Maloney's March to 1,000 Wins, Part II: Rich Maloney, The Coach

By Adam Altobella, Athletic Communications Assistant

Through the first six years of the '90s, Ball State baseball struggled to find consistent footing, recording one winning season across that span. The spring of 1996, however, marked a pivot that altered the course of the program for decades to follow.

The Cardinals won 32 games that season, a 17-win uptick from the campaign prior. In the years after '96, the 30-win mark has been the standard in the program as the red and white have reached that mark 20 times since.

Nick Witte was an All-American pitcher for the '96 squad who was later drafted by the San Diego Padres for his nationally recognized performance. Ball State's former ace described the program's swift turnaround in remarkable terms.

"That year changed my life," Witte said.

The greatest change leading into the program-defining season was the hiring of a young, first-year head coach: Rich Maloney. The former star shortstop arrived in Muncie after a stint as an assistant at Western Michigan, his alma mater.

Ball State's hiring of Maloney paid dividends, literally, right off the bat. He directed the Cardinals to a 7-1 win over South Carolina-Aiken on March 3, 1996, in his head-coaching debut. A modest crowd of 89 onlookers saw the monumental occasion.

Now in his 30th season as a head coach and following last weekend's three-game sweep of his alma mater, 998 wins have come his way since. Just one more victory will make Maloney the 50th head coach in college baseball history to reach 1,000 wins while guiding a Division I program.

The passing of 28 years has muddled Witte's precise memories of Maloney's first win, but his recollections of what made the Cardinals successful that season remain intact.

"I will say this about that first game and the first opportunity to play with Rich," Witte said. "The whole mindset shifted from a team perspective: it was so positive. I guess that's my takeaway. I may not remember the details about that first game, but I do remember just the optimism in heading into that season under Rich."

In the eyes of Maloney's first crop of players, it was his philosophy of positivity that catalyzed the immediate turnaround for Ball State baseball. Blake Bevis, a star infielder on the Cardinals' 2025 roster, echoed the sentiment of his predecessors in the program, emphasizing the impact of Maloney's optimistic outlook on his coaching success.

"I think the main thing you'll understand from him is he truly cares about every single one of the guys on the team," Bevis said. "No matter if you're the first guy or the 36th guy on the roster, he genuinely cares about you."

Like other Cardinals of the past and present, Maloney's leadership and coaching pedigree were a strong factor in Bevis's commitment to Ball State—a University two states away from his home in Tennessee. Bevis was aware of his future coach's success early in the recruitment process as his father played alongside Maloney at Western Michigan.

"Hearing my dad's perspective on getting to play with him and getting to understand the person he was and the leader he was made me fall in love with this program and the player that I could turn into, and, more importantly, the person that I could be under his leadership," Bevis said.

During Blake's recruitment, the only advice I gave him was, "pick somebody who's going to be there long-term and be a good person," said Bob Bevis, a former pitcher.

Bob added, "The benefit of playing for Rich Maloney is he's not going to teach you just about baseball, he's a good Christian and he's also going to teach you about life. He talks the talk, but he walks it, too."

Maloney's passion and direction as a baseball coach inevitably led to positive results and a slew of accolades that spanned well beyond his initial successful season in 1996. Between his first (1996-2002) and second (2013-present) stints at Ball State and tenure at Michigan (2003-2012), he has amassed a resume that stands near the top in the sport's history.

His approaching milestone of 1,000 wins is an achievement belonging only to the most elite names in coaching. When Maloney reaches 1,000 victories, he will become just the 10th active Division I coach and the 69th in Division I baseball history to reach the mark. Perhaps Maloney's biggest coaching distinction, though, is that all 30 seasons and all 1,000 wins will have come with a Division I program. Many on college baseball's hallowed list of great coaches have earned wins with lower level programs, along their path.

Maloney has notched wins as a head coach only at Ball State and Michigan. Out of more than 300 head coaches at the Division I level, Maloney will become one of just six to record 1,000 wins with Division I programs, alone.

"Coach Maloney sets high standards for performance and accountability and approaches each practice and competition with a relelentless drive for excellence," said Ball State Director of Athletics Jeff Mitchell, a former college baseball player, himself. "This intentional approach to driving successful results keeps him sharp both as a tactician and as a technical expert when preparing our teams to compete."

Compete is what he has done with both consistency and excellence.

Excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Maloney has never failed to reach 30 wins in his time at Ball State.

Maloney's teams have made five appearances in the NCAA tournament—four at Michigan and one at Ball State. The Cardinals' most recent appearance came in 2023 after securing the MAC Tournament title. In addition to the recent postseason crown, Maloney-coached Ball State teams have produced five MAC regular-season championships.

"We truly have a special tradition at Ball State," Blake Bevis said. "I'm sure it was the same way when he was at Michigan, but there's just a strong winning tradition and high standard here, and just to be a part of the history, I think is something special."

Maloney's team accomplishments have correlated with individual successes for his players. In his years at Ball State alone, 30 pitchers and 11 position players have been selected in the MLB Draft. Six first-round picks, including 2002's No. 1 overall selection Bryan Bullington, are among the more than three dozen professional draftees during his tenures leading the Cardinals.

Perhaps most impressive has been his record developing those players into becoming draft picks. Of the six first-round selections he has coached from Ball State, only Bullington had been drafted out of high school.

That sentiment was echoed by his own former coach at Western Michigan, Fred Decker, who Maloney is chasing as the winningest coach in Mid-American Conference history.

"I think his best coaching attribute probably is his ability to see the potential in players, that other people don't see."

Witte was one of the 30 Ball State arms to be drafted in the two Maloney eras. He underscored the value in Maloney's experience as a college standout and minor league ballplayer in paving the way to his own endeavors in the professional ranks.

"He had just been freshly removed from what we were doing and where we wanted to go, so I had a lot of confidence in his messaging," Witte said of Maloney, just three years removed from a six-year career in minor league baseball when he was hired at Ball State. "He may have been new to coaching, but he's absolutely experienced in the game at a very high level."

Though evidence of Maloney's leadership sits in trophy cases and fills the pages of record books at both Ball State and Michigan, his current and former players say that the fruits of his coaching span beyond the baseball field.

"Coach Maloney is a great man who helps boys become men," said Alex Call, the 2016 MAC Player of the Year who is currently an outfielder with the Washington Nationals. "He is a great leader and a great example to follow. I had an amazing time at Ball State and it was a great place for me to develop and win games."

"Coach Maloney was more than an outstanding baseball coach to me," said Jon Kessick, a catcher and third-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles in 1999. "He was a mentor and a life coach. He believed in me and never allowed me to settle for less than my very best, on or off the field."

Bevis said his favorite moments of Maloney are those in which his head coach is teaching him—not about baseball, but about life. At Maloney's direction, every Ball State baseball player is required to read a pair of books before entering the program. Bevis said these texts, which the squad dissect as a unit, are of substantial value both on and off the field.

"You're always being fed good information," Bevis said. "I think that's unique; I feel like I don't hear about that kind of stuff a lot. He's just a guy that always feeds positivity into you."

Bevis is the leader of chapel gatherings on the team's road trips and a member of the squad's weekly Bible studies, which he said also positively impacts the spirit and mission of Ball State baseball.

Witte, like his contemporary in the program, said Maloney's philosophy is not just one of winning, but one also of genuine care for the development of those who play under his guidance.

"I think that's why Rich got into this. He didn't get into it to win ball games. He got into it to have a positive impact on generationa of young men coming under his wing of mentorship and guidance," Witte said.

Maloney's March to 1,000 Wins, Part II: Rich Maloney, The Coach

Players Mentioned

Blake Bevis

Related Videos