Baseball Coach Retires

[TURKEYCREEK]

Wofford head baseball coach Steve Traylor announces retirement


SPARTANBURG, SC -- Wofford head baseball coach Steve Traylor today announced that he plans to retire from coaching at the conclusion of the 2007 season. Traylor plans to remain at Wofford and continue to teach in the physical education department and direct the campus intramural/recreation programs.

Traylor, who ranks among the top 30 active NCAA coaches in America with 769 victories, has spent 27 seasons as a college head coach and has compiled an all-time record of 769-667-3. Traylor entered the 2007 season ranked 29th in career victories among college coaches with at least five years as a head coach.

Traylor became Wofford’s head coach prior to the 2000 season. After spending the first four seasons playing in Spartanburg’s Duncan Park, Traylor and the Terriers moved into Russell C. King Field prior to the 2004 season. During his tenure at Wofford, Traylor has coached one Academic All-America player, two Freshman All-Americans, six All-Southern Conference selections and had 17 players selected to the Academic All-Southern Conference team. He has compiled a record of 145-274 in eight seasons at Wofford

"The eight years I have spent coaching baseball at Wofford have been extremely gratifying," said Traylor. "We have had many talented student-athletes earn their degrees from Wofford and I am glad that I was able to be a part of the baseball program."

Traylor cited time with his family as a reason for his decision to step down. His daughter Danielle, 18, will be a college freshman in the fall and his son, Ryan, 16, is a rising junior at Spartanburg High School where plays baseball.

"Being a college coach is more than a full-time job," said Traylor. "Between coaching and recruiting, we miss a lot of time with our families, both in-season and during the off-season. Stepping down at this time will afford me the opportunity to participate in my daughter’s college experience, spend more time with my wife and watch my son play baseball."

"We are very appreciative of Coach Traylor’s efforts over the last eight years," said Athletics Director Richard Johnson. "His record of nearly 800 wins speaks for itself. He has successfully built programs at Florida Atlantic and Duke and he did the same with the Wofford. Coach Traylor has always placed a high value on academic achievement and his student-athletes met those goals. He was instrumental in bringing baseball back on campus with the construction of Russell C. King Field/Switzer Stadium. I believe Coach Traylor has set a solid foundation for the future of the Terrier baseball program."

Wofford will conduct a national search to find its next baseball coach.

[terriers]

I wish Coach Traylor the very best. He is a fine man and should be
a real asset to the phys. ed. dept. in his extended stay at Wofford.

I have already E-mailed RJ to register my vote for Tim Wallace as
our next coach, if he's available.

[TURKEYCREEK]

I think Tim Wallace would be the best choice

[Eyes of Old Main]

Wofford will conduct a national search to find its next baseball coach.

Best sentence I've read all day.

In all seriousness, this sounds like the best move for everyone. Coach Traylor gets off a seat that had to be getting warm (if not hot), he maintains employment (which will likely mean discounted tuition if his kids so choose), and gets to spend more time with his family. Wofford gets a chance to start fresh with better facilities and arguably better talent than it had when Coach Traylor arrived. Plus, and best of all, no more "should we fire Traylor" debates on Terrierfans.com!

Best of luck to Coach Traylor in his new position and to Coach Johnson with the search. I agree that Tim Wallace should be at the top of the "short list".

[GoldandBlack]

Since this debate has now been settled to everyone's satisfaction, I presume it must be time for football (I wish).

[terriers]

I am too much of a baseball fan to shift to football yet. With a
beautiful new stadium, three additional scholarships on the way,
and an energetic new coach I think there are good times ahead
for our baseball program. I may move to Spartanburg so I can
see all the games.

[BestOfBreed]

Gamecock associate head coach Jim Toman would be someone I would like to see too. Not sure if he would be interested but he's the best recruiter around. Not much head coaching experience though.

[Terriertime]

This is probably a dumb question, but who is Tim Wallace?

[MarshHall]

he is the head coach at SMC. I believe he is a former Wofford player and one of the few Terriers to ever get drafted. He has done very well at SMC over the last several years.

[Ruckus]

TW still holds a few offensive records at Wofford and his with Beth works in the athletic admin. He is a great guy and family man in the mold of Mark Line who, in my opinion (granted, I am biased as one of his former players), is and always will be the gold standard when it comes to baseball coaches and people at Wofford. I've seen comments on this board about ML, his teams, record, etc and everyone is entitled to their opinion but we will never have another person in any facet of that school that is a better human being than 2-5. We may be able to find as good or better coaches (though it will be hard) but not as a person - no way. If 2-5 would take the job again (I am not sure he would as he was spurned the last go round), they'd be fools not to let him have another try. If he did, I don't know he would win anymore games but I can guarantee you this: support from former players would be at an all time high because whatever he needed he could get with one phone call.

[terriers]

I agree that we could not do better than Mark Line. I just assumed
he is not available.

Tim Wallace has a winning percentage of over .700 in 16 years as
head coach at SM. He has 600 plus wins vs. 200 plus losses and
is in the SM Hall of Fame as well as Wofford's Athletic Hall of Fame.

[TDOG21]

Having worked with Mark Line as a student, I can say Wofford could not hire a person with more character. He is a great guy. However, I would be a little hesitant to hire someone who has not coached in so long. Wallace seems like a great choice, and I hope he gets considered.

[terriers]

I would encourage all you fellows who share my enthusiasm for Tim
Wallace to let the athletic dept. know. A little alumni pressure can't
hurt.

[woffordgrad94]

Well, at least now we will finally get to see if all the losing was Traylors' fault or not.

[Eyes of Old Main]

I would encourage all you fellows who share my enthusiasm for Tim Wallace to let the athletic dept. know. A little alumni pressure can't hurt.

Based of what I've heard, I think Tim Wallace is someone we should talk to, but didn't the press release on Traylor's retirement quote RJ as saying we'd hired someone with D-I experience? Some of you guys are closer to the situation than I am so what do you think about that?