Central Michigan University Athletics
A special honor for Dean Kreiner latest in a lifetime of baseball
4/4/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 4, 2018
The first of two features before the special ceremony Saturday to honor former CMU baseball coaches Dave Keilitz and Dean Kreiner. Today, a look at how Kreiner's accomplishments in 28 years with CMU continue to influence amateur baseball. Thursday, we will feature Dave and Sue Keilitz.
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Dean Kreiner followed his heart. Central Michigan University baseball, the university and the community of Mount Pleasant are forever better for it.
Kreiner, a Mount Pleasant native, was set to follow the advice of his high school math teacher and pursue a career in engineering. That was in the mid 1950s. Instead, he took the lead of his baseball coach, Bill Theunissen, at what was then known as Central Michigan College
"Bill Theunissen asked me, 'You know anything about engineering?'" Kreiner said. "And I said I didn't know anything about it."
Kreiner did know baseball, and he had a knack for teaching. His career path naturally followed. After earning his degree from Central Michigan in 1958, Kreiner returned to Mount Pleasant High School, where he taught math and coached football and baseball for 12 years.
In 1970, he joined first-year Central Michigan baseball coach Dave Keilitz as an assistant coach. When Keilitz stepped down from coaching in 1984, Kreiner took over. In 1998, Kreiner walked away as the all-time winningest coach in program history with 516 victories. As Keilitz's top aide, the pair led the Chippewas to 453 victories from 1971-84.
Kreiner was a part of nearly 1,000 victories against just 485 losses in 28 seasons in the Chippewa dugout, and CMU won a combined 10 Mid-American Conference championships during his time with the coaching staff.
Keilitz pegged Kreiner as a baseball mind he wanted on his staff right from the get-go.
"I knew him from high school ball and summer ball," Keilitz said. "He is as good a pitching coach as there was in the country. My expertise in baseball was maybe everything but pitching; plus I knew he was an excellent coach, he was an outstanding person, we had the same values, same beliefs, same feeling toward Central. I just thought it would be a great partnership. And it was."
Kreiner was named the MAC Coach of the Year six times, including four consecutively when he guided the Chippewas to every MAC crown from 1985-88. CMU started a streak of five straight MAC titles in 1984, Keilitz's final year at the helm.
Kreiner's uniform No. 33 and Keilitz's No. 34 will be retired during an on-field ceremony at Theunissen Stadium before the Chippewas' game with Kent State on Saturday, April 7. The ceremony is scheduled for 1:45. No other numbers have been retired in CMU baseball history.
Kreiner's legacy lives not only at Theunissen Stadium, but on fields all over the state.
"I still use drills, I still used terminology from when I played at CMU, and I've used them for so long that it's like second nature to me," said Tim McDonald, a Mount Pleasant native who earned four letters as a pitcher under Kreiner at CMU from 1985-88 and now is the head coach of a highly successful program at Bay City Western High School. "It's not one or two things; there's one thing after another after another.
"I base my entire program on what I learned from Coach Kreiner in terms of preparing my teams and having a practice plan. And I still bring his name up. I tell (the players), 'That came straight from CMU 30 years ago.' It worked. It's the foundation of the program that I have tried to build."
McDonald was an All-American and the MAC Pitcher of the Year in 1988. He is among a group of at least a half dozen coaches - CMU alums who played during the Keilitz-Kreiner era - who head some of the state's top prep programs.
That so many former Chippewa players are now successful coaches is a testament to what those men absorbed from the Keilitzes and the Kreiners during their days at CMU.
"I can vividly remember in 2014 when we won the state championship and he was (at the game)," McDonald said, adding that Kreiner was the first person standing at the gate to the baseball field to greet McDonald after he had led Western to the Division I state title. I think I could see tears in his eyes."
Steve Jaksa, the current CMU baseball coach, took over the program in 2003. Fifteen years later, he is second on the Chippewas' all-time victory list to Kreiner.
"Theunissen. Keilitz. Kreiner. Those are three names that still resonate in college baseball," Jaksa said. "They set a standard that started with quality students playing sound, smart, fundamental baseball. It is appropriate that all three have a special place in our stadium."
Kreiner took the if-it-ain't-broke, don't-fix-it approach when he took over the CMU program from Keilitz. Kreiner also continued to foster the homegrown feel of Central Michigan baseball.
That was important to the Mount Pleasant native, who watched as enrollment continued to grow and the campus footprint grew. The program, and the campus vibe, maintained its charm and quaintness despite the growth.
"The nice thing about it was that you always had the opportunity to run into a whole bunch of people that you had as a student in class, or you coached in baseball or something," he said. "It's such a friendly campus. It really makes a big difference. I think it's a very close-knit campus, and that's where you establish some of your friendships for life. Homecoming means a lot to people."
Like any successful coach, Kreiner received overtures from other universities. Certainly, he listened, but in the end, he said no. He and his wife of 54 years, Judy, raised their four children in Mount Pleasant and the three Kreiner boys - Denny, Thomas and Kenneth - all played baseball for their dad.
Today, Kreiner helps his son, Denny, who is the head coach at Alma High School.
"I would much rather be involved than to be sitting around," he said. "If you're a teacher, I guess you're always there teaching, whether you're retired or not retired. … Go do something."
Kreiner did, choosing to listen to his heart and stick with what he had helped to build and to maintain. He didn't have an engineering degree, but he became one of the chief architects of the MAC's preeminent baseball program simply by following his heart.
"Everybody makes their choice," he said. "If your heart's really there, it's where you want to be. At Central Michigan, baseball was really important to everybody. It was important to all of the administrators, it was important to the president of the university, it was important to the city, it was a very close-knit community.
"The football coach, the basketball coach, the baseball coach, the physical education teachers, it didn't make any difference, people across campus - it was just very close. It gave you a whole different perspective. People would say, 'how could you ever have stayed at Central?
Why aren't you in California? Why aren't you in God's country someplace?'
"Well, this is God's country."
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The first of two features before the special ceremony Saturday to honor former CMU baseball coaches Dave Keilitz and Dean Kreiner. Today, a look at how Kreiner's accomplishments in 28 years with CMU continue to influence amateur baseball. Thursday, we will feature Dave and Sue Keilitz.
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Dean Kreiner followed his heart. Central Michigan University baseball, the university and the community of Mount Pleasant are forever better for it.
Kreiner, a Mount Pleasant native, was set to follow the advice of his high school math teacher and pursue a career in engineering. That was in the mid 1950s. Instead, he took the lead of his baseball coach, Bill Theunissen, at what was then known as Central Michigan College
"Bill Theunissen asked me, 'You know anything about engineering?'" Kreiner said. "And I said I didn't know anything about it."
Kreiner did know baseball, and he had a knack for teaching. His career path naturally followed. After earning his degree from Central Michigan in 1958, Kreiner returned to Mount Pleasant High School, where he taught math and coached football and baseball for 12 years.
In 1970, he joined first-year Central Michigan baseball coach Dave Keilitz as an assistant coach. When Keilitz stepped down from coaching in 1984, Kreiner took over. In 1998, Kreiner walked away as the all-time winningest coach in program history with 516 victories. As Keilitz's top aide, the pair led the Chippewas to 453 victories from 1971-84.
Kreiner was a part of nearly 1,000 victories against just 485 losses in 28 seasons in the Chippewa dugout, and CMU won a combined 10 Mid-American Conference championships during his time with the coaching staff.
Keilitz pegged Kreiner as a baseball mind he wanted on his staff right from the get-go.
"I knew him from high school ball and summer ball," Keilitz said. "He is as good a pitching coach as there was in the country. My expertise in baseball was maybe everything but pitching; plus I knew he was an excellent coach, he was an outstanding person, we had the same values, same beliefs, same feeling toward Central. I just thought it would be a great partnership. And it was."
Kreiner was named the MAC Coach of the Year six times, including four consecutively when he guided the Chippewas to every MAC crown from 1985-88. CMU started a streak of five straight MAC titles in 1984, Keilitz's final year at the helm.
Kreiner's uniform No. 33 and Keilitz's No. 34 will be retired during an on-field ceremony at Theunissen Stadium before the Chippewas' game with Kent State on Saturday, April 7. The ceremony is scheduled for 1:45. No other numbers have been retired in CMU baseball history.
Kreiner's legacy lives not only at Theunissen Stadium, but on fields all over the state.
"I still use drills, I still used terminology from when I played at CMU, and I've used them for so long that it's like second nature to me," said Tim McDonald, a Mount Pleasant native who earned four letters as a pitcher under Kreiner at CMU from 1985-88 and now is the head coach of a highly successful program at Bay City Western High School. "It's not one or two things; there's one thing after another after another.
"I base my entire program on what I learned from Coach Kreiner in terms of preparing my teams and having a practice plan. And I still bring his name up. I tell (the players), 'That came straight from CMU 30 years ago.' It worked. It's the foundation of the program that I have tried to build."
McDonald was an All-American and the MAC Pitcher of the Year in 1988. He is among a group of at least a half dozen coaches - CMU alums who played during the Keilitz-Kreiner era - who head some of the state's top prep programs.
That so many former Chippewa players are now successful coaches is a testament to what those men absorbed from the Keilitzes and the Kreiners during their days at CMU.
"I can vividly remember in 2014 when we won the state championship and he was (at the game)," McDonald said, adding that Kreiner was the first person standing at the gate to the baseball field to greet McDonald after he had led Western to the Division I state title. I think I could see tears in his eyes."
Steve Jaksa, the current CMU baseball coach, took over the program in 2003. Fifteen years later, he is second on the Chippewas' all-time victory list to Kreiner.
"Theunissen. Keilitz. Kreiner. Those are three names that still resonate in college baseball," Jaksa said. "They set a standard that started with quality students playing sound, smart, fundamental baseball. It is appropriate that all three have a special place in our stadium."
Kreiner took the if-it-ain't-broke, don't-fix-it approach when he took over the CMU program from Keilitz. Kreiner also continued to foster the homegrown feel of Central Michigan baseball.
That was important to the Mount Pleasant native, who watched as enrollment continued to grow and the campus footprint grew. The program, and the campus vibe, maintained its charm and quaintness despite the growth.
"The nice thing about it was that you always had the opportunity to run into a whole bunch of people that you had as a student in class, or you coached in baseball or something," he said. "It's such a friendly campus. It really makes a big difference. I think it's a very close-knit campus, and that's where you establish some of your friendships for life. Homecoming means a lot to people."
Like any successful coach, Kreiner received overtures from other universities. Certainly, he listened, but in the end, he said no. He and his wife of 54 years, Judy, raised their four children in Mount Pleasant and the three Kreiner boys - Denny, Thomas and Kenneth - all played baseball for their dad.
Today, Kreiner helps his son, Denny, who is the head coach at Alma High School.
"I would much rather be involved than to be sitting around," he said. "If you're a teacher, I guess you're always there teaching, whether you're retired or not retired. … Go do something."
Kreiner did, choosing to listen to his heart and stick with what he had helped to build and to maintain. He didn't have an engineering degree, but he became one of the chief architects of the MAC's preeminent baseball program simply by following his heart.
"Everybody makes their choice," he said. "If your heart's really there, it's where you want to be. At Central Michigan, baseball was really important to everybody. It was important to all of the administrators, it was important to the president of the university, it was important to the city, it was a very close-knit community.
"The football coach, the basketball coach, the baseball coach, the physical education teachers, it didn't make any difference, people across campus - it was just very close. It gave you a whole different perspective. People would say, 'how could you ever have stayed at Central?
Why aren't you in California? Why aren't you in God's country someplace?'
"Well, this is God's country."
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