Decker Takes the Reins

After the sudden death of longtime baseball coach Joe Walsh, the Harvard program was thrown into flux as the athletic department attempted to find a replacement for the man who led the Crimson for 17 years. Out of the search for a manager emerged Bill Decker, the former head coach at Trinity College.

Decker was one of the most successful coaches in Division III history with a career record of 529-231—a .696 winning percentage.

As Trinity’s coach, Decker had 20 winning seasons in 22 years. He joins a Crimson team that has not had a winning season since 2006, when it went 21-20-1.

“Coach Decker brings a lot of experience and a lot of success to this school,” co-captain Rob Wineski says. “He’s had a very positive impact on the team already this year, and I think that will only continue as the program moves forward.”

Under Decker’s leadership, Trinity won NESCAC championships in 2000, 2003, 2008, 2009, and 2012. His best year was in 2008, when the Bantams went 45-1 and won the NCAA Division III National Championship in addition to NESCAC and New England Regional titles.

The team’s .978 winning percentage marked an NCAA record in all sports and divisions for a season of equal or greater length.

Decker has received numerous awards, including New England Coach of the Year five times, NESCAC Coach of the Year four times, and the American Baseball Coaches Association Coach of the Year once.

During his tenure, Trinity sent eight players on to professional baseball.

One of his pitchers, Jonah Bayliss, became the first NESCAC player to appear in a Major League game in 10 years when he debuted for the Royals in 2005.

“Coach Decker was always a terrific motivator,” Bayliss says. “He built in me the tenacity to never give up no matter what the situation may be. He has the mentality that even if the bases are loaded and nobody is out, we’re still not going to let anybody score. Only then have we done our job right.”

Throughout his career, Decker has not only exuded influence on the baseball field, but has also contributed to the Athletic Department in other ways.

A former All-American football player at Ithaca College, he has spent time coaching football, and during the 1999-2000 season was Trinity’s interim head football coach while maintaining his baseball responsibilities.

Decker has also tried to expand his responsibilities beyond athletics by playing a role in how his players participate in their classes.

“He was always a coach that held you very accountable,” Bayliss says. “I can recall our first meeting of the year. The first thing he always addressed was that we had better get our butts to class and sit in the front row. He made sure that all of his players were accountable for their actions on and off the field and demanded nothing but the most from his players.”

Decker’s players describe him as a focused coach who is very approachable but still is always in control.

“He’s a very personable guy,” Wineski says. “He really cares about his players a lot and shows it often. He’s very down to earth. If you have a problem, you can always go and talk to him. He’s very open.”

Decker left a lot behind in Hartford. In addition to departing a team coming off a conference championship, he left his own son, Kyle, who is a sophomore on the team.

“At the end of the day, it was a family decision with my wife,” Decker says. “I left the family back home temporarily, including [Kyle], so it wasn’t an easy decision. Nonetheless, it was one that I said yes to, and we’re going to take this thing as far as we can go.”

The transition from such sustained success to a Harvard program in flux is a challenge that Decker says he welcomes. He has already exerted his presence on the program and has worked towards instilling a new attitude in the locker room.

“A lot of our time as pitchers is spent doing work, and we don’t really stand around at all,” freshman picher Sean Poppen says. “That’s what pitchers are ‘supposed’ to do, to just stand around and help out, but [with us] there are definitely goals in mind with everything we’re doing every day.”

Following Walsh’s death, Decker was forced to walk a thin line between encouraging continuity and enacting change within a program in a delicate situation.

“Something coach Decker’s done a great job of is recognizing that this is a program that’s been under coach Walsh for a long time,” co-captain Jordan Haviland says. “He’s not coming in trying to replace anything. He’s stressed from day one that we’re going to honor what’s been done here in the past [and] we’re going to build off it.”

Decker certainly has his work cut out for him, as he is dealing with a very young team and competition that is significantly tougher than what he encountered at Trinity. But the coach is not fazed by the prospect of stepping up to Division I baseball.

“Kids are kids, ballplayers are ballplayers, academic institutions are academic institutions,” Decker says. “There are some subtle differences, but the biggest difference for me and one of the reasons I chose to say yes is the fact that [the Ivy League] is not as restrictive as the league that I came from. [At Trinity], I wanted to be on the field, being able to play fall baseball and really invest time on the field, which I didn’t have.”

There are three seniors and ten freshmen on the Crimson squad. The makeup of the team has allowed the coaches to come in and create a new environment, largely from scratch, as they work towards a better future for the program.

“I think it’s been great,” freshman DJ Link says. “The staff is full of great coaches. It was a new slate for everyone and everyone had to go through it, even the older guys, but I feel like the coaches are doing a great job. They’re very personable people, and I think that everyone on the team is buying into their style of coaching.”

Decker’s selection as Harvard coach came together at a time uncommon in the baseball hiring process. Arriving on campus in October, Decker had to quickly assess what he was working with.

“The whole hiring process, due to the untimely death of Joe, happened very, very late,” Decker says. “So my expectations were to come in here and really just look and get a feel for what had happened.”

Harvard has started off the season with a 3-14 record, an improvement over last year’s 1-17 start—but still not up to Decker’s Trinity standards.

“When we get through this season, the 2013 season, we’ll have a true evaluation of where we are as a program,” Decker says. “Not only who we have after practicing and playing for a season but what we need to do to get this program back where it belongs.”

“We’ll get there,” he adds. “It’s going to take everybody, not just the baseball program or people in the athletic administration. It’s everybody. It’s me reaching out to try and make sure that we try to do the right thing for our program, like all the other programs are trying to do, to make Harvard a special place.”