Greg Bradley enters his 19th and final season as Pacific’s head baseball coach aiming to finish his career with the same level of success the Boxers have experienced over the last decade.
The longest tenured Northwest Conference baseball coach, Bradley announced last May that he will retire following the 2014 season after 21 years connected with Pacific baseball and a quarter-century of service to the university in various capacities.
In his tenure leading Pacific baseball, Bradley has developed a level of consistent success not seen in the program since the 1970s. Since 2000, Pacific has finished with 20 or more wins six times, capped by a record-setting 25 wins during the 2002 campaign.
Bradley experienced his greatest success with the Boxers in 2012 as Pacific claimed their first Northwest Conference championship since 1979. The team’s 19 conference wins set a school record and the team won an amazing 15 games on their home field, Chuck Bafaro Stadium at Bond Field. Nine players were named to the All-NWC Team, led by the selection of Jared Van Hoon as a first team utility player and relief pitcher. Van Hoon and pitcher Rob Dittrick were also named to the D3Baseball.com and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-West Region teams.
On Mar. 16, 2013, Bradley became just the second head coach in program history and just the fourth coach in Pacific athletics history to amass 300 wins, gaining the milestone victory with a 19-3 rout of Lewis & Clark.
In his career, over 50 of Bradley’s players have been named to All-NWC squads, with a total of 24 first team selections, and 10 players have been tabbed for all-west region squads by the ABCA or D3Baseball.com squads over the last eight years. In addition, three of Bradley’s charges have been honored with Rawlings All-West Region Gold Glove awards.
Since moving with the Boxers into their new facility, Chuck Bafaro Stadium at Bond Field, Bradley has continued to establish a firm course of success. The Boxers have won no fewer than 15 games in each of those seasons, topped by last year’s 22-win campaign.
Bradley, who began his tenure in 1996 and inherited a team that went above .500 three times since 1979, led the 2002 Boxers to an all-time best record of 25-13 and finished only one game out of the Northwest Conference championship with a 15-8 mark. The team shattered season marks for home runs and grand slams, while three individual season records were tied or broken.
That 2002 team also saw three selections to the ABCA All-West Region Team, the selection of Boxer outfielder Kevin Roth as the conference's Player of the Year, and the election of nine Boxers to the All-Northwest Conference Team for the second straight season.
The triumphs of the recent past have been a long time coming from Bradley, who assumed head coaching duties just before the start of the 1996 campaign. Prior to becoming skipper, Bradley was an assistant coach under legendary Boxer coach Chuck Bafaro and an assistant men's basketball coach under former headman Ken Schumann.
In July 2010, Bradley also assumed duties as the University’s athletic facilities manager. In that role, Bradley is in charge of the maintenance and upkeep of Pacific’s award-winning venues, including the Stoller Center, Lincoln Park Athletic Complex and the Holce Tennis Courts. Bradley took the position after a distinguished career as a physical education teacher at Beaverton’s Sunset High School.
A 1975 graduate of Oregon State University, Bradley began his coaching career at Sunset High School, where he guided the Apollos to the 1985 quarterfinals of the Oregon state baseball tournament. His efforts earned Bradley Metro League Coach of the Year honors.
A native of Pasadena, Calif., Bradley and his wife, Brooke, live in Beaverton. Bradley is the father of four children, Kyle, who played two years under his father at Pacific, Ryan, Megan and Donnie, who currently plays for his father at Pacific.
