Tim Chambers (baseball)

Summary

Timothy Doyle Chambers (January 27, 1965 – October 27, 2019)[1] was an American college baseball coach. He was head coach of the UNLV Rebels baseball team from 2011 to 2015. He was named to that position prior to the 2011 season.[2][3][4]

Tim Chambers
Biographical details
Born(1965-01-27)January 27, 1965
Claremore, Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedOctober 27, 2019(2019-10-27) (aged 54)
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Alma materSouthern Utah State College
Playing career
Baseball
1984Dixie JC
1985Utah Tech JC
1986Southern Utah State
Position(s)Outfielder
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Baseball
1991–1999Bishop Gorman HS
2000–2010Southern Nevada CC
2011–2015UNLV
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
2003–2010Southern Nevada CC
Head coaching record
Overall157–132
TournamentsNCAA: 1–2
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
MW regular season (2014)
Awards
MW Coach of the Year (2014)

Born in Claremore, Oklahoma, Chambers graduated from Pleasant Grove High School in Pleasant Grove, Utah.[2][5] He played at three colleges and earned all-conference honors at all three. These included Dixie State, where he was an All-American in 1984.[2] In 1985, Chambers transferred to Utah Technical College,[6] then to Southern Utah, where he earned his degree in 1989. He began his coaching career in 1991 at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, where he remained until 1999. In his time with the Gaels, the team won six consecutive Sunset Division championships, and were the state runners up in 1997. Chambers was named NIAA Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1993. He also coached the Las Vegas Knights of American Legion Baseball, where he won three state championships and reached the 1998 American Legion World Series.[2]

In 2000, Chambers was hired to coach the Southern Nevada Coyotes baseball team, an NJCAA squad in Las Vegas. As the first Coyotes coach to manage a game (first coach Roger Fairless resigned prior to the program's first competition due to health issues), Chambers built the program to a major power, including seven conference championships, the regional titles, two district championships and the 2003 NJCAA World Series title. In 2010, Chambers coached the Bryce Harper-led Coyotes to the NJCAA Semifinals.[2]

In the summer of 2010, the Washington Nationals, who would later draft Harper first overall, courted Chambers to be a scout.[7] Instead, a month later Chambers was introduced as the head coach at UNLV, following Buddy Gouldsmith's resignation.[4] In his three seasons, the Rebels have reached 30 wins twice and claimed wins over several ranked teams, including Stanford, TCU, UC Irvine, and Arizona, while entering the rankings in both 2011 and 2013 themselves.[2] Chambers was fired by UNLV in December 2015 after being arrested for driving under the influence.[8]

Chambers died on October 27, 2019.[9]

Head coaching record edit

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
UNLV Rebels (Mountain West Conference) (2011–2015)
2011 UNLV 33–25 10–13 5th
2012 UNLV 26–31 7–17 4th
2013 UNLV 36–18 18–12 2nd
2014 UNLV 36–25 20–10 T–1st NCAA Regional
2015 UNLV 25–31 10–20 6th
UNLV: 157–132 65–72
Total: 157–132

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "2014 Inductee - Tim Chambers". www.sportshalloffame.net. Archived from the original on May 6, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Tim Chambers Bio". UNLV Rebels. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  3. ^ Ray Brewer (June 11, 2010). "New coach Tim Chambers optimistic he can turn UNLV baseball into a winner". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Brian Foley (June 12, 2010). "UNLV hires Tim Chambers to lead Baseball Squad". College Baseball Daily. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  5. ^ "deseretnews.com Utah High School Sports Records". www.deseretnews.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2003.
  6. ^ "UTech wins twice over Dixie, takes first place spot in ICAC baseball". Deseret News. April 29, 1985.
  7. ^ John Heyman (May 4, 2010). "Nationals working to hire Harper's college coach as scout". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  8. ^ Graney, Ed (July 14, 2017). "Ex-baseball coach Tim Chambers talks UNLV firing amid drunken journey". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on July 19, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  9. ^ Anderson, Mark (October 28, 2019). "Former UNLV baseball coach Tim Chambers dies at 54". Las Vegas Review-Journal.