 7-17 record in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2007. In 2008, the Sycamores were 18-32 overall and 9-15 in the Valley and played one of the toughest schedules in the country.
Meggs took the reigns of the Sycamore baseball program in 2006, after spending the previous 13 seasons as head coach at California State-Chico, where he guided the Wildcats to two NCAA Division II National Championships and compiled an overall record of 538-228-4.
Meggs' Wildcats qualified for the World Series seven times in 10 years and also captured eight conference championships and seven regional crowns during that 10-year span. A two-time NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year (1997 & 1999), Meggs was named regional coach of the year seven times and captured conference coach of the year honors on seven occasions.
The Sycamores, the No. 2 seed in the 2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship, will face host and No. 3 Wichita State at 8 p.m. EST on Wednesday, May 20, in the opening day's nightcap.
