WINONA, Minn. – After leading the Winona State University baseball team for two decades, head coach Kyle Poock has announced his retirement upon the conclusion of the 2022 season.

Poock stated, "I feel very lucky and fortunate to have been able to have a career in the sport I grew up loving and playing every day with my buddies as a kid.  I never thought that it would be possible!  It has been an honor and privilege to be able to spend the last 27 years here at my alma mater, Winona State University."
 
Named as the program's tenth head coach prior to the 2003 campaign, Poock has led Winona State to 15 seasons with 20 or more wins, 15 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) postseason appearances and has coached the Warriors in four different NCAA tournament runs.

Among several successful seasons over the past twenty years was the 2011 campaign, a season in which Winona State finished as the runner-up in the NCAA Division II World Series.  

President Scott Olson said, "Winona has a great baseball history, and this is a baseball town through and through.  Coach Poock is a big part of that history.  He has maintained WSU's excellence in baseball and graduated champions on the diamond and in the classroom.  We are proud of everything that he's achieved, and we will miss him!"

Currently sitting at 476-415-2 all-time, Poock has been a one-program mentor over his collegiate coaching career.

Prior to being named head coach in 2003, Poock served as an assistant under Winona State legend Gary Grob for nine seasons.  Only Grob has spent more time than Poock on the top step of the home dugout within the cozy confines of Loughrey Field, and Poock's 20 seasons puts him among WSU's all-time coaching leaders in wins (474, 2^nd all-time), seasons (20, 2^nd all-time), and games coached (880, 2^nd all-time).  Poock's 2011 team won the first NCAA Division II Central Region Championship, helping Poock earn NCAA Central Region Coach of the Year honors.

Under Poock's tutelage, six Warriors have earned All-America honors since 2002.  Fourteen Winona State teams finished .500 or better in his 20 seasons, with the 2011 team owning the top mark in total wins (42) and win percentage (.700). 

Winona State Athletic Director Eric Schoh said "We are sad to see Kyle leave Warrior baseball but wish him all the best in retirement.  From his time as head coach, dating all the way back to when he was a bat boy for the program when his father was coaching here, he has had several decades of influence and impact on Warrior Baseball, and for that, we are grateful."

Within NSIC competition, Poock is among the deans of conference coaches, with only Southwest Minnesota State's Paul Blanchard having served in his post longer.  Winona State has won three NSIC tournament titles in the history of the program, with Poock's 2007 team being the most recent. WSU also owns the NSIC team season record for walks, earning 183 free passes in 2012 and the Warriors' Ben Smothers set the individual NSIC single season mark for triples in 2009 with six.  Poock stands as one of only two NSIC head baseball coaches to mentor back-to-back NSIC players of the year, occurring when Joe Magee and Ben Barrone eared the league's top individual honor in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

Named NSIC Coach of the Year in 2004 following a 33-23-1 campaign, Poock has seen three Warriors earn the NSIC home run champion title in his tenure, with Joe Korneta (2005), Nate Van Roekel (2012), and Cody Strang (2013) leading the league in longballs during their careers.

On the mound, Poock helped coach pitchers Brandon Hellenbrand (2004) and Bryan Ruff (2007) to the top ERA in the NSIC. Two Warriors, Hellenbrand and Mitchell Stalsberg, threw no-hitters for Poock.

Five Winona State standouts have earned All-America honors under Poock and three of his former players have signed professional contacts.  Nine former Warriors are currently coaching in collegiate baseball and ten WSU players earned either Academic All-American or Academic All-Region since 2003.

A Wittenberg, Wisconsin native, Poock was a standout two-sport student-athlete at Winona State, earning three letters in baseball and two in basketball between 1979-1983, while also earning his BA in physical education.  Poock went on to earn a master's degree in P.E. at Winona State University as well.   Poock's Warrior roots run deep; his father, Ed Poock served as an assistant coach at Winona State in 1969.

Off the field, Poock also held several leadership positions in NCAA baseball. Poock was the chair of the NCAA Division II Baseball Ranking committee from 2005-07 and is a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Division II Central Region Committee.

Winona State first fielded an intercollegiate baseball team in 1919 and the program owns an 1,818 - 1,170 - 17 record. A national search will be conducted this spring to hire the next head coach of Warrior baseball.

Winona State is set to open their 2022 home schedule with a three-game series against Northern State University on Saturday, March 19, and Sunday March 20.  Saturday's double header will see first pitch at 1:30 p.m., and Sunday's single game starts at noon.