Stanford's top lieutenant for over three decades, Dean Stotz enters his 37th season as the top assistant under Mark Marquess in the spring of 2013.
Comprising one of the longer coaching tandems in the country, Marquess and Stotz have teamed up to lead the Cardinal to a pair of College World Series titles (1987, 1988), three national runner-ups, 14 appearances in Omaha, six NCAA Super Regional triumphs, 17 NCAA Regional titles and 12 conference crowns.
Overall, the Cardinal has gone to 28 NCAA Regionals and won 1,463 games with Stotz on board. Even more, 55 players have reached the majors since Stotz arrived on The Farm and 46 of those players earned their degrees.
Stotz has been involved in all phases of coaching in his expansive role on the staff. He currently serves as the team's lead recruiting coordinator, primary hitting instructor and third base coach, while also handling various offensive and defensive aspects of the game.
It is no surprise that the Cardinal has become an offensive powerhouse since Stotz reverted in 1997 to his current role as the team's primary hitting coach.
Stotz has helped develop hitters such as 2008 American League MVP candidate Carlos Quentin along with major leaguers Chris Carter, Sam Fuld, Ryan Garko, Jody Gerut and Jed Lowrie.
Four of his protégés were selected in the 2008 MLB First-Year Player Draft, while Jason Castro became the 10th overall selection after his batting average jumped 209 points and his home run total increased by 13 over the previous season. Likewise, Stotz helped develop Sean Ratliff into the Pac-10's co-home run leader and a fourth round draft pick, while Cord Phelps was selected in the third round after hitting .353 with his first 13 collegiate homers.
After falling under the .300 mark in three of the four years that Stotz moved to the mound to work with the team's pitchers from 1993-96, the club has hit at least .305 in nine of the next 13 seasons (1997-2004, 2007) since his return to instructing Cardinal hitters. Stanford has also recorded four of its top five team batting averages in school history during the span.
In his first year back as the hitting coach, Stanford's bats responded with a .334 mark that is second all-time on The Farm and just three percentage points shy of the .337 school record posted by the 1981 club.
Stanford put up the third-best mark in school history in 2004, finishing with a .324 batting average after flirting with the school record for much of the campaign.
Under Stotz's watch, Cardinal offenses have also recorded five of the school's top-10 single-season hit totals (including a record 802 in 1997), seven of the top doubles campaigns, and six years where the club's total bases ranked among Stanford's 10 best outputs.
Long a hallmark of Stotz's hitters, the 2008 Cardinal were exceptional in the clutch, boasting a .340 average with runners in scoring position.
Stanford has also increased its long ball totals under Stotz's guidance. The 1997 team hit 102 home runs to become the first club in school history to break the 100-home run mark, while the 2004 squad belted 96 round trippers for the second highest total in Stanford annals.
Stotz was also effective during a four-year stint as the team's pitching coach while still maintaining other responsibilities with base running and catchers.
In just his second season working with the team's pitchers, Stotz's 1994 staff posted a 3.74 ERA that was the best effort by a Cardinal group since 1977 (3.44). In 1995, the pitching corps produced a 4.08 team ERA while leading Stanford to a tie for fifth at the College World Series. In nine postseason contests in 1995, the Cardinal staff tossed five complete games, posted a 3.46 ERA and struck out 58 batters while walking just 14. Stotz led a young staff to an even better 3.68 ERA in 1996 and helped develop one of the top starting rotations in the nation in Kyle Peterson, Chad Hutchinson and Jeff Austin, all of whom went on to play in the majors.
With Stotz heading up the team's defensive efforts in 1990, the Cardinal set a (then) school record by posting an impressive .972 fielding percentage, committing only 77 errors in the 71-game season.
In addition to his fine work on the diamond, Stotz is also known throughout the nation for his consistent top-notch recruiting efforts, which often rank among the best in the land. Under his guidance, Stanford's 1987 and 1988 recruiting classes were named the best in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. Stotz's efforts ranked in the top five in the nation for five straight years (1989-93), while five of his last nine classes have been ranked in the top-10 by Baseball America.
Stotz also has a key role in Stanford's long-running and successful baseball camps held each summer, including the program's All-Star Camp that annually attracts some of the top high school baseball talent in the country. In addition, he has produced several videos that teach the finer points of the game. He was honored for all of his hard work and success when he was named the first recipient of the ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year Award in 1999.
A 1975 graduate of Stanford with a degree in economics, Stotz began his coaching career as an assistant at Cosumnes River College in 1976 after playing two years of collegiate baseball (1974 and 1975) at Stanford and two at Sacramento City College (1972 and 1973).
Stotz was also a standout pitcher and first baseman for the Sacramento Airport Little League team that captured the Western USA title and competed in the Senior League World Series Championship in Gary, Ind.
Stotz and his wife, Kathy, reside in Palo Alto and have five children: Michael, John Robert, Tricia, Emma and Chipper.