Ritch Price

• School Cal State Hayward, Willamette University

Ritch Price has been a college coach for many years. He started his career as a high school coach. From 1983-1986, he was head coach and assistant football coach at Menlo College. In 1986, he was named the Coast Conference Coach of the Year.

From 1988-1994, Price was director of athletics and head coach at De Anza Community College. He was named Coast Conference Coach of the Year from 1992-1994; during that time, he coached Jason Simontacchi.

Price became head coach at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo from 1995-2002, when they moved up to NCAA Division I. He was named the best coach in the Western Athletic Conference in 1996. Among players he produced at Cal Poly was future big leaguer Kevin Correia.

Price then moved on to the University of Kansas, becoming their 32nd head coach ever when he took the reigns in the 2002 off-season. His players at Kansas have included Travis Metcalf, A.J. Van Slyke. In 2005, he became the fastest team in school history to 100 wins. In 2006, Price led them to the Big 12 Conference title, their first conference championship since 1949.

Ritch was an assistant coach with Team USA in the 2008 World University Championship. That year, he was voted into the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

His sons Ryne Price, Robby Price, and Ritchie Price played under his guidance then appeared in the minor leagues. Ritchie was the youngest head baseball coach at the Division I level as head coach at South Dakota State University (2009-2011).

Primary Source: KSU bio