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Coaching Staff Head Coach Jim Callahan is now entering his eleventh season with the Fighting Bees. The son of John and Jeanette Callahan, he hails from Sherrill, Iowa, where he attended Dubuque Hempstead High School. A 1992 graduate of St. Ambrose, he played football and baseball. Callahan then served as the pitching coach at Western Illinois under the legendary coach Dick Pawlow while earning a Master's of Science Degree. In 1996, Callahan was hired as head baseball coach of the Fighting Bees and the results of his hiring immediately paid off. In his first year, Callahan led the Bees to a 42-17 record, winning the conference and regional titles in the process. The Bees finished second at the NAIA World Series as Callahan became the youngest coach to ever led a team to the World Series. That year, he was named Midwest Classic Coach of the Year and was voted Rawlings and Louisville Slugger's Region Coaches of the Year. Callahan repeated those honors again 2002 and 2003. When asked about the the coach of the year honors Callahan always responds, "I wish those awards would say Coaching Staff of the Year, I have always had outstanding coaches to work with. I couldn't have done anything without out people like Tony Huntley, Scott Motz, Brent Zaehringer, Bill Argo, Blake Hanna, David Yates, Andy Duyvejock, Christian Jackson, and Sean Johnson. All of these coaches worked very hard to make St. Ambrose Baseball what it is today." In the past 12 seasons, St. Ambrose University has won six Midwest Classic Conference Championships, two Midwest Regional Championships, and 2nd and 3rd place finishes at the NAIA World Series. Fighting Bee players have been selected to13 All-American teams, 17 All Region Teams, and over 61 All Conference selections. Fighting Bee players carried their success on the playing field right into the classroom. 112 baseball players were awarded Academic All-Conference honors, 54 were selected Academic All-Region, and 23 earn the NAIA highest honor of Academic All-American. Coach Callahan contributes all this success to one factor, "quality student-athletes". Callahan says, "Earning that many honors doesn't happen by chance. It takes a dedicated group of young men willing to make sacrifices to achieve a desired outcome". Jim and his wife Renee reside in Bettendorf with their two sons Jackson, Tyger, and daughter Maylee. Assistant Coach Tony Huntley hails from Rock Island, where he played four varsity seasons for Rock Island Alleman High School before going to Waubonsee Community College, where he was a two-time All-American. He then transferred to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), where he played under Don Kessinger (former Chicago Cubs short-stop). In 1995, he came to St. Ambrose to play short-stop for the 1996 NAIA National Runner-up Fighting Bees. He was voted two-time All-Conference before graduating in 1996 with a Sports Management-Business Degree. Coach Huntley then went on to play three seasons of professional baseball for the Evansville Otters, the Anderson Lawmen, DuBois County Dragons and 10 days with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at a Pre-Spring Training camp. Now entering his tenth season as Jim Callahan's Head Assistant, Coach Huntley is also the university's athletic facilities director. Coach Huntley graduated this past May 2005 with his Masters in Organizational Leadership and he hopes to someday coach his own program at the collegiate level. Tony and his wife Ellen (Grobarcik) reside in Eldrigde, IA with their 2 year old son Alexander Jacob (A.J.) Huntley and 2 month old son Maxwell Ryan Huntley and one dog, Chewie. Graduate Assistant/ Pitching Coach Sean Johnson Student Assistant Coach Neil Eigenbrod |
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| 518 West Locust
Street, Davenport, IA 52803 563/333-6000 or 800/383-2627 Published by: Communications and Marketing office, Copyright, All rights reserved. |
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