On Monday, the Dallas Baptist Patriots added to their baseball family with the announcement from Head Coach Dan Heefner that Dan Fitzgerald has joined the coaching staff as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Fitzgerald comes to DBU from Des Moines Area Community College in Boone, Iowa, where he has served as head coach since 2008.In his five years at the helm of DMACC, Fitzgerald was awarded Coach of the Year by 13 different publications as his Bears advanced to the Junior College World Series four times. His club also captured five straight conference championships and players were drafted 14 times in the half decade. Fitzgerald also saw 36 players sign with NCAA Division I programs all over the country and coached nine Junior College All-Americans, including the 2009 National Player of the Year.
 
No stranger to NCAA Division I Baseball, Fitzgerald started his coaching career at the University of Iowa in 2000, where he was on the same staff as former Dallas Baptist Assistant, Travis Wyckoff. Fitzgerald also has worked as a professional baseball scout and coached at Northern Iowa Community College, Flagler College, and was an assistant at DMACC under Wyckoff before assuming the reigns when Wyckoff left for Dallas Baptist in 2008. Under Fitzgerald, the Bears averaged almost 50 wins per season and sent three players to DBU: Travis Meiners, Tyler Robbins, and Joel Hutter.
 
“We are extremely excited to have Dan Fitzgerald and his family join the DBU Baseball Program,” said Heefner. “Dan is a rare combination of someone who is gifted both as a recruiter and as a developer of talent – as is evidenced by the tremendous success he has had at DMACC. We feel very confident that Dan is a perfect fit at Dallas Baptist. He knows our program inside and out. His knowledge and familiarity with our program will enable him to communicate the vision of DBU Baseball to recruits and their families and help develop our players from day one.”
 
Fitzgerald also has spent time as a head coach in top summer leagues around the country – including a stint in 2004 in Alaska as the Field Manager for Athletes in Action, the sport ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. A native of Edina, MN, Fitzgerald attended and played baseball at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls before graduating with a degree in English from the University of Minnesota in 2000. Fitzgerald and his wife, Kelly, have two young sons: Will and Max.