USA Baseball Names Soesbe as Assistant Coach
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
January 19, 1999
LAS VEGAS - USA Baseball announced today that UNLV head coach Rod Soesbe will serve as an assistant coach of the 1999 USA Baseball National Team. Texas A&M's Mark Johnson will serve as the head coach. The other two assistant coaches will be Jerry Kindall, who was former head coach at Arizona and current USA Baseball Senior Advisor to National Teams/Alumni Affairs, and Keith Madison, head coach at Kentucky.
Soesbe begins his 15th season at UNLV and on Sept. 10, 1996, he was named as the fourth head coach in UNLV baseball history. He spent 12 seasons as the top assistant coach to Fred Dallimore.
"It's a great honor to be chosen to the staff of the 1999 USA Baseball National Team," Soesbe said. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for the coaches I will be working with. It's also a great honor four our program."
In 1999, he begins his third season as the head coach. UNLV compiled an overall record of 31-24 last season which marked a .500 or better season for the 20th time in the last 23 seasons (1976-98). He has compiled a two year record of 55-55. Soesbe came to UNLV in 1985 and served as the team's hitting instructor, working with the infielders and third base coach.
In 1998, the UNLV offense ranked second all-time in school history with a .333 batting average and a .552 slugging percentage. A graduate of Las Cruces High School in New Mexico, he spent six years at Yavapai College from 1978 to 1983 before becoming the head coach at Lee College in Baytown, Texas in 1984. He was a two-time Arizona Junior College Coach of the Year in 1978 and 1979.
