Biola University Head Coach John Verhoeven enters his 16th season at the helm of the Eagles’ baseball team as the program’s all-time winningest coach with an impressive record of 521-275-6 (.653 winning percentage).
Verhoeven took over a team that had just 13 winning seasons in the previous 38 seasons including three in the 16 years prior to his arrival. But he quickly righted the ship and guided the Eagles to GSAC titles in each of his first four seasons, culminating in the team’s first-ever trip to the NAIA World Series. It would be the first of three trips to the World Series for Biola.
|
Verhoeven's Record at Biola |
Year
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
TOTAL
|
Overall
34-16-0
37-11-3
34-18-0
46-13-0
24-22-1
41-17-0
34-13-1
45-11-1
38-15-0
30-24-0
35-18-0
35-24-0
24-22-0
38-22-0
26-29-0
1116-1076-6
|
GSAC
19-5 (1st)
24-6 (1st)
20-10 (1st)
23-5 (1st)
15-13 (5th)
19-9 (2nd)
20-8 (2nd)
27-3 (1st)
22-10 (2nd)
19-17 (5th)
23-13 (3rd)
23-13 (3rd)
16-20 (7th)
25-11 (2nd)
18-14 (3rd)
313-157 |
Playoffs
NAIA NW/Far West Regional
NAIA NW/Far West Regional
NAIA Region II Tourn.
NAIA World Series
NAIA World Series
NAIA Region II Tourn.
NAIA World Series
NAIA Region II Finals
NAIA Region II Tourn.
NAIA Region II Tourn.
NAIA Opening Round
NAIA Opening Round Final
NAIA Opening Round |
|
For his efforts, Verhoeven has been named GSAC Coach of the Year five times (1998, 99, 2000, 01, 05) and NAIA Region II Coach of the Year twice (2001, 2005).
Verhoeven has led the Eagles to five GSAC titles and to top-three finishes in the conference in 11 of 14 seasons in the league. Overall, the team is 295-143 (.674 winning percentage) in GSAC contests. In addition, he has helped Biola reach the postseason in all but two seasons.
Twenty players have signed major league contracts during his 14 years as skipper of the Eagles, including 13 players who were drafted in the MLB Draft. Verhoeven, who was a 12th-round draft pick out of the University of La Verne, played with the California Angels, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins from 1977-81. He compiled a lifetime 3.76 ERA in 99 games and retired after the 1982 season.
In 1991, Verhoeven started his coaching career with a four-year stint as the pitching coach as Cal State Dominguez (1991-94). While with the Toros, he turned around a pitching staff that had just posted its worst-ever ERA (5.92) to a new school-record ERA of 3.43 in 1991. He helped CSUDH pitchers better that mark in 1994 as the Toros had the eighth-best ERA in the country at 3.23 as the team won the CCAA championship and reached the NCAA Regional tournament.
Verhoeven joined the staff at Pepperdine in 1996, helping the Waves pitching staff post a 3.16 ERA and strikeout 333 batters to just 144 walks in 444 innings of work.
After one season as the pitching coach at Loyola Marymount University, Verhoeven became the eighth coach in Biola history over the summer of 1997.
From 1984-91, Verhoeven owned and directed the Grand Slam USA Baseball Academy in Anaheim, a highly regarded baseball school which produced numerous top college, minor and major league players.
A 1970 graduate of Valley Christian High School in Cerritos, Verhoeven played three years at Westmont College in Santa Barbara compiling a 21-10 record and a 2.25 ERA before completing his collegiate career at La Verne College. With the Leopards, Verhoeven earned NAIA First-Team All-America honors with a 14-1 overall record, posting a 1.17 ERA while striking out 115 and walking 19 in 118 innings. In the spring of 2000, John was named to the All-Century La Verne Baseball Team.
