Coach Price secures 1,000th win

Danny Price, the man who recorded FIU baseball’s first hit and the program’s current head coach, reached his 1,000th win on March 10 at FIU-University Park during his 26th year at the helm. The historic 10-5 win over the Quinnipiac Bobcats of Connecticut was witnessed by the 421 fans in attendance as well as more than a dozen family members. With the win his record became an impressive 1,000-528. He is only the 15th active coach in NCAA Div. I to achieve this milestone.

“I tried to ignore it and not talk about it, but so many people helped me reach this point in my life that it would be disrespectful not to recognize it and appreciate it,” Price said in an article in The Miami Herald.

Price, who is married to the former Linda Hechtman and has two daughters, a son and two grandchildren, was the MVP of FIU’s first intercollegiate squad in 1973. The young man with the hot bat led the team with 79 base hits, a school record that stood for the next six years. Graduating with his bachelor’s degree in 1974, he joined the staff at Miami Central High School, becoming an assistant coach in baseball and football. He attended night school after practices and worked toward a master’s degree in health education, which he completed in 1976. Two years later, he was given the volunteer job of batting instructor and recruiter under then-head coach Tom H. Wonderling. With his help, FIU went on to break or tie 36 offensive records that spring and boast a team average of .318. After Wonderling left the university, Price was offered his current position in 1980, which he accepted readily.

“I think what has made him such a successful coach for so long is that he is an honest person, and he treats everyone with respect,” said assistant coach Tony Casas.

The team went 41-14 in Price’s first year at the helm, earning an NCAA Div. II World Series berth. The Florida Diamond Club named him its Coach of the Year and the City of Miami Commission honored him with a Proclamation of Excellence. In 1982, he set a new, single-season school record with 51 wins and earned the No. 5 national ranking in the Collegiate Baseball Div. II coaches’ poll. In 1983, the program made the jump to Div. I ball, where Price and the team continued their winning ways.

After winning at least 39 games each year from 1987 to 1990, the Golden Panthers headed to the Trans America Athletic Conference in 1991 where they finished their inaugural season with a 43-23 record, won the conference tournament, advanced to the NCAA Div. I Tournament for the first time in school history and turned Price into the year’s Trans America Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.

Four years later, FIU garnered 49 regular-season victories with a record 21-game win streak en route to capturing the Trans America Athletic Conference championship, attaining the No. 9 national ranking and finishing fourth at the NCAA Atlantic II Regional Tournament. Following that season, the TAAC named Price their Coach of the Year and the South Florida entertainment weekly New Times picked Price as its Collegiate Coach of the Year.

In the late 1990s, Price oversaw the planning and construction through the first and second stages of the team’s University Park stadium, helping to raise more than $100,000 in cash and gifts for the completion of all-weather batting cages within the stadium complex. He was honored in 1999 with the University Employee of the Year award from the Alumni Association and was a co-recipient of FIU’s A&P Employee of the Year Award.

In addition to coaching, he and his staff do speaking engagements, conduct free clinics and camps for local youth groups, spend hours on the phone with potential boosters and sell advertisements, sponsorships, concessions and even Christmas trees to benefit the program.

“In this day and age, I think longevity and loyalty has become a lost art,” said FIU Athletics Director Rick Mello. “Danny is an important thread in the fabric of this university.”

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