Dr. Robert "Bob" Fisher, Head Coach
Baldwin-Wallace College Head Baseball Coach Dr. Robert "Bob" Fisher is the winningest coach in the history of the College for any sport. Coach Fisher recently completed his 40th season in 2007-2008. He has a 669-599-13 career record. Coach Fisher also is the Dean of baseball coaches in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
For the past 40 years, Coach Fisher has built the Yellow Jacket program into one of the best in the OAC, Mideast Region of Division III and all of NCAA Division III. In addition to being one of the top baseball coaches in Div. III, Coach Fisher was a longtime assistant coach and the defensive coordinator for B-W's nationally-renown football program. He retired from the football field seven years ago to concentrate on both his teaching and baseball coaching responsibilities.
Fisher has had many outstanding moments on the diamond at B-W and on the road.
On March 8, 2005 in Ft. Myers, Florida, Fisher won the 600th and 601st games of his career as the Yellow Jackets swept Dominican (Ill.) College, 9-4 and 4-0, on its annual spring break trip. For Fisher, who graduated from B-W in 1963, it was the latest milestone in an outstanding teaching and coaching career at his alma mater.
In addition, Fisher was selected by his fellow OAC coaches as the 1996 Ohio Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. It was the fourth time in his career that he has been honored with the award. The last 34 Fisher-coached squads have won 10 or more games while 14 teams have won 20 or more contests. During the past 11 years (1998-2008), his teams have had nine seasons with a .500 or better record and 10 seasons with 18 or more victories. Both his 1991 and 2002 teams set and then tied the school-record for wins in a season with 25. B-W has advanced to the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament four times and the OAC Playoffs 16 times.
In the classroom, Fisher has developed a reputation as an outstanding instructor and he spent a number of years as the faculty chair of the Division of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.
Fisher received his master's degree from Kent State University in 1968 and his doctorate in health education from The Ohio State University in 1988. A professor of health education and chairman of the Men's Department of Health and Physical Education, Fisher is a member of numerous professional associations in health promotion and education.
A member of the American Baseball Coaches Association and the Greater Cleveland Baseball Coaches Association, Fisher is a member of the Greater Cleveland chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
TO CONTACT HEAD COACH BOB FISHER, please call him in his office at 440-826-2182 or e-mail him at rfisher@bw.edu.
Joe Kilburg, Hitting Coach
Joe Kilburg is the hitting and catchers coach at Baldwin-Wallace College. Before joining B-W’s staff, he coached high school baseball at Cleveland Central Catholic for 20 years and was named North Coast Conference Coach of the Year three times.
For the past 26 years, Coach Kilburg has coached summer teams at all levels of amateur baseball. He is currently an assistant coach with the highly successful Parma MSI Baseball Club. In addition to his coaching assignments and his work as an instructor at the well-respected Phil Bova Baseball Camp, Coach Kilburg is an associate scout with the Cleveland Indians.
As a biology and general science teacher at Cleveland Central Catholic High School, Coach Kilburg has been named Teacher of the Year and honored as a Teacher of Excellence by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. He has also been nominated for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching and included in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. In 1995, Baseball America named Coach Kilburg, his wife Judy and their two sons Joe and Jim as Ohio’s Amateur Baseball Family of the Year.
Ken Ciolek, Pitching Coach
Ken Ciolek is the Yellow Jacket pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the B-W baseball program.
Prior to joining the B-W coaching staff, Ciolek spent 22 years as the head baseball coach at Lakewood High School.
During his tenure at Lakewood, Coach Ciolek compiled a .724 winning percentage and never had a losing season. He was named Lake Erie League Coach of the Year eight times and Northeast Ohio Coach of the Year four times as he led the Rangers to 20 or more wins in 11 seasons and eight LEL championships.
A past president of the Greater Cleveland Baseball Coaches Association, Coach Ciolek was inducted into the Lakewood Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.
Prior to joining the Yellow Jacket baseball staff, Ciolek also was a wingbacks coach for the football team for a number of seasons.
Adam Howard, Infield Coach
Adam Howard is the Infield Coach.
Coach Howard came to B-W from Wilmington College, where he played second base and outfield after an outstanding high school career at Springfield Northwestern. After graduating from Wilmington, he stayed on at the Ohio Athletic Conference school as an assistant baseball coach.
A standout defensive back in high school and college, he also coached football at Wilmington and joined B-W’s football staff in 2002 as secondary coach. Coach Howard was promoted to Defensive Coordinator in 2003 and was selected as the OAC "Assistant Coach of the Year."
Coach Howard also is a certified athletic trainer.
TO CONTACT ASSISTANT COACH ADAM HOWARD, please call him in his office at 440-826-5941 or e-mail him at ahoward@bw.edu.
Chris Check, Outfield and Freshman Coach
Outfield and Freshman Coach Chris Check was B-W's rightfielder in the mid 1980s and was both an offensive and defensive leader on the 1985 Yellow Jacket Ohio Athletic Conference championship team that advanced to the NCAA Division III National Playoffs. While batting cleanup, Coach Check won the "Gold Glove" Award for his outstanding defense as a senior. The following two seasons, he served as a graduate assistant coach at B-W.
While completing his Master's degree in exercise physiology at the University of South Alabama, Coach Check was an assistant coach with the Jaguars for two years and served as the strength and conditioning coach for both the baseball and basketball teams. During his time on the baseball staff, South Alabama appeared in two NCAA Division I Regional Tournament championship games.
Since returning to the Cleveland area in 1992, Coach Check has been coaching summer travel teams at the high school level and has developed a solid reputation as a hitting coach/ instructor through his private lessons program for talented high school and collegiate players. Having also developed a solid business reputation as a financial advisor, Coach Check continues to compete in the game of baseball with adult and collegiate teams during the summer months.
Coach Check resides in Westlake.
Jason Albright, Middle Infield Coach and Assistant Freshman Coach
Jason Albright returned to his alma mater in the spring of 2007-2008 as the Middle Infield Coach and Assistant Freshman Coach. He assisted Adam Howard with the middle infielders and Chris Check with the freshmen and junior varsity student-athletes.
Coach Albright was the starting shortstop and leadoff hitter for the Yellow Jackets in 2004 and 2005 and had a solid four-year varsity baseball experience at the College. He ended his career with a .336 batting average and an outstanding .937 fielding average in 81 games, including 69 starts. For his efforts on the field, Coach Albright earned All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors.
Following graduation from B-W in 2005, Coach Albright served as an assistant varsity coach at Bedford High School. He has continued playing the game of baseball by competing in summer leagues near his hometown in eastern Pennsylvania, and last summer he played in the Northern Ohio Semi Pro league for the Cleveland Bruins.
In addition to coaching baseball at B-W, Coach Albright is taking classes at both B-W and John Carroll University to earn a teaching degree and license in physical education and a master's degree in education.
Last updated on May 14, 2008
275 Eastland Rd.