Barry Shollenberger


Barry John Shollenberger is a retired American baseball head coach. During his career, Shollenberger was the head coach of the Tampa Bay Technical High School from 1965 to 1973 before moving to coach in college baseball. As a college coach, Shollenberger primarily was the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team from 1980 until 1994. With the Crimson Tide, he was named Baseball America College Coach of the Year in 1983 and amassed 437 wins, 337 losses and 1 tie. Apart from coaching, Shollenberger was a minor league pitcher from 1961 to 1965.

Early life and education

In 1941, Shollenberger was born in Pennsylvania. For his post-secondary education, he first earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1965 from Moravian College. Throughout the 1970s, Shollenberger completed a Master of Arts at Western Washington University and a Doctor of Education at the University of Alabama.

Career

Shollenberger began his baseball career as a minor league pitcher in 1961. He started with the Waterloo Hawks before moving to the Rocky Mount Leafs and Tampa Tarpons in the 1960s. After tendinopathy forced Shollenberger to end his pitching career in 1965, he had a career total of seventeen wins and fifteen losses. Shollenberger switched to coaching when he became the head baseball coach at the Brewster Technical High School in 1965. Outside of baseball, he was a defensive football coach for Tampa Bay before his promotion to head coach in 1970. He remained in his head coaching positions until 1973.
In 1974, Shollenberger went to the University of Alabama to become an assistant baseball coach. He stayed as assistant coach until 1976 when he resumed his head coach career with the Middle Georgia Junior College baseball team. After the 1976 season, Shollenberger obtained a head baseball coach position with Western Kentucky University in 1977 and stayed as their head coach until 1979. In 1980, Shollenberger returned to the University of Alabama as the team's baseball coach. He held a total of 437 wins, 331 losses and 1 tie with the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team until his retirement in 1994.

Awards

Shollenberger was named Baseball America College Coach of the Year in 1983 as the University of Alabama's head coach.