DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College has announced the hiring of Derek Woodley as the third baseball head coach in the past 24 years of the program. Woodley will begin his duties as the head coach effective immediately.

DC Athletic Director, Dr. Dick Kaiser, announced the hiring on Friday saying, “I feel very fortunate and honored to get Coach Derek Woodley on board. He brings a wealth of winning experiences to the program, an extremely high level of dedication and determination, and truly is an excellent fit for Defiance College and our baseball program.”

Woodley brings 14 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level with him to DC and most recently served as the assistant coach at Manchester College, where he helped guide the Spartans to a pair of appearances in the Heartland Conference Tournament in 2006 and 2007.

During his two years at Manchester, Woodley played a major role in the program’s recruiting efforts and was primarily responsible for the coaching of hitters, outfielders and catchers.

Prior to coaching at MC, Woodley spent 12 seasons at Bethany Lutheran College in Minnesota where he accumulated a 141-90 record, while winning three league titles, a pair of regional championships and two NJCAA Region XIII Coach-of-the-Year honors during a six-year stint as the Vikings’ head coach. Woodley was also an assistant at Bethany Lutheran for six seasons before taking over the reigns of the program and saw the team win four league titles and three regional crowns during that time.

“This search was centered around trying to find an individual that had winning experiences as a head coach and had worked at smaller colleges,” Kaiser stated. “Coach Woodley has been extremely successful as a head coach and has worked some 14 years in institutions very similar to Defiance College. His baseball, teaching and administrative background is a near perfect match for Defiance College.”

Along with an extensive coaching background, Woodley has served as the intramural director at Bethany Lutheran as well as Manchester and was also the Athletic Director at Bethany Lutheran for over two full years.

Woodley will be taking over a DC program which featured 12 freshmen on its roster in 2007, and is set to return 18 players. Among those returning will be six All-HCAC selections, including Tim Pitro, the HCAC Freshman of the Year.

In closing Kaiser added, “Our baseball program has a long history and is important to Defiance College. We are not that far off from competing with the top teams on a regular basis and it is my hope that Coach Woodley will be able to take us into the upper level of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.”