NCAA Division II College World Series National Runner-up (2005)
Awards
2016 American Baseball Coaches Association Lefty Gomez Award Winner Member of American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame University of North Florida Athletics Hall of Fame (2011) Inaugural Peach Belt Conference Hall of Fame Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year-1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005 Florida Sports Amateur Coach of the Year-2001
Jack Dusty Rhodes (born 1946) is a retired American baseball coach and the former head coach of the University of North Florida. Over his more than 30-year college coaching career, he won more than 1,000 games and coached nearly two dozen Major League players.[1] In January 2009, he was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame [2] and was a recipient of the ABCA's Lefty Gomez Award.[3]
Rhodes was born in Talladega, Alabama, and moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, when he was six years old. His father, Jack Burton Rhodes, a World War II veteran, was a cabinet maker for sportfishing yachts[4] and his mother, Florence Miller Rhodes, was employed as a secretary for the Palm Beach Post.[5] Rhodes played Little Major League Baseball at Phipps Park and went on to letter in football, basketball and baseball at Palm Beach High School, where he was co-captain of the Wildcats football team and a Livingston State College recruit.[6] In 1963 and 1964, he was a member of back-to-back state championship baseball teams with American Legion Post 12[7]
Playing career
In 1965 and 1966, Rhodes played on the first intercollegiate baseball team at Palm Beach JC, primarily at third base and pitcher.[8][9] After earning an associate's degree, he transferred to Florida Southern College, where he played shortstop as a junior in 1967[10] and led the team in assists.[11] As a senior in 1968, he played third base, batted .260, led the team in doubles (6) and posted a .900 fielding percentage.[12] After his collegiate career, Rhodes played semi-pro baseball in West Palm Beach.
Coaching career
In 1969, Rhodes served as an assistant coach at Florida Southern, where he also oversaw the "B" team for head coach Hal Smeltzly. He taught physical education in the Palm Beach County Public School system for the next six years,[13] and served as the baseball and football coach at Conniston Junior High School in West Palm Beach.[14] During the summer, Rhodes served as an assistant coach for Pam Beach Post 12, including in 1977 when the team won the state title and advanced to the semifinals of the American Legion World Series in New Hampshire.[15][16]
1974-1982
In 1974, Rhodes joined head coach Mel Edgerton (1969-1974) as an unpaid assistant baseball coach at Palm Beach Junior College before being elevated to head coach in 1975.[17] Rhodes' inaugural team tied the school record for wins with 17 and finished the season with a 28-13 mark.[18] Rhodes led the Pacers to winning seasons in 1976 and 1977[19] and guided them to a No. 13 national ranking in 1978 and a No. 1 national ranking in 1979.[20] His '79 squad, which included pitcher Randy O'Neal, won 52 games and earned a berth in the state tournament as a division runner-up.[21][22] In February 1980, Rhodes hosted a booster club benefit for his team that featured New York Yankees Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle and Major League managers Dick Howser (Yankees) and Bobby Cox (Atlanta Braves) as special guests.[23] Howser's nephew, Tommy Howser, led the state in steals in 1979 for the Pacers. Rhodes' 1980 team finished 50-18 but missed the state tournament after tying for second in the division.[24] His final PBJC team placed third at the state tournament and finished 40-10 overall.[25] PBJC catcher Tim Owen was named an NJCAA honorable mention All-American.[26] Other future Major Leaguers who played for Rhodes at PBJC include pitchers Andy McGaffigan and Ross Baumgarten and infielder Robby Thompson. After winning more than 300 games in eight years at PBJC, Rhodes was offered an assistant coaching position with the University of Florida.[27][28][29]
1983-1987
Rhodes served as an assistant baseball coach at the University of Florida, first for Florida Southern baseball alum Jack Rhine in 1983 and for former Florida Southern skipper Joe Arnold from 1984-1987. Rhodes was one of four finalists to succeed Rhine in 1984. In 1986, Rhodes served as the interim head coach for the final 11 games of the season after Arnold took a leave of absence.[30] Under Rhodes, the Gators went 7-4 to close out the season. During his five-year coaching stint in Gainesville, Rhodes helped the Gators win the SEC baseball tournament in 1984 and qualify for the NCAA regionals three times. In October 1987, Rhodes was chosen from a pool of more than 100 applicants to become the first head baseball coach at the University of North Florida.[31]
Baseball logo (1988-2010)
1988-1993
Once at North Florida, Rhodes designed the team's uniform logo to resemble the interlocking letters of the New York Yankees logo.[32] He built a small-college powerhouse practically overnight, primarily by recruiting junior college talent.[33] His inaugural team went 47-17 overall, won a district title [34] and reached the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Area 5 playoffs. The following year, the fledgling Ospreys won 53 games and finished third at the NAIA College World Series. In 1990, after losing eight starters from the previous year, Rhodes led the Ospreys to a 43-20 record and 19-3 mark in conference play. His 1990 pitching staff led the NAIA with a combined 2.21 ERA. His 1991 squad won a school-record 57 games, went 23-1 in the conference and placed third at NAIA World Series. Junior pitcher Sid Roberson was named the 1991 NAIA player of the year after posting a 15-1 record.[35] In 1993, NAIA All-American and District 7 Player of the year Todd Dunn was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the first round of the Major League draft. After winning nearly 300 baseball games on the NAIA level, UNF moved up to the NCAA Division II level in 1994.
1994-2005
In his first four seasons in NCAA Division II competition, Rhodes led the Ospreys to three winning seasons and four NCAA regional berths while competing in the Sunshine State Conference. His 1997 team hit a then-school record 88 home runs. Starting in 1998, he found even greater success in the Peach Belt Conference, where his teams were ranked No. 1 on four different occasions and reached the Division II World Series three times, including in 2005 when they finished as the national runner-up.[36]
2006-2010
In his first year of NCAA Division I competition, Rhodes led the Ospreys to a second-place finish in the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season standings. But due to its first year of provisional status in Division I, his 34-win team was ineligible for the postseason conference tournament.[37] In 2009, the Ospreys (23-31), then in their final year of provisional status, defeated four in-state opponents (the Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles, Miami Hurricanes, and South Florida Bulls).[38] Rhodes went on to coach one more winning team at UNF but never finished higher than 4th in the conference standings. After sending more than 60 Ospreys to the minor leagues, he announced his retirement following the 2010 season. That same year, UNF dedicated Dusty Rhodes Field at Harmon Stadium in his honor.[39]
Team USA/Olympics
During his coaching career, Rhodes found time to dabble in international amateur baseball, first with the United States national baseball team and later with two different Olympic squads. He was an assistant coach for Team USA on three different occasions (1993, 1994, 2001) and an assistant coach for the Australian Olympic baseball team in 1996 under Rob Derksen. He joined Derksen as a coach for the Greek national baseball team in 2002 and 2003, and was appointed the head coach of the Greek Olympic baseball team in 2004 after Derksen died unexpectantly before the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Rhodes also skippered the Greek national baseball team at the 2005 European Championships.[40]
Minor Leagues
In 1982, Rhodes was offered his first coaching assignment in the minor leagues with the New York Yankees Class A affiliate in Greensboro, North Carolina.[41] In 1988 and 1989, he managed the Milwaukee Brewers Rookie League affiliate in Helena, Montana,[42] leading the short-season summer league team to back-to-back winning seasons and runner-up finishes in the division.[43] In 1990, Rhodes served as the hitting coach for the Brewers' Class A affiliate in Beloit, Wisconsin.[44] After retiring from UNF, Rhodes served as the hitting coach for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Brewers single-A affiliate in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, from 2011 to 2013.[45]
Rhodes served as an enlisted soldier in the Army National Guard from 1971–76 and was stationed at the Air Defense Artillery Headquarters in West Palm Beach, Fla.[49]
Head coaching record
Below is a table of Rhodes's records as a collegiate head baseball coach.[50]
National championPostseason invitational champion Conference regular season championConference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season championDivision regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion
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