Mark Marquess

One of the premier coaches in college baseball history and a man whose name is synonymous with the Stanford baseball program, Mark Marquess finished his 41-year career at the helm of his alma mater in 2017 as the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball.

Since arriving on The Farm as a two-sport athlete in baseball and football in the fall of 1965, Marquess' impact on Stanford baseball was beyond measure, even by the benchmark of his long list of on-field accomplishments.

Perhaps more important than any of the wins or championships his club produced was the nature of the program he developed, both on and off the field. In his four decades associated with the school, Marquess was the architect of a Stanford program that became nationally recognized as one of winning baseball and quality student-athletes.

A member of the American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, Marquess finished as the fourth-winningest coach in Division I history with a career record of 1,627-878-7 (.649). Marquess picked up win No. 1,600 against rival California on April 4, 2017.

A three-time NCAA Coach of the Year recipient and nine-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year honoree, Marquess guided his Stanford clubs to 30 NCAA Tournament appearances, a pair of College World Series championships (1987 and 1988), six NCAA Super Regional titles, 18 NCAA Regional crowns and 11 Pac-10 regular season championships.

Marquess finished with a career 133-66 record in postseason play, including a 84-29 mark in the NCAA Regionals, a 13-10 ledger in the NCAA Super Regionals and a 36-25 (.590) record at 14 College World Series.

In a testament to the standard of winning baseball Marquess created at Stanford, 39 of his 41 teams finished at .500 or better. Marquess presided over 21 teams that won at least 40 games, including six clubs that crested the 50-win plateau. Marquess led the Cardinal to a school-record stretch of 10 consecutive 40-win campaigns from 1995-2004.

Marquess' clubs advanced to postseason play in 30 of a possible 41 seasons, including a school-record 13 straight campaigns from 1994-2006. Stanford won at least one game in 28 of its trips to the NCAA Tournament under Marquess.

Long recognized as one of the toughest conferences, Marquess led the Cardinal to a .581 winning percentage in the Pac-12 (660-476). Stanford finished either first or second in the Pac-12 a total of 24 times (including Southern Division finishes), while capturing 11 conference championships.

Perhaps the crowning moment of Marquess' career came when the Cardinal captured back-to-back College World Series titles in 1987 and 1988, becoming one of only four programs in the 63-year history of the CWS to have ever won at least two consecutive titles.

Another testament to his achievement is the fact that 52 of the 60 players that reached the majors under Marquess have earned their degrees.

But there was much accomplished before and much has been done since. Stanford reached the College World Series a total of 14 times and been in the CWS final on five occasions during Marquess' tenure, including a stretch where the Cardinal finished second three times during a school-record string of five consecutive trips to Rosenblatt Stadium from 1999-2003. The trips to Omaha were just two shy of Oklahoma State's NCAA record run of seven in a row from 1981-87. Even more impressive, each of the 14 teams Marquess has skippered to the CWS has won at least one game.

Both of Marquess' championship clubs won the title after having their backs against the wall.

His 1987 team won the first CWS crown in school history, finished the season 53-17 overall and was 21-9 in the Pac-10 Southern Division - winning the league title by five full games. But the Cardinal had to win its final three CWS contests after a second-round loss to claim the title, defeating Oklahoma State in the championship game.

Stanford completed the back-to-back feat in 1988 by winning eight postseason elimination games (four in both the CWS and the NCAA Northeast Regional), concluding its unbelievable run by defeating league rival Arizona State in the championship tilt.

Stanford's recent near misses for another national title include the 2000 trek, when the Cardinal went unbeaten in its CWS bracket before dropping a 6-5 heart-breaker to LSU in the championship game. In 2001, Stanford again swept through its bracket before falling to Miami in the championship contest. Two years later, the Cardinal made a run through the losers' bracket of the 2003 CWS with three straight wins in elimination games to reach the championship again, extending Rice into the final game of the inaugural best-of-three CWS championship series.

Marquess became the 23rd NCAA Division-I baseball coach to reach the 1,000-win mark, with a victory over Florida State on February 9, 2001. He picked up his 1,100th career victory with a February 17, 2003 win over Nevada. Win number 1,200 came against California on March 5, 2005, while he reached the 1,300-win plateau by defeating top-ranked Arizona State on April 6, 2008, at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond. Marquess recorded his 100th career postseason win in Stanford's NCAA Super Regional-clinching victory over Long Beach State on June 7, 2003.

Over 200 Cardinal players were chosen in the draft during his tenure, including 26 first round or compensation picks since Jack McDowell in 1987.

The accolades streamed Marquess' way throughout his career at Stanford, including three NCAA Coach of the Year selections (1985, 1987, 1988). Marquess was named the 2003 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, his ninth such award. He was previously chosen as the Pac-10 Southern Division Coach of the Year seven times in the final 16 seasons of the league (1983, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1997-98) and the Pacific-10 Coach of the Year during the first season of the conference's restructuring in 1999.

Marquess was also a well-known coach on the international level. In 1988, he won International Coach of the Year honors after leading the United States Olympic team to a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. Marquess guided his club to a 4-1 record, defeating Japan, 5-3, to capture the first gold medal in baseball for the United States.

Prior to arriving in Seoul, Marquess led the national team to the silver medal at the World Amateur Baseball Championships in Italy. The Americans posted an 11-2 mark in the tournament, losing both games to gold medalist Cuba in the bottom of the ninth inning. For the summer, the USA squad posted a 42-11 overall record.

As head coach of the USA National Team, Marquess skippered the club to a silver medal at the 1987 Intercontinental Cup Tournament in Cuba. In the summer of 1984, he served as an assistant coach on the USA squad that competed at the World Amateur Championships that were also played in Cuba.

Serving as head coach of USA Baseball in 1981, Marquess guided the U.S. collegiate team to a gold medal at the World Games in Santa Clara. Following that accomplishment, he led the club to the gold medal at the Intercontinental Cup in Edmonton, Canada. His squad edged Cuba, 5-4, in the finals to mark the first time since 1970 that the United States had beaten the Cubans in international competition. In addition, Marquess became the only person ever to post victories over the Cuban team as both a player and a coach.

From 1989-98, Marquess served as president of USA Baseball, an organization that handles all aspects of amateur baseball - from the youth level through the college-aged player and the Olympic squad.

Marquess' success as a coach can be traced to his days as a player. A three-year starter at first base for Stanford (1967-69), he earned first-team All-America honors in 1967 and garnered second-team All-America recognition in 1968. He was also named first-team All-Pac-8 and All-District-8 in both 1967 and 1968. Marquess' name is still etched in the school's record book, as his .404 batting average in 1967 is fifth all-time on the school's single-season list and his 15 career triples are tied for fifth.

Marquess is one of only 10 to have both played in and coached at the College World Series.

Marquess competed on the 1967 USA Pan American Games team that captured the gold medal. One of the greatest two-sport athletes ever on The Farm, he completed his collegiate baseball career with three seasons on the Stanford football squad as a quarterback, split end, defensive back and punt returner.

A member of the American Baseball Coaches' Association Hall of Fame, he is also a member of the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame.

After graduation, Marquess signed with the Chicago White Sox organization in 1969 and spent four seasons as a professional baseball player before getting a taste of coaching as a player and coach with Des Moines' Triple-A team in 1973. Marquess was an assistant coach on the Boulder Collegians squad that captured the 1975 National Semi-Pro championship. The following year, his Boulder team placed third at the national tournament.

Prior to his appointment as head coach at Stanford in 1977, Marquess spent five seasons (1972-76) as an assistant under Ray Young at Stanford. Marquess now officially serves as the Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball at Stanford. The Nelsons, through a large gift to the baseball program, endowed the position in 1987.

Marquess' success in the dugout and on the field has led to some other exciting and noteworthy experiences.

Marquess made his broadcasting debut for CBS during the network's coverage of the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis.

After winning the College World Series and Olympic gold medal in 1988, he was asked to throw out the first pitch before Game 4 of the 1988 World Series on October 19 at the Oakland Coliseum and President Ronald Reagan later honored Marquess and the Olympic championship squad at a White House reception.

Marquess also served as a color commentator for the baseball venue during NBC's coverage at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. In 2001, Marquess and the Cardinal played in the opening game at the College World Series in which President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch.

Marquess earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Stanford in 1969. He completed his master's degree in political science at San Jose State in 1976.