Sam Riggleman

Sam Riggleman

• School Spring Arbor College

Biographical Information

Sam Riggleman has been a coach for over 30 years.

He began his coaching career in 1977 at John Wesley College, going 42-46 there. He was 226-144 at Mount Vernon Nazarene College from 1980-1988. He then spent 1988-1994 with Southern Illinois University, going 81-115-1 in four years as head coach )he began at SIU as pitching coach). From 1995-1999, he was head coach at Bethel College, where his record was 176-86.

Riggleman's 5th coaching stop was at Dallas Baptist University, where he was 121-58-1 and was named NAIA National Coach of the Year in 2000, guiding the school to the NAIA College World Series. He returned them to the Series in '01.

Sam then went to coach at his alma mater, Spring Arbor University. He became the 10th person in NAIA history to win 700 career games in 2006. In 2007, his club set a school record with 36 wins in a row en route to a 48-5 record and a trip to the 2007 NAIA College World Series, where they made the finals before falling to Lewis-Clark State College. They led NAIA in fielding percentage (.969) and set a school record with 137 steals. Riggleman was named NAIA National Coach of the Year for a second time. Riggleman guided Spring Arbor to a spot in the 2008 NAIA College World Series. He retired after the 2016 season.

Riggleman was hired as pitching coach of Grand Valley State University in 2019-2021 and MidAmerica Nazarene University in 2024.

Riggleman has helped develop Tim Belcher, Sean Bergman and Alan Levine.