University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Stewart Named Interim Head Baseball Coach - UNC Asheville Bulldogs Official Athletics Site
01.01.1970 | Baseball
July 12, 2004
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - UNC Asheville Athletics Director Janet Cone has announced today that assistant coach Willie Stewart has been named as interim head baseball coach for the 2004-05 academic year. Stewart succeeds Matt Myers who resigned last week to take an assistant coaching position at Auburn University.
"I am very pleased to name Willie Stewart as our interim head baseball coach for the coming year," commented Cone. "Our baseball program has made a lot of progress over the past few seasons, and Willie has been an important part of that progress. We think by naming Willie as our interim head coach for the upcoming season that we will keep our baseball program moving forward."
Stewart, a 2000 UNC Asheville graduate, has been an assistant coach for the Bulldogs for three years. He served as a graduate assistant in the 2001 season before working at Elon University for one year during the 2002 season. While at Elon, he helped lead the Phoenix program to a second-place finish in the Big South Conference and an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament. He came back to UNC Asheville as a full-time assistant for the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
Stewart was a four-year letterman for the UNC Asheville program from 1996-2000. He enjoyed an excellent senior year as he earned first team all-conference honors at second base. Stewart set a school record during the 2000 season that still stands when he had an 18-game hitting streak. The Winston-Salem native hit .300 his senior season with six home runs and 32 runs batted in. He was also named to the all-tournament team at the Johnny Quik Classic at Fresno State where he hit .500 and helped lead the Bulldogs to a fourth-place finish in one of the nation's best tournaments.
"I am extremely excited to be named interim head coach for the upcoming year," stated Stewart. "This is a dream come true for me. I am grateful to Janet Cone for having the confidence in me to lead the UNC Asheville baseball program this year. We are going to work very hard to continue the progress we've made under Coach Myers and take it even further."
Myers is pleased that Stewart is getting a chance to be the interim head coach.
"Willie Stewart is very deserving of this opportunity, and I have no doubt in my mind that he will do a great job," stated Myers. "Willie is a very hard worker who did a great job as an assistant coach. We've enjoyed a lot of success the past few years, and he's been a key reason why we've been able to achieve so much."
