Central Michigan University Athletics
Photo by: Julia Bice '22,M'24 - @jb.jpg10
CMU Mourns Death of Legendary Baseball Coach Dean Kreiner
1/20/2025 12:50:00 PM | Baseball, General
‘He was a class act, 24 hours a day, on the field, off the field. … Integrity, all the good things you can think of in a human being, Dean had all of those qualities.”
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Central Michigan community is in mourning today in the wake of the death of legendary baseball coach Dean Kreiner.
Kreiner, a Mount Pleasant native and lifelong resident, died last week at age 88. He joined the CMU baseball program in 1971 as an assistant to then-coach Dave Keilitz and served as Keilitz's assistant through the 1984 season.
Kreiner led the Chippewas from 1985-98, recording 516 victories and he remains the winningest coach in program history. Combined with the 14 seasons that he served as an assistant, CMU baseball amassed 969 victories during Kreiner's time with the program.
CMU won a combined 10 Mid-American Conference championships during Kreiner's time on the coaching staff.
"Dean and I go back over 60 years," said Keilitz, who first came in contact with Kreiner when Keilitz was playing American Legion baseball as a teen-ager in Midland and Kreiner was coaching both American Legion ball and high school ball in Mount Pleasant.
"We'd play Mount Pleasant and I was always impressed, as a player, with him as a person and as a coach and his teams were outstanding," Keilitz said, adding that their paths continued to cross when Keilitz came to Central Michigan in the early 1960s as a player and, later, when he became the Chippewas' junior varsity coach.
In June, 1970, Keilitz got the call to take over as the Chippewas' head coach.
"I was named in the morning and shortly after the press conference my first visit was to go see Dean and I told him I would love to have him join me at Central and for us to coach the Chippewas," Keilitz said.
Kreiner earned two varsity letters in baseball as an undergrad before graduating from what was then known as Central Michigan College in 1958. He taught math and coach baseball and football at Mount Pleasant High School for 12 years before joining Keilitz at CMU.
Kreiner coached the Central Michigan junior varsity for two years and then moved to varsity under Keilitz in 1973. When Keilitz became CMU's athletic director in 1984, one of his first moves was to promote Kreiner to the baseball head coach post.
Kreiner's wife of 63 years, Judy, died in October. They had four children, Dennis, Ken, Tom and Karen. Dennis, Ken and Tom played baseball for their father at CMU.
In 2018, Kreiner's uniform number 33 and Keilitz's 34 were retired by CMU. Kreiner was inducted into CMU Marcy Weston Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003.
"We saw each other basically every day and when he retired, we continued for the rest of our lives to have coffee together, talk baseball, cheer for the Chippewas and so forth," Keilitz said. "Our relationship was very close for over 60 years. He's a special person to our family and the thousands of people he touched.
"He was respected by all, had outstanding teams, and he had a positive effect on thousands of people as a teacher, coach, mentor, leader and friend. He has a tremendous legacy.
"He was a class act, 24 hours a day, on the field, off the field. Anything that he did, it was the right thing. He always did the right thing. Integrity, all the good things you can think of in a human being, Dean had all of those qualities."
Kreiner, a Mount Pleasant native and lifelong resident, died last week at age 88. He joined the CMU baseball program in 1971 as an assistant to then-coach Dave Keilitz and served as Keilitz's assistant through the 1984 season.
Kreiner led the Chippewas from 1985-98, recording 516 victories and he remains the winningest coach in program history. Combined with the 14 seasons that he served as an assistant, CMU baseball amassed 969 victories during Kreiner's time with the program.
CMU won a combined 10 Mid-American Conference championships during Kreiner's time on the coaching staff.
"Dean and I go back over 60 years," said Keilitz, who first came in contact with Kreiner when Keilitz was playing American Legion baseball as a teen-ager in Midland and Kreiner was coaching both American Legion ball and high school ball in Mount Pleasant.
"We'd play Mount Pleasant and I was always impressed, as a player, with him as a person and as a coach and his teams were outstanding," Keilitz said, adding that their paths continued to cross when Keilitz came to Central Michigan in the early 1960s as a player and, later, when he became the Chippewas' junior varsity coach.
In June, 1970, Keilitz got the call to take over as the Chippewas' head coach.
"I was named in the morning and shortly after the press conference my first visit was to go see Dean and I told him I would love to have him join me at Central and for us to coach the Chippewas," Keilitz said.
Kreiner earned two varsity letters in baseball as an undergrad before graduating from what was then known as Central Michigan College in 1958. He taught math and coach baseball and football at Mount Pleasant High School for 12 years before joining Keilitz at CMU.
Kreiner coached the Central Michigan junior varsity for two years and then moved to varsity under Keilitz in 1973. When Keilitz became CMU's athletic director in 1984, one of his first moves was to promote Kreiner to the baseball head coach post.
Kreiner's wife of 63 years, Judy, died in October. They had four children, Dennis, Ken, Tom and Karen. Dennis, Ken and Tom played baseball for their father at CMU.
In 2018, Kreiner's uniform number 33 and Keilitz's 34 were retired by CMU. Kreiner was inducted into CMU Marcy Weston Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003.
"We saw each other basically every day and when he retired, we continued for the rest of our lives to have coffee together, talk baseball, cheer for the Chippewas and so forth," Keilitz said. "Our relationship was very close for over 60 years. He's a special person to our family and the thousands of people he touched.
"He was respected by all, had outstanding teams, and he had a positive effect on thousands of people as a teacher, coach, mentor, leader and friend. He has a tremendous legacy.
"He was a class act, 24 hours a day, on the field, off the field. Anything that he did, it was the right thing. He always did the right thing. Integrity, all the good things you can think of in a human being, Dean had all of those qualities."
Baseball vs Western Michigan DH
Friday, April 03
Baseball vs Western Michigan
Thursday, April 02
Baseball vs Michigan State
Tuesday, March 24
Baseball vs Toledo
Sunday, March 22