DURHAM, N.C. – USA Baseball announced on Wednesday the appointment of its 2010 Rod Dedeaux Coach of the Year, Eric Kibler, as a Sport Development contributor for 2018. A highly respected figure within the game, Kibler will serve as a resource and assist with USA Baseball’s various educational efforts.

The Sport Development Department at USA Baseball was created as part of the organization's five-year partnership extension with Major League Baseball (MLB), which is a joint, cooperative effort to grow the game of baseball, as well as provide educational resources for coaches, players, parents, and umpires.

Currently the head coach at Horizon High School (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Kibler has served on the coaching staffs of three gold medal-winning USA Baseball national teams, helping to lead the 2009 16U National Team to a world championship at the International Baseball Federation World Youth Championships in Taichung, Taiwan, and the 2010 16U team to a first-place finish at the COPABE Pan American "AA" Youth Championships in Lagos de Moreno, Mexico. He also helped lead the 18U National Team to a gold medal as an assistant coach at the 2015 World Baseball Softball Confederation U-18 Baseball World Cup in Osaka, Japan.

Kibler served as the field coordinator for the inaugural USA Baseball 14U and 17U National Team Development Programs (NTDP) in 2012, and he will do the same for the inaugural 16U NTDP in 2018. He also served as the 14U NTDP field coordinator in 2013 and 2014, and as the 17U NTDP field coordinator in 2013, 2016 and 2017.

Kibler has been the head baseball coach at Horizon High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, since 1981, and has led the program to six state titles during his tenure. In addition, he has won 17 regionals and had three runner-up finishes in the state tournament. On March 6, 2018, Kibler earned his 800th win with Horizon High School, the most wins in Arizona high school baseball history. He has coached 28 players that were selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft and has seen 150 of his players go on to play college baseball.

"We are excited to have Eric Kibler joining a group of experts from a wide range of disciplines lending their support to our many sport development initiatives," said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball's Executive Director and CEO. "Coach Kibler is a high school coaching legend who has been at the forefront of many of USA Baseball’s player development initiatives, and we look forward to his continued involvement within the organization in these capacities.

“In addition, we are honored to welcome him back to the USA Baseball coaching ranks as he will serve as our field coordinator for the first-ever 16U National Team Development Program in 2018, continuing his lasting influence on the organization and its athletes.”

Kibler joins a distinguished list of USA Baseball Sport Development contributors including:

• Michael Cuddyer – 15-year MLB veteran, two-time All-Star, Silver Slugger Award winner and Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame member
• Dave Ellis, RD, CSCS – Veteran sports registered dietician, first President of the Collegiate and Professional Sports RDs Association (CPSDA), current CPSDA Ambassador, and the Consulting Registered Dietitian for MLB/MLB Players Association and USA Baseball
• Darren Fenster – Manager for the Portland Sea Dogs, the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, founder of Coaching Your Kids LLC
• Dr. Peter Gorman – President of Microgate USA, inventor of heart rate monitor technology, adjunct professor at the University of Bridgeport Chiropractic
• Dean Jordan – Managing Executive of Global Sports Properties and Media for Wasserman, served in executive positions within the Pittsburgh Pirates and Florida Marlins organizations and founded North Carolina Development Baseball, Inc.
• Dr. Marc Richard, MD – Hand and Upper Extremity Surgeon, Orthopedic Surgeon, Microvascular Surgeon and Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Duke University
• Skip Schumaker – 11-year MLB veteran, two-time World Series Champion, and current first base coach for the San Diego Padres
• Dr. Anne Shadle – Certified consultant in Sport Psychology CC-AASP, member of the United States Olympic Committee’s Sport Psychology registry, Athlete Advisory Committee member for USA Track and Field (USATF) and current President-appointed committee chair for Psychological Services for USATF
• Tom Succow – Four-time USA Baseball national team coach, retired Hall of Fame head baseball coach at Brophy College Preparatory, more than 700 wins and a state championship in 40 seasons
• Jon Torine – 17-year strength and conditioning coach in the NFL, Director of Pro/Elite Sports with EXOS, leader of the physical education and athletic development for Functional Movement Systems and trainer for the Positive Coaching Alliance
• Dave Turgeon – Coordinator of Instruction for the Pittsburgh Pirates, former Minor League player and former NCAA Division I baseball coach at Boston College, the University of Connecticut, Duke University and Virginia Tech

USA Baseball will continue to produce daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly educational content at no cost to the public with the assistance of these primary contributors. For a complete listing of USA Baseball Sport Development offerings, visit USABaseball.Education. For more information on the NTDP, visit USABaseball.com and follow @USABaseballNTDP on Twitter.

About USA Baseball

USA Baseball is the national governing body for the sport of baseball in the United States and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee and the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The organization selects and trains the World Baseball Classic, Olympic, Premier12 and Pan Am teams (and all other USA Baseball Professional Teams); the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team; the USA Baseball 18U, 15U and 12U National Teams; and the USA Baseball Women’s National Team, all of which participate in various international competitions each year. The organization is responsible for the continued proliferation and health of the sport, and leads a number of amateur initiatives including PLAYBALL and Pitch Smart. USA Baseball also presents the Golden Spikes Award annually to the top amateur baseball player in the country. For more information, please visit the organization’s official websites: USABaseball.com, USABaseball.Education, PLAYBALL.org, PitchSmart.org, GoldenSpikesAward.com and USABaseballShop.com.