24
Fall 2011
UNCP Today
Athleics
Paul O'Neil bringing
baseball success back to the
university
By Todd Anderson
I
t would not surprise most people that baseball head coach
Paul O'Neil trotted onto the field following the final out in the
2011 Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship game at
historic Golden Park.
After all, his Braves had just completed an incredible
undefeated run through the tournament that capped one of
the most successful regular seasons in program history with an
automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. But the skipper was
more subdued than a majority of his players in the dog pile
between the pitcher's mound and home plate. For O'Neil, it was
the culmination of an 11-year construction project.
"It was a huge sense of accomplishment," O'Neil said. "It
was extremely gratifying. It wasn't only gratifying for me, but
for everybody that has been a part of this program for the last
11 years that has been out on the field and sweated through
practices and games, got their butt kicked and been at the bottom
of the league. It wasn't just for me, it wasn't just for the 2011
team, it was for all of the teams and for all of the players that
have been in our program."
For those not acquainted with the history of the baseball
program prior to O'Neil's arrival at Pembroke in 2001, the
Braves had rarely posed a challenge in the PBC since joining the
NCAA Division II. In fact, in the first eight years of the Braves'
membership in the then-Peach Belt Athletic Conference, the
Black and Gold had finished .500 or better on just one occasion
(24-24 in 1996). In 2000 the year before O'Neil made the trek
to southeastern North Carolina UNCP churned out a 17-36
record, including a 5-23 mark in league play.
Over 11 seasons, O'Neil's Braves had two losing seasons, in
2002 and 2004, and have finished in the top half of the PBC
in each of the last four seasons. Last year, O'Neil became the
program's all-time winningest coach with his 339th win in
Pembroke coming with a triumph in the second half of a home
doubleheader with Chowan in late April. He passed former
skippers Harold Ellen (331 wins) and Danny "Doc" Davis (338)
with UNCP's 44-win outburst in 2011. In 11 seasons wearing
black and gold, O'Neil has accumulated a 347-245-1 record.
"For the most part, in the last 10 years before I got here, this
program hadn't had much success," O'Neil said. "When I got
here, we tried to cultivate a different image throughout the state
of where we were going with the baseball program. I think that
was the biggest challenge. (Previous head coach) Danny (Davis)
did a good job with this program, but I don't think he had the
resources available to him that we have now."
To say it has been a journey has been an understatement.
Although leading the Braves to their first winning season in 10
years during his first season in 2001, UNCP posted losing records
in two of the next three seasons and finished in the bottom
third of the conference during those campaigns. Behind the
outstanding hitting of Barrett Otto and freshman Jason Morales,
and the phenomenal pitching of Tyson Van Dam and Sandy
Jacobs, the momentum would swing in the favor of UNCP in
2005. The Braves went on to match a school record with 31 wins
that season the first of a run of seven-straight years with 30 or
more wins.
Over the next seasons, the improvement was set in stone.
UNCP shattered a school record with 32 wins in 2006, and then
eclipsed it with 33 wins in 2008, while winning multiple all-PBC
laurels (Morales and closer Ryan Kirkman) for just the second
time in the history of the program, while Morales also picked up
the baseball program's first NCAA All-American honor. In 2009,
2011
PBC
Tournament
Champions