Baseball Coaches

---

Steve Gust

Head Baseball Coach
The University of North Dakota ’01
stgust@dwu.edu
605-995-2853

The Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team went through some growing pains in 2011, but head coach Steve Gust hopes to turn those growing pains into experience and success in his fourth season with the Tiger baseball program in 2012.

In 2011, the Tigers finished the year with a 12-36 overall record and a 6-15 mark in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.  Dakota Wesleyan, which won three of its last four games of the season and four of the last six, failed to make the eight-team conference tournament.

Gust’s 2011 squad featured 11 true freshmen, 10 sophomores, three juniors and just four seniors.  Only one infielder, senior first baseman John Greicar, saw significant playing time in 2010, and the rest of the infield, as well as the outfield, was made up of freshmen or players with limited varsity experience.  The Tigers’ pitching staff featured more experience with seniors Thomas Pickett and Patrick Dennis as well as junior lefty Ethan Opsahl, but DWU’s bullpen was young with six first-year Tigers on the list.

The Tigers won three straight games to end their spring break trip in Phoenix.  They split with Dordt College before sweeping Norwich University (Vt.).  DWU also swept Dordt in GPAC play later in the season, and picked up league wins against the University of Sioux Falls, Nebraska Wesleyan, Concordia and Mount Marty College.  Of the Tigers’ losses, eight were by a single run and two took extra innings to decide.

Under Gust’s direction, six players earned All-GPAC honors in 2011.  Opsahl earned All-GPAC Second-Team honors – the third All-GPAC honor of his career – and seniors Greicar, Dennis, Pickett, along with freshmen Stephen Gunnell and Nick Tadlock, earned honorable mention status.  Opsahl, who garnered attention from professional scouts throughout the season, struck out 79 batters.

In two seasons, Gust has coached 21 All-GPAC selections, two GPAC Gold Glove winners and five NAIA Scholar-Athletes.  He has an overall record of 79-75 in three seasons.

He came to Dakota Wesleyan after four years as the head baseball coach at Northland Community and Technical College (East Grand Forks, Minn.), and he left NCTC as one of the most successful baseball coaches in school history.  His Pioneers’ teams went 92-75 over four seasons, and Gust earned Minnesota Community College Conference North Division Coach-of-the-Year honors in 2005.  NCTC qualified for the MCCC State Tournament all four seasons.

In his final season at NCTC, Gust led the Pioneers to a school record 27 wins and a second-place finish at the MCCC State Tournament.  His squad also advanced to the NJCAA Region 13 Tournament in 2008, where they finished third.  Gust also spent his summers coaching the East Grand Forks American Legion baseball team and amassed 466 total victories.

He spent one season as an assistant coach at the University of North Dakota.  The Fighting Sioux finished that season 38-16 and qualified for the NCAA Regional Tournament.  He has also coached high school baseball.  At Sacred Heart High School (East Grand Forks, Minn.), Gust led the team to 132 wins and was named Coach-of-the-Year three times.

In 2010, Gust spent the summer as an assistant coach for the Mankato Moondogs, who are a part of the Northwoods League – one of the top collegiate leagues in North America. Gust helped coach seven players who went on to sign pro contracts.

Gust graduated from the University of North Dakota in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and coaching.  In 2010, he graduated with a master’s degree and education policy and administration from Dakota Wesleyan.

Gust lives in Mitchell with his wife, Anita, and their three children: Trenton, Jaeden and Tommy John.

---

Donald Simmons Jr.

Assistant Baseball Coach
University of Mississippi ’85
University of Denver ’94
dosimmon@dwu.edu
605-995-2937
Don Simmons is in his second season working with the DWU baseball team in 2012. He serves as the Tigers’ defensive and strength and conditioning coach. Simmons, a Eupora, Miss., native, has coached and played sports at a variety of levels. A 1985 graduate of the University of Mississippi, Simmons earned his Ph.D. from the University of Denver in 1985.

Simmons studied coaching at the United States Sports Academy and is a Level One Certified Coach (NFHS) in the state of South Dakota. He is also a graduate of the prestigious Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring (Florida Classic), and he is a member of the Amateur Baseball Umpires’ Association.

While still relatively new to the Tiger baseball program, Simmons is a familiar face on the DWU campus. He also serves as the dean and faculty member of the College of Leadership and Public Service at DWU, and his most recent research has focused on the role of leadership as it relates to organizational dynamics and team building.

Simmons, who is an expert on the modern Olympics and has written extensively on the subject, recently competed in the 2010 Chicago Marathon and the 2011 Des Moines Marathon and hopes to run all five of the World Marathon Majors, as well as compete in the Ironman World Championships.

---

Kevin Nunn

Assistant Baseball Coach
Concordia University (Ore.) ’90
kenunn@dwu.edu
605-995-2853

Kevin Nunn enters his first season with the Dakota Wesleyan baseball team in 2011-12. Nunn comes to DWU with plenty of baseball coaching experience at a variety of levels and will serve as the Tigers’ hitting coach.

Nunn, an East Grand Forks, Minn., native, played for Team USA in the summer of 1986 and then spent two years at Minnesota Crookston Junior College where he led the nation in batting average. He finished his degree and college playing days at Concordia University (Ore.) in 1990.

From there, Nunn went on to the minor leagues where he played for several years, and then he served as a part-time scout for the Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins. He spent six years as the Edina American Legion hitting coach in Edina, Minn., and six years as the hitting and infield coach at Minnetonka High School in Minnetonka, Minn. Nunn also served as the head varsity baseball coach for three seasons at Waseca High School in Waseca, Minn., and spent one year as the assistant coach at the University of Minnesota-Crookston. He continues to serve as a hitting coach at youth clinics put on by the Minnesota Twins.

Nunn and his wife, Christy, have been married for 19 years and have three children: TJ, Nolan and McKenna.

---

Nick Zawacki

Graduate Assistant Baseball Coach
University of Minnesota-Crookston ’10
nick.zawacki.11@students.dwu.edu
605-995-2853

Nick Zawacki joins the Tigers as a graduate assistant baseball coach starting in the 2011-12 season. He joins the Tigers after playing four years of college baseball and will serve as the Tigers’ pitching coach.

Zawacki played baseball for one season at the University of Minnesota-Crookston, an NCAA Division II school, and graduated from the university in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in business. He played the first three years of his college career at Siena Heights University, an NAIA school in Adrian, Mich.

Zawacki, a Howell, Mich., native, was a pitching coach at Minnesota-Crookston in 2011. He is an alumnus of the Master Pitching Institute in Michigan, and he mentored under former University of Michigan head coach and 12-year MLB veteran, Geoff Zahn, for eight years.

Zawacki is pursuing a master’s degree in educational policy and administration at Dakota Wesleyan.

---

John Greicar

Graduate Assistant Baseball Coach
Dakota Wesleyan University ’11
john.greicar.08@students.dwu.edu
605-995-2853

John Greicar is a familiar face within the Dakota Wesleyan baseball program, and he takes on a new role in the 2011-12 season.

Greicar graduated from Dakota Wesleyan in May after playing two seasons with the Tigers, and this year he is back with the team as a graduate assistant coach. In his senior season with Dakota Wesleyan, Greicar led the team in batting average (.351), hits (52), doubles (13), RBIs (26), putouts (348) and fielding percentage (.974). The first baseman earned All-GPAC Honorable Mention honors as a senior.

In his junior year, Greicar had a .300 batting average and a team-high 272 putouts. He finished the year with a .990 fielding percentage and had 42 hits and 26 RBIs. Before coming to Dakota Wesleyan, Greicar played two seasons at Northland Community College in East Grand Forks, Minn.

Greicar is a native of East Grand Forks, Minn., and is pursuing a master’s degree in educational policy and administration at Dakota Wesleyan.