13  Dan Spencer
	Position: Head Coach Experience: 4th Season Alma Mater: Portland State, 1990

Dan Spencer File

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Spencer's last season with the Red Raiders was in 2012

Texas Tech head baseball coach Dan Spencer begins his fourth year at the helm of the Red Raiders program in 2012. Spencer's dedication and hard work to the program he once played for has led the charge to rebuild the Texas Tech baseball program one step at a time.

Spencer was named head coach in the summer of 2008, after he spent one season as the team's associate head coach. Spencer replaced Texas Tech legend Larry Hays. Spencer has embraced the challenge and wasted no time building a foundation for the Texas Tech baseball program in which to build a championship contender.

Spencer has led Texas Tech to 86 wins since taking over as head coach in 2009, and this past season guided his program to 33 victories - the Red Raiders most wins in a season since 2005. Included in Spencer's success as the skipper have been 24 victories against nationally-ranked opponents, a 56-30 record at Dan Law Field, three consecutive seasons with an increase in wins (25 in 2009, 28 in 2010, 33 in 2011), winning 13 conference series and mentoring 19 players since joining the Tech program as associate head coach in 2008 that have been drafted or signed free agent in the Major League Baseball Draft.

In fact, five of Spencer's 19 draft picks have been taken in the top-10 rounds.

The Red Raider faithful have also taken notice of Spencer's guidance to the program as Tech ranked 24th in the nation in 2011 averaging 2,771 fans per game. The Red Raiders average attendance marked the program's fifth highest all-time and the highest since 2002.

Spencer has led Tech to three consecutive appearances at the Big 12 Championship, something that hadn't been done at Tech since 2004-06.

Spencer's 86 victories in three seasons at Texas Tech rank second all-time among Red Raider head coaches during their first three seasons at the helm (Larry Hays - 1987-89, 87 wins). In addition, Spencer recorded his 50th career home win in 74 tries, which made him the fastest Texas Tech head coach ever to win 50 career home games (previous mark set by Kal Segrist - 76 games).

The Red Raiders never-say-die attitude under Spencer has led them to 43 come-from behind wins under Spencer in three seasons. On the other side of things, Texas Tech has been nearly impossible to defeat with a lead late in the game with a 78-1 record under Spencer when holding a lead after eight innings.

The 2011 season saw many highlights for Spencer and the Red Raiders, among them were winning on the road and during the midweek. Tech went 11-3 during midweek competition and won 10 road games, the program's most since 2001. In fact, Texas Tech swept three midweek road/neutral site series which set a new school record.

Spencer has never avoided playing strong competition. The past two seasons the Red Raiders have played 45 games against ranked opponents. In 2011, Texas Tech led the league playing 20 games against ranked programs during the regular season. The previous year the Red Raiders took the field 25 times against ranked foes.

Accolades came pouring in for the Red Raiders in 2011 while four players were named to five national award watch lists, including National Pitcher of the Year (RHP John Neely), Midseason Stopper of the Year (RHP John Neely), Johnny Bench Award (C Bo Altobelli), John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year (RHP/OF David Paiz) and Brooks Wallace Award (SS Kelby Tomlinson).

Neely went on to earn All-America honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and from CollegeBaseballInsider.com while Tomlinson became the first Big 12 Conference player ever to be awarded the American Baseball Coaches Association Rawlings Division I Gold Glove Award (SS).

Spencer has also had three Freshman All-Americans the past two seasons as Barrett Barnes and Jamodrick McGruder were honored in 2010 and David Paiz earned the recognition in 2011.

Spencer also had three freshmen make up his starting rotation late into the 2011 season as David Paiz (Fridays), Trey Masek (Saturdays) and Duke von Schamann (Sundays) made up the youngest rotation in the nation.

Major League Baseball organizations also took notice of the Red Raiders in 2011 while five Tech players were drafted or signed as a free agent, including SS Kelby Tomlinson (12th Round - Giants), INF Nick Popescu (33rd Round - Braves), LHP Zach Fowler (34th Round - Orioles), 3B Reid Redman (37th Round - Dodgers) and LHP Robbie Kilcrease (Pirates - Free Agent).

During Spencer's Division I coaching tenure, including his time as assistant and associate head coach at Oregon State (1997-2007), he has mentored 64 players who have been drafted or signed in the MLB Draft. He coached 45 players at Oregon State that were drafted. Overall, Spencer has coached three first-round picks, 14 top-five round selections and 26 players who have been drafted in the top 10 rounds. In addition, Spencer has coached eight players (7 at Oregon State) that have since made their MLB debut.

The Red Raiders also took care of business in the classroom in 2011 as 16 Red Raiders were named to the Academic Honor Roll with a grade point average of at least 3.0. In fact, six Tech players were named to the Dean's List (3.5-3.99 GPA) while two players posted perfect 4.0 GPAs during the spring semester.

His second season as head coach saw the Red Raiders finish fifth in the Big 12 (best finish since 2004) and defeat seven nationally-ranked opponents, including an upset over No. 1 Texas, 4-2, in the Big 12 Tournament. In fact, Spencer and the Red Raiders were the only Big 12 team to defeat Texas twice during the 2010 season, as they also picked up a 12-5 victory in Lubbock. The Red Raiders were also just one of two teams in the Big 12 to win a series against College World Series-bound Oklahoma, taking two out of three against the Sooners at Dan Law Field in Lubbock. Spencer's squad finished 28-29 overall in 2010.

The Red Raiders led the conference with 162 doubles (most since 2003 - Baylor) to rank seventh in the country and also led all Big 12 teams with a .310 batting average in conference games. Texas Tech led the Big 12 in batting during league play in 2009 with a .311 average. Spencer's squad became the first team to lead the conference in batting during Big 12 play in back-to-back seasons since 2003-04 (Baylor).

In addition, Texas Tech led the league with 83 doubles during Big 12 games, which is the fourth highest total in Big 12 history and the most since Missouri set the record of 129 in 1997 - the first year of the Big 12 Conference.

Prior to his taking over the reins, Texas Tech had missed out on the Big 12 Tournament in consecutive campaigns and posted last place finishes in the conference both of those seasons. Spencer's first squad defied all the preseason prognostications and he led the Red Raiders to a seventh-place finish in 2009 and a return to Oklahoma City for the conference tournament. In their return to Oklahoma City, the Red Raiders posted an upset win over Missouri and found themselves just one win away from the championship game.

When stepping into his current position, he became just the eighth head coach in school history joining E.Y. Freeland (1925-27), R. Higginbotham (1928-29), Bettie Feathers (1954-60), Berl Huffman (1961-67), Kal Segrist (1968-83), Gary Ashby (1984-86) and Larry Hays (1987-2008). He joined Gary Ashby as the only two head coaches in school history that spent their college playing careers at Texas Tech as he lettered in 1985-87.

Spencer, 46, rejoined the Texas Tech Baseball family on July 2, 2007 when he was named associate head coach on the staff of former head coach Larry Hays. He spent the 2008 season in that role where he coached the pitchers and catchers and headed Tech's recruiting front. His 2008 pitching staff produced two top-10 round MLB draft picks in juniors Zach Stewart and James Leverton, both of which had never been drafted prior to that season. Stewart was taken in the third round by the Cincinnati Reds while Leverton was taken in the eighth round by the Chicago Cubs. In 2011, Stewart made his MLB debut as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Prior to his arrival at Texas Tech, he spent 11 seasons at Oregon State, the last three as associate head coach, where he served as pitching/catching coach and recruiting coordinator. His pitching staffs during the last two seasons of his Oregon State tenure were instrumental in helping the Beavers become the first back-to-back College World Series Champions since LSU in the late 1990s. In those two seasons, his staffs compiled 3.41 and 3.48 cumulative ERAs while leading the team to 50-16 and 49-18 respective records. His group led the Pac-10 in ERA in both 2005 and 2006 while his bullpen helped pave the way to consecutive national titles by contributing 20-plus saves in both 2006 and 2007.

Under his leadership, the Beavers had three pitchers and one catcher named All-America. Eddie Kunz, the ace of the 2007 staff, and catcher Mitch Canham, the squad's leading hitter, were both first round draft selections in the 2007 MLB Draft.

His collegiate coaching career began at the junior college level six years before arriving at Oregon State, as he landed his first job as an assistant coach at Tacoma Community College in Tacoma, Wash., in 1991. After just one season in Tacoma, he picked up his first head coaching position as he took over the program at Green River Community College in 1992. While at Green River, he compiled a record of 131-67 between 1992 and 1996.

Dan and his wife, Susie, have three children: Wade, Logan and Elizabeth.