by John Ekberg
For nine years, Dan Ramsay has called Whitworth home. It’s been a familiar place. A comfortable place. And now, it will always hold a special place in his heart as he chases his career aspirations.
It was announced on April 21 that Dan Ramsay was resigning as the head baseball coach at Whitworth University after having been the head coach for seven seasons.
Ramsay will be taking a position at Washington State University as the Director of Baseball Operations.
“I think this opportunity is a step in the right direction for me,” Ramsay said. “I know that I have a heart for coaching, and I might even miss it down the road. But this will allow me to see what the operations side of baseball is like, in one of the best college baseball conferences in the country.”
Ramsay has been around the game for a long time, and he said he has always been interested in an executive-type position for an organization.
“It’s always something that’s been in the back of my mind, especially since completing my master’s program (Administrative Leadership) at Whitworth. I’ve been able to do a lot of (operations activities) here, but now it’ll be a chance for me to take the skills that I’ve learned to a higher level,” Ramsay said.
The seeds for landing this position for Ramsay were planted long ago, prior to the first game he ever coached at Whitworth.
“I reached out to every coach in the Pacific Northwest and asked if I could just come and watch practice. That’s what put my name on (Washington State head coach Donnie Marbut’s) radar,” Ramsay said. “He’s offered me volunteer positions every year for the past four or five years, but it’s never been enough to pull me away. But, this position was right. I’ve had two and a half months to pray about it and talk with my wife, and that’s how I know this position is right.”
Ramsay said he has enjoyed his nine years at Whitworth, dearly. Especially the relationships he has made.
“With student athletes, with colleagues, you name it. It’s the same answer for what I say draws me to Whitworth. This is really, truly a special place, and I will dearly miss it,” Ramsay said. “I hope to take a part of Whitworth with me. Everywhere I go, I try to take this place on my back and do it proud.”
Ramsay transferred to Whitworth at the start of the 2006-2007 school year, his junior year, from Gonzaga University. He hoped to get more playing time than he had in his first two years as a collegiate athlete. He was able to accomplish that, playing in 75 games in his two-year Whitworth career, amassing a .296 batting average with five home runs and 55 RBIs. Ramsay led the team in RBIs both years he was on the team.
After his senior season, the head coaching position for the Whitworth position was open, and Ramsay took advantage by applying for the position.
“When I applied for the position here, I didn’t expect to get it,” Ramsay said.
But it was his courage to put himself out there that helped lead to his first job: the head coaching position for the Whitworth baseball team.
During his tenure at Whitworth these past seven years, Ramsay has been a part of a team that has done a little bit of everything. All of the hard work and grinding that was done in the early years of his coaching career built up to a 20-win season in 2011- the first for Whitworth in nine years.
The following year, the program continued to grow and had the best season to date. The Pirates, under Ramsay’s guidance, won their first Northwest Conference title in 21 years. They also made their first NCAA Division III World Series appearance in the history of the program.
After a successful career at Whitworth, Ramsay will continue on, with his next stop in Pullman, as he chases his dream to be an executive in the professional baseball industry.