Allison Mueller/Winonan
Head coach Kyle Poock has helped shape Winona State University’s baseball team into the successful program that it is today.
Poock has been involved in and surrounded by sports ever since he was a little boy.
“My dad was a high school basketball and baseball coach. He was my little league coach, so I grew up in a gym and on a field,” Poock said.
Poock played basketball and baseball at Winona State. Here he won three letters in baseball and two in basketball as well as leading the basketball team in scoring for the 1982-83 season.
After graduating from Winona State in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, Poock played semi-pro baseball for the Green Bay Blue Ribbons from 1983-86. He earned the team’s MVP award his first year.
Prior to his head coaching position, Poock did a lot of coaching over the years, which he attributes to his dad as well.
“Ever since I can remember, all I’ve wanted to do was coach because of my dad,” Poock said. “I thought it was the coolest thing there was. I’ve been fortunate enough to do the same type of thing as him.”
Poock said that he has coached everything from professional baseball to T-ball.
“I started coaching T-ball in my hometown when I was 14 years old,” Poock said. “So I’ve been coaching along the lines of 39 years total.”
Poock taught and coached at multiple high schools for over five years and was an assistant coach at Wisconsin-Stevens Point for three years, which included the American Legion team for two years.
In 1997 Poock earned a master’s degree in physical education from Winona State and was an assistant coach for the Warriors’ baseball team for nine seasons.
While he was an assistant coach, the team won five NSIC regular season championships and the NSIC Tournament Championships in 1998 and 2000.
In May 2002, Poock was named head coach for the Winona State baseball team and has produced winning seasons ever since.
While under Poock’s head coaching, the Warriors have had ten consecutive appearances in the NSIC Tournament. They have also been to the NCAA Regional Tournament four times.
In 2011, the Warriors had one of the best seasons in history, with an overall record of 42-18. That year, Winona State played in the NCAA Central Region Championship and made it to the NCAA Division II National Championship for the first time in the program’s history. At the National Championship game, the Warriors won their first three games of the tournament.
Poock contributes the Warriors’ success in 2011 to the team’s hard work and dedication.
“We had some seniors on that team that you just knew it was going to be their year,” Poock said.
Poock has recruited and coached some of the top baseball players in the nation over the years, seven of which earned all-conference selections and other titles such as National Player of the Year, All-American and Newcomer of the Year.
On March 6, 2013 Poock reached 300 career wins after beating a ranked Grand Valley State team. He and the team set yearly goals that contribute to accomplishments like this.
“If you accomplish the goals you set and you coach long enough, you’re going to reach some of those milestones,” Poock said. “We’ve had a lot of really great players, and that’s the biggest reason for these career wins.”
Poock also said the combination of his knowledge of the basics of baseball and the importance of having fun have played a large role in his coaching success.
“I like to make sure that we have fun playing,” Poock said. “The reason that I had played for so many years is because it was always fun, so I try to keep that atmosphere as a coach.”
Not only is Poock the head baseball coach at Winona State, he is also an assistant professor in the department of health and human performance.
In addition he is currently a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association
Division II Baseball Central Region Committee.
Given Poock’s success as a coach over the years and the passion he has for the game, we can predict nothing less than another successful baseball season for the Warriors.
