François Colombier

• Height 5' 11", Weight 216 lbs.

• Born May 25, 1963 in Saint-Etienne France

Francois Colombier has played and coached in France for many years. He played for the Paris Université Club (1981-1987), Sevres and the Rouen Huskies (1988). He was club president of Rouen in 1993. After living a couple years in Montreal, QC, he returned to France to be vice president of Rouen from 1997-2008. He managed the Huskies from 2002-2004 and was assistant coach from 2005-2008. He will return to managing Rouen in 2009; Dany Scalabrini told Colombier he should accept the job as he felt he was ready for the responsability. Colombier describes his decision making process as follows: "I didn’t spend many hours thinking about it (maybe that’s what I should have done), I quickly told the club that I wanted the job."

Colombier did not play baseball at a very high level, instead gaining experience through 20 years of being involved with the sport in various positions. Rather humbly, he downplays his importance as team manager during the games, as he believes the players make the difference. He believes his role is to do all he can to allow his players to give their best during every match. With the string of French championship wins under their belt, he hopes to lead Rouen to a sixth title in 2009.

When not managing the Rouen team, François works (as of 2009) as an editor-in-chief.

Sources: Mister Baseball, official team bio, interview given to baseball-france.com