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Mike Hutcheon enters his fifth year as head coach for Air Force baseball. Entrusted with rebuilding the Falcon baseball program, Hutcheon has slowly but surely guided the Falcons on an upward trend each and every season at the Academy. With 13 years of head coaching experience, Hutcheon has amassed a 272-315 career record to go with his 33-175 mark at the Academy. The 2007 season saw Hutcheon guide a young Falcon team towards improvement that should serve them well in 2008. Often times starting four-to-five freshmen on the field, with two sophomores and a freshman making up the pitching rotation, the Falcons finished 8-44. Senior Karl Bolt, part of Hutcheon's first class to play all four years for him, was a first-team all-Mountain West Conference selection and a 15th round draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies. In addition, freshman shortstop K.J. Randhawa earned Ping! Baseball all-freshman team status after batting .405 in MWC play. In 2006, Hutcheon guided the team to double digit wins for the first time since 2003 as the Falcons went 10-38 despite starting two freshmen and a junior on the mound late in the season. Hutcheon led the Falcons to small, but progressive steps towards respectability in 2005. The team nearly doubled its win total from the 2004 season, going 9-44 with a team primarily laden with juniors and sophomores. The Falcons hit 49 home runs as a team, also nearly doubling the total of 26 hit in 2004. A then-sophomore, Bolt hit 12 long-balls to lead the Falcons, the 11th-best total in school history. In 2004, his first year at the Academy, Hutcheon's Falcons stumbled to a 6-49 season, playing without any seniors on the team and just a handful of players with any prior Div. I experience. In early 2007, Hutcheon's coaching tree in the collegiate ranks has began to sprout out, as former Air Force pitching coach Ryan Thompson was named head coach at Mid-American Nazarene University in Olathe, Kan. Prior to his stint at the Academy, Hutcheon has guided several programs to prominence throughout the collegiate ranks and has also earned national accolades for his achievements. In 2002, Hutcheon led Bethel College to the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA) national championship. For his efforts, he was named 2002 NCCAA National Coach of the Year. Hutcheon spent four years at Bethel College where he led the Pilots to a stellar 130-78 mark during his tenure, also winning conference titles in 2003 and 2002. He was named the region coach of the year twice and produced three players who were drafted into Major League Baseball. In 2003, Hutcheon led Bethel to a 37-20 record and 27-3 mark in conference play as the Pilots won their second consecutive conference title and advanced to the NCCAA championships in as many years. "This is a tremendous opportunity," Hutcheon said. "The mission at the Academy is similar to Bethel College. It is about so much more than winning and losing games." Prior to his stay at Bethel, Hutcheon was the head coach at Belhaven College in Jackson, Miss. In five seasons at Belhaven, the team posted a 109-62 record from 1995-99. In 1999 Hutcheon was named the Gulf Coast Conference NAIA Coach of the Year. Hutcheon spent three years as an assistant coach at Manatee College (1991-93) where he worked under head coach Tim Hill, one of the winningest coaches at the Community College level. In his first year at Manatee in 1991, Hutcheon helped guide the team to a national runner-up finish. Hutcheon comes to the Academy with a wealth of baseball knowledge, having spent two years as a graduate assistant under college baseball coaching legend Ron Polk at Mississippi State (1988-89). Hutcheon also spent two years as a graduate student at Kansas State (1987-88), under Mike Clark, the winningest head coach in Kansas State baseball history. Hutcheon graduated from Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb., in 1984. A native of Gunnison, Colo., Hutcheon is married to, Laura, his wife of 18 years. The couple are the parents of four children, 17-year-old daughter Manie, 13 year-old son Dane, nine-year-old daughter Mary Garland and seven-year-old son Hal. |
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