Head Baseball Coach

Dale Harpenau begins his 12th season as head baseball coach at the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith.

A native of Remsen, Iowa, Harpenau is a 1981 graduate of St. Mary’s High School. He attended Westark College (now UA Fort Smith), where he played catcher for the Lions for two seasons (1982, 1983). He went on to play baseball at Arkansas Tech University for two seasons (1984, 1985).

While at Tech, Harpenau earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and later a master’s degree in education.

Harpenau was a graduate assistant coach under former Wonder Boys head baseball coach Jim Franks for two seasons (1986, 1987) before succeeding Franks as head coach in 1988 at the young age of 23.

During his 11-year stint at Tech, Harpenau was twice voted Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference Coach of the Year (1988, 1992). He helped the Wonder Boys make the transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II, and in 1998, he guided the Wonder Boys to their first and only Gulf South Conference West Division championship.

Harpenau is Tech’s all-time winningest baseball coach with a win-loss record of 302-185-4 and his three conference championships are the most by any coach in school history. He is second all-time in winning percentage behind former Wonder Boys coach Randy Burnett, who won 77 percent (44-13) of his games during a brief four-year stint.

Harpenau succeeded his former college coach, Bill Crowder, as head baseball coach at UA Fort Smith in the late spring of 1998. He has since compiled a 406-167 win-loss record during the past 11 seasons, including one NJCAA Region II tournament championship (2007) and one appearance in the NJCAA South-Central District tournament (2007).

The Lions have averaged more than 35 wins per season under Harpenau’s guidance and have posted a winning season in eight of his nine seasons. Harpenau is the Lions’ second all-time winningest coach behind Crowder, who compiled a 1,003-559 win-loss record during his 32 seasons as Lions coach.

Harpenau has been named NJCAA Region II Coach of the Year (2007) and American Baseball Coaches Association NJCAA Division I Region Coach of the Year (2007). He has had more than 30 former Lions sign professional baseball contracts.

Harpenau succeeded former UA Fort Smith men’s basketball coach Doc Sadler as athletic director in the summer of 2003. During Harpenau’s five seasons as athletic director, the athletic program expanded to eight sports with the addition of men’s and women’s tennis and men’s and women’s golf in summer of 2005.

He relinquished his athletic director duties on July 1, 2008 to focus exclusively on his baseball program.