Gene Stephenson
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Gene Stephenson is a legendary baseball coach at Wichita State. Through 28 seasons, he has compiled a 1552-511-3(.752) record. He has the second most wins among active coaches, and ranks third all time in career victories. Only Cliff Gustafson, and Augie Garrido have had more wins. He reached 1200 career wins in 22 seasons, which is faster than any coach in history. On May 21, 2003, he became only the third head coach in NCAA history to win 1400 games, and on May 21, 2005, he became only the second coach to win 1,500 games. Augie Garrido reached that mark two weeks later, and has currently surpassed his win total.
Under his leadership, the Shockers have made it to seven College World Series, including NCAA tournament appearances in 24 out of his 27 seasons, including 14 straight from 1987-2000. His teams have posted winning seasons every single year he coached, and have been by far the most dominant Missouri Valley Conference team. His 1982 team is widely considered one of the best teams in college baseball history. That team went 73-14, establishing an NCAA record for single-season wins. The team, with 4 first team All-Americans (7 overall), finished second to Miami in the CWS. Stephenson did get his first CWS championship in 1989.
The Shockers established a major rivalry against Oklahoma State, with the two schools meeting, usually with very high national rankings. His 1989 team, won a school record 24 games after starting off 0-1.
Prior to coaching at WSU, he served as the pitching coach at Oklahoma. During that tenure, the Sooners won five league championships, and went to five CWS's.
For most of the day on July 10, 2005, Stephenson was the head coach for the University of Oklahoma's baseball team. Several hours after accepting the job, Stephenson decided to instead remain at Wichita State, reportedly due to scholarship issues at Oklahoma.
