| Dennis Womack |
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The numbers tell the story: 1152 games coached, 565 overall victories, 157 Atlantic Coast Conference wins and 22 seasons as head coach of the University of Virginia baseball team. Dennis Womack's career has been one stellar feat after another and the numbers continue to add up as he enters his 23rd season.
During Womack's tenure at Virginia, the Cavaliers have produced 40 Major League Baseball draft picks, 38 All-ACC players (including 16 All-ACC First Team selections), three All-Americans and two first-round selections in the major league draft. In 1996, first-team All-American pitcher Seth Greisinger was selected in the first round of the draft with the sixth pick overall by the Detroit Tigers. He joined Brian Buchanan, who went to the New York Yankees in 1994, as the only first-round draft selections in school history. Overall, 47 of Womack's players have been selected in the MLB Amateur Draft.
Last season (2002), UVa finished 25-32 overall, 8-16 in the ACC and had several standout moments. Virginia's performances on the field proved it could play with anyone in the country. On April 26, Virginia handed #10 Georgia Tech its first home loss of the season which snapped the Yellow Jackets' 27-game winning streak. It marked the first time UVa had won a game in Atlanta in 14 years (since the 1988 season) and snapped UVa's 18-game losing streak to GT at Russ Chandler Stadium. Virginia also defeated the #1 ranked Florida Seminoles on March 15th before sweeping an ACC road series for the first time in 12 years (since 1990) after beating Duke three games to none on March 22-24 in Durham, N.C. The Cavaliers more than tripled their previous season's home attendance by averaging 632 in 2002 after averaging just 198 in 2001. UVa had a season-high 1,665 spectators in attendance on April 13, 2002 for its game against #5 Wake Forest.
In 2001, Virginia finished 25-31 overall, 9-15 in the ACC. On April 27, 2001 in Coral Gables, Fla., Virginia stunned the #3 Miami Hurricanes (the eventual 2001 NCAA Champions) on their home field by posting a 5-0 shutout at Mark Light Stadium. The shutout marked the first time Miami lost at home since dropping a 4-0 decision to Texas A&M during the 1995 NCAA Regionals. UVa also defeated the #3 ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets by the score of 3-1 and upset the #2 seeded Clemson Tigers by the count of 7-3 in the first round of the ACC Championship.
However, Womack turned in one of the finest coaching performances of his career in 1996, leading Virginia to a school-record 44 wins, a first-ever ACC Tournament title and an NCAA Tournament berth. At the end of the season, he was named the 1996 Division I state coach of the year by the Virginia Sports Information Directors Association.
Virginia, which entered the `96 ACC Tournament as the fifth seed, upset top-seeded and seventh-ranked Florida State 12-1 to win the conference title. The Cavaliers earlier defeated Florida State 3-2 in a second-round game and also posted tournament victories over 16th-ranked North Carolina State, sixth-ranked Clemson and Georgia Tech. The Cavaliers concluded their most successful season in school history by advancing to the championship game of the NCAA South I Regional in Tuscaloosa, Ala., before falling to Alabama 18-8. Virginia was ranked 14th in the final Baseball America poll, achieving its highest-ever national ranking.
Eleven years earlier, Womack led the 1985 Cavaliers to the program's first-ever 30-win season (38-16). That team won a share of the ACC regular season crown and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Virginia was ranked 23rd in the final Collegiate Baseball poll of 1985, marking the first time UVa finished a season in the national rankings. For his efforts, Womack was honored as the 1985 ACC Coach of the Year.
Womack has compiled an overall record of 540-548-7 in his 22 seasons at the helm of Virginia baseball and is the winningest coach in the program's history. He recorded his 500th career victory in Virginia's 5-2 victory over Princeton on March 15, 2000. Womack became UVa's all-time winningest coach on Feb. 29, 1992, when the Cavaliers swept a doubleheader from Maryland-Eastern Shore. Womack's 282nd win on that day enabled him to pass James West for first place on the all-time Virginia victory list. He went on to claim his 300th career win on Feb. 20, 1993, against Marshall, becoming only the seventh baseball coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history to win 300 games.
Womack took over the program in 1981 when West ended his 19-year career as head coach to become associate athletics director. Prior to coaching at Virginia, Womack was an assistant at his alma mater, Auburn, where he helped the Tigers win two SEC titles and advance to the College World Series.
Born in Winston-Salem, N.C., Womack was raised in Jacksonville, Fla. He attended Gulf Coast Junior College from 1964 to 1966 and then transferred to Auburn where he was an All-SEC outfielder in 1969.
He received a bachelor's degree in physical education from Auburn in 1969 and a master's degree in the same field in 1974. Womack taught and coached at the junior high and high school levels before returning to Auburn for graduate studies.
In addition to his baseball responsibilities at UVa, Womack has served as athletics ticket manager (1978-84) and as assistant athletics director in charge of facilities and event management (1984-93).
He is married to the former Cathy Estes, a UVa Law School graduate and currently a practicing attorney in Charlottesville.
Womack's Career Record
Year School Overall ACC (Finish)
1981 Virginia 28-20 8-5 (4th)
1982 Virginia 22-27 5-7 (6th)
1983 Virginia 12-25 4-6 (6th)
1984 Virginia 25-17 4-10 (6th)
1985 Virginia 38-16 9-4 (1st)
1986 Virginia 27-22 6-7 (5th)
1987 Virginia 18-30 5-12 (5th)
1988 Virginia 32-19-1 11-10 (4th)
1989 Virginia 25-24-1 7-11 (6th)
1990 Virginia 21-32-1 7-11 (6th)
1991 Virginia 28-27-2 10-11 (6th)
1992 Virginia 21-30 3-19 (9th)
1993 Virginia 21-30 7-15 (8th)
1994 Virginia 20-34 2-22 (9th)
1995 Virginia 26-29 8-15 (7th)
1996 Virginia 44-21 11-13 (5th)
1997 Virginia 32-22 10-13 (5th)
1998 Virginia 28-26-1 5-18 (8th)
1999 Virginia 21-35 8-15 (7th)
2000 Virginia 26-31-1 10-14 (T-6th)
2001 Virginia 25-31 9-15 (T-6th)
2002 Virginia 25-32 8-16 (6th)
Career Totals 565-580-7 157-269
Womack's Milestone Wins
1 Virginia 21, Westfield State 8 (3/12/81)
50 Virginia 17, Virginia Commonwealth 1 (5/3/82)
100 Virginia 9, Westfield State 7 (3/18/85)
200 Virginia 8, Maryland 1 (4/30/88)
300 Virginia 8, Marshall 1 (2/20/93)
400 Virginia 9, Florida State 7 (5/11/96)
500 Virginia 5, Princeton 2 (3/15/00)
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