NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Slippery Rock University baseball head coach Jeff Messer joined the ranks of the all-time great coaches in baseball history Friday evening when he was formally inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Fame.
 
Messer officially became an ABCA Hall of Fame inductee when he and the rest of the 2023 class were enshrined during a ceremony in conjunction with the 79th annual ABCA Convention at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
 
Induction to the ABCA Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed by the organization. The ABCA was founded in 1945 and its hall of fame began in 1966.
 
Joining Messer in the 2023 ABCA Hall of Fame class was Jerry Dawson (Chaparral High School), Dave Demarest (La Quinta High School), Eric Kibler (Horizon High School), John Lowery (Jefferson High School) and Tim Saunders (Dublin Coffman High School).
 
Messer, who is entering his 38th season at Slippery Rock in 2023, has put together a legendary career since taking over the SRU program in 1986. 
 
Over his 37 seasons at The Rock, Messer has compiled an overall record of 1,072-696-5 (.606). He has guided SRU to 15 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division titles, two PSAC Tournament championships, 13 NCAA Tournament berths and four appearances in the College World Series.
 
All told, Messer ranks 12th in s Division II history for career wins by a head coach while also being the fourth winningest active coach in D-II. He is also the winningest head coach in PSAC history.
 
Messer has posted winning seasons in 32 of his 37 years as a collegiate head coach. He has coached 42 All-Americans and four CoSIDA Academic All-Americans while overseeing the development of 13 student-athletes that have been selected in the MLB Draft, including current New York Yankees pitcher Lou Trivino.
 
Most recently, Messer guided Slippery Rock to a stellar 2022 campaign in which it went 33-18 overall while qualifying for both the PSAC and NCAA tournaments. The 33 victories represented SRU's highest win total dating back to the 2009 season. For his efforts, Messer received PSAC West Coach of the Year accolades as well as National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Atlantic Region Coach of the Year honors.
 
In addition to being named the PSAC West Coach of the Year on seven occasions, Messer has also earned Atlantic Region Coach of the Year accolades three times from either the ABCA (2000, 2003) or NCBWA (2022).
 
Now that he is officially inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame, Messer becomes one of just two coaches that spent the majority of their careers at a PSAC school to be bestowed with the honor, joining West Chester's W.B. Killinger.
 
A native of Lee, Massachusetts, Messer attended Springfield College where he played shortstop on the Pride baseball team before graduating in 1980 with a with bachelor's degree in physical education.
 
Upon graduation, Messer played professionally in Holland before beginning his college coaching career. His first collegiate coaching position came in 1983 as an assistant at Westfield State College.
 
After two seasons at Westfield State, Messer became the assistant coach at Oklahoma City University for one season where he earned his master's degree in counseling psychology in 1985 before becoming the fourth head coach in Slippery Rock baseball history and commencing what has turned into a legendary career at The Rock.
 
In addition to his coaching duties, Messer was also an assistant professor in SRU's Health and Physical Education Department until January 2008.
 
A 38-year lifetime ABCA member, Messer currently serves on the ABCA Board of Directors after serving multiple terms as the ABCA NCAA Division II chair and eventually serving as ABCA President in 2017.
 
The ABCA, founded in 1945, is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its over 13,000 members represent all 50 states and 25 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association membership has broadened to include eight divisions: NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Association Division, High School and Youth.





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