Jan. 19, 2010

OXFORD, Ohio - Miami University baseball head coach Dan Simonds has announced that former RedHawk George Stegmiller will serve as the honorary coach for the 2010 season. The honor is bestowed upon someone who has close ties with the Miami baseball program and displays the qualities of a Miami baseball player, such as character, integrity and leadership, in his life and in society.

George Stegmiller, who played for Miami from 1999-2003, will be the honorary coach in 2010.

Stegmiller, originally from Upper Arlington, Ohio, was a member of the RedHawks from 1999-2003, playing for then head coach Tracy Smith (during which Simonds was an assistant coach). He played all nine positions during his career and was named a captain his senior year. He played in 125 career games for Miami (not playing in 2001), while making 97 career starts and totaling 43 RBI and three home runs in four seasons. Most notably, Stegmiller was a member of the 2000 MAC Championship team that went on to make an appearance in the NCAA Regional Tournament and defeated Creighton before being eliminated. He graduated in 2003 with a B.A. in Psychology.

"I enjoyed many things about playing baseball at Miami, but the thing I enjoyed the most was the daily interactions with the quality people associated with the program," Stegmiller said.

After graduation, Stegmiller joined the United States Marine Corps in October 2004. He attended Officers Candidate School (OCS) in Quantico, Va. and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in December of the same year. He graduated from The Basic School (TBS) in June 2005, also in Quantico. Stegmiller spent the next two years in flight school, moving to Pensacola, Fla., Corpus Christi, Texas, and back to Pensacola, all the while training to become a Naval Aviator. He pinned on his "Wings of Gold" in June 2007 and moved to Camp Pendleton, Calif. to begin flying the AH-1W Super Cobra. He deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from November 2008 - May 2009 as part of the HMLA 369 "Gunfighters." Stegmiller was most recently promoted to his current rank of Captain and is set to deploy to Afghanistan in the spring of 2010 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

"Some of the best and most caring people I know are people that I met while I was a RedHawk," he continued. "The lessons I learned from these people are serving me well in my career as a Marine."

Stegmiller and his wife Kristen, who he met while attending Miami, currently live in Oceanside, Calif.

The team will honor Stegmiller Saturday, March 27, prior to Miami's 6 p.m. ballgame with Central Michigan (barring his deployment to Afghanistan), as he and his family will be brought back to Oxford for the ceremony. Stegmiller will throw out the honorary first pitch, while the ceremony is scheduled to include Miami's ROTC and the team will wear camouflage baseball caps.

--MURedHawks.com--