From University of Chicago Athletics
Head Baseball Coach John Fitzgerald announced on Wednesday that Paul Stevens has been promoted to full-time assistant coach on the University of Chicago baseball staff.
Stevens enters his second year at UChicago in 2016-17 after serving as a part-time assistant coach during the spring 2016 season.
"I am thrilled to be able to bring Coach Stevens on staff in a full-time capacity," Fitzgerald said. "His resume truly speaks for itself. The opportunity to be able to work with someone who possess his head coaching experience as well as his player development abilities is a huge benefit to every current and future member of our baseball program. Adding someone with his baseball acumen and experience is very special, however, when you add in someone who possesses the type of character and mentoring abilities that Paul possesses, it becomes a true benefit for the entire community. Paul's energy, character and passion for his players is something that I think our players, alumni and the entire University community will truly appreciate and admire."
Stevens previously served as Head Baseball Coach at Northwestern University from 1988 until his retirement after the 2015 season. A three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, he amassed more victories than any other skipper in program history with 674.
During his time at Northwestern, Stevens had 67 players drafted by a Major League Baseball club or signed to a professional contract, including his oldest son, Trevor, who joined the professional ranks in 2013. Overall, Stevens coached 94 All-Big Ten selections, including New York Yankees manager and four-time World Series champion Joe Girardi, two-time Major League Baseball All-Star Mark Loretta and recent major leaguers J.A. Happ of the Toronto Blue Jays, George Kontos of the San Francisco Giants, Jake Goebbert of the Tampa Bay Rays, Bo Schultz of the Toronto Blue Jays and Eric Jokisch of the Miami Marlins.
Under Stevens' guidance, the Wildcats excelled in the classroom. Since 1985, 215 student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten honors, while eight were named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. He mentored five Big Ten Medal of Honor recipients, including Girardi, Loretta, Ron Rojas, Francis Brooke and Luke Farrell. The Medal of Honor is the conference's oldest and most exclusive award, bestowed to one male and one female student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work.