Youngstown State University head baseball coach Steve Gillispie has announced that longtime Penguins assistant coach Craig Antush will remain with the program as the director of operations.
Antush has been on the Penguins coaching staff, including the past two seasons on a volunteer basis, each season since 2000. Gillispie is the third head coach he has worked with.
"Craig has more than two decades of Division I experience as a player and a coach," Gillispie said. "His 13 years here at YSU will provide great stability for our program as we make this transition, and I know our student-athletes are happy to see him on staff."
Antush will assist with camps, operational duties, defensive positioning and evaluating practices and games.
Primarily working with YSU's pitchers during his previous 13 seasons, Antush has seen six Penguins pitchers drafted and four others sign professional contracts. Phil Klein is the most recent, taken by the Texas Rangers in the 30th Round in 2011. Other daft selections include fourth-round pick Justin Thomas in 2005 and first-round pick Brad Hennessey in 2001. Antush also saw Thomas, Hennessey and Aaron Swenson all earn conference pitcher-of-the-year accolades.
Antush came to Youngstown with a wealth of baseball experience. He was the head coach at Marshall from 1996 to 1998, and he served as the Thundering Herd's pitching coach from 1991 to 1995. Antush pitched at Alabama and helped the Crimson Tide reach the College World Series title game in 1983.
He earned his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Alabama in 1983 and his Master's Degree in health and physical education at Marshall in 1995.
Antush is a teacher at Hickory High School in Hermitage, Pa.
