The University of Akron Athletics
Staff Directory
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- Phone:
- (330) 972-7290
Follow Coach Rembielak on Twitter
Follow Akron Baseball on Twitter
» 60-104 atAkron
» 573-497-1Overall (19Seasons)
Rick Rembielak, a three-time Mid-American Conference Coach ofthe Year who has compiled more than 550 career wins, is in hisfourth season as head coach of the Akron baseball program in2015.
Rembielak led the 2014 squad in his third year at the helmto Akron's second overall MAC Championship appearance and thefirst since 1996. The Zips fell to rival Kent State, 3-0 in thetitle game. He coached the team to 28 wins, the most since the teampicked up 31 wins in the 1997 season. Additionally, the teamregistered 12 Mid-American Conference victories, the most since2009 (12) en route to picking up a pair of MAC series sweeps.Juniors Devan Ahart and Joey Havrilak earned MAC East Player of theWeek honors while freshman John Valek III was named MAC EastPitcher of the Week after tossing a complete game shutout. Ahart,an outfielder, was also selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers inthe 16th round of the Major League Baseball First Year PlayerDraft. Rembielak also coached junior infielder Kris Simonton toreceive Academic All-MAC Team honors for the 2014 season.
Rembielak coached the 2013 team to four MAC series wins and a10-16 record in the conference record. Senior Jared Turocy finishedhis UA career with a second team All-MAC selection, and redshirtjunior Brady Stewart collected a MAC East Player of the Week award.Rembielak brought in a good supply of youth for 2013, as 11 of theplayers on the roster were freshmen. Two of the freshmen weremainstays in the weekend rotation throughout the campaign.
In 2012, Rembielak’s first season at UA, the Zips earned aseries sweep over MAC foe Bowling Green - Akron’s firstconference sweep since 2009. Pitcher Andrew Brown finished hiscareer with a first team All-MAC selection and was selected in the23rd round of the MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies.
Additionally, Rembielak and the Akron baseball program helpedproduce the most influential Diamond Classic for the Kids in thesix-year history of the event in 2012. Through community outreachand in conjunction with Kent State, the team was able to raise over$16,000 for the Akron Children’s Hospital - a record totalfor the event. The 2012 game was also played in front of anevent-record crowd at Canal Park.
Rembielak, who has previously served as the head coach at KentState University and Wake Forest University, is a Cleveland nativeand 1988 graduate of UA. He won four MAC regular seasonchampionships and three league tournament titles at KSU, wherehe is the second all-time winningest coach in school historywith a career record of 373-251-1 (.597).
Moreover, in 11 seasons as the Golden Flashes’ head coach,Rembielak was 200-100 (.667) against league members and led KSU to11 consecutive MAC Tournament appearances. During that time,Rembielak produced seven MAC Pitchers of the Year and the MACPlayer of the Year and MAC Freshman of the Year twice.
In his 18 seasons as a Division I head coach,Rembielak has had 37 players sign professional contracts, includingDustin Hermanson (1994, 3rd overall), Travis Miller (1994, 1stround), John Van Benschoten (2001, eigth overall), Matt Antonelli(2006, 1st round) and
Allan Dykstra (2006, 1st round).
In June of 2004, Rembielak became the 24th head baseball coachat Wake Forest, where he spent five seasons. His impact wasimmediate as the Demon Deacons showed remarkable improvement duringhis first season. Wake not only improved its win total from theprevious campaign by 11 games, but also captured eight morevictories in league play.
In 2007, Rembielak led Wake Forest to its first NCAA Tournamentappearance since 2002. The Deacons’ postseason bid was due inlarge part to their strong showing at the 2007 ACC Championship,where they became only the second No. 8-seeded team in leaguehistory to play in the title game.
Rembielak’s Wake Forest teams also excelled in theclassroom. During his tenure, his team’s Academic ProgressReport (APR) improved each season from 965 in 2005 to 983 in 2009.Rembielak’s 2009 team received special recognition for theiracademic success.
In all, Rembielak, who spent the 2010-11 season as a volunteerassistant coach at Georgia Tech, owns a record of 573-497-1 over a19-year career as a Division I head coach.
Rembielak was a three-year letter-winning shortstop at Miami(Ohio) from 1979-81 where he helped lead the ball club to a 36-13-1MAC record and a league championship (1979). In 1981,Rembielak was drafted in the 13th round by the Baltimore Oriolesand played with teams affiliated with the O’s, Chicago Cubsand Milwaukee Brewers over five seasons.
A graduate of Central Catholic High School in Cleveland, Rembielakearned a bachelor’s degree in business education from UA in1988 and a master’s degree in sports administration from KentState in 1992. He is a member of the Greater Akron Baseball Hall ofFame, the Stark County Hall of Fame and the Cleveland CentralCatholic High School Hall of Fame. He was inducted in the KentState Varsity “K” Hall of Fame in 2009.
Rembielak and his wife of 30 years, Sharon, have two daughters -Nicole (27) and Megan (25) - and one son - Matthew (21) - a seniorinfielder on the UA baseball team.
