| Career Breakdown |
| School |
Years |
Record |
W/L Pct |
| St. Edward's |
15 |
507-276 |
.648 |
| Career |
15 |
507-276 |
.648 |
Rob Penders began his head coaching career with the St. Edward’s University baseball team in 2007. Penders has accounted for all nine of the St. Edward’s University Heartland Conference titles, and his 2017 team made league history by becoming the first No. 4 seed to win the Heartland Conference Tournament.
During his tenure on the hilltop, Penders has continued to rewrite the St. Edward’s record book. The team’s 46 wins in 2016 reset the mark of 44 victories that was accomplished in 2013 on the way to the NCAA DII World Series, and a trip to the 2016 regional tournament championship game helped Penders earn two separate Regional Coach of the Year awards. His 2016 Hilltoppers proceeded to tie or break 20 single-game, season and career records. As the St. Edward’s head coach, Penders has reached career win milestones of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 faster than anyone in school history, recording his 500th win on April 10, 2021 against Texas A&M International. His career head coaching record of 507-276 ranks him first place in wins and winning percentage in the 113-year history of baseball on the hilltop.
Since his arrival at St. Edward’s, his players have received numerous accolades as well, with the 2017 squad earning the most awards. In addition to a pair of All-Americans, three all-region nods and seven more named All-Heartland Conference, TJ Giselbach earned Heartland Conference Tournament MVP, marking him the fifth Hilltopper to win the award and second in as many seasons. Brandon Boone became the seventh Hilltopper to be drafted under Penders’ watch, as he was selected in the 39th round by the Miami Marlins. This adds to a history that includes Hilltopper starting pitcher Brannon Easterling earning College Baseball Lineup’s DII Josh Willingham Most Valuable Player award in 2013. In 2012, Stephen Johnson was named by Baseball America as the best prospect in NCAA Division II as well as Preseason Pitcher of the Year. Collin Sherrod and Dexter Moreno both won a Rawlings Gold Gloves as well, in 2015 and 2010, respectively.
Overall, Penders has had 24 All-Americans, 57 all-region players, 91 individuals named to all-conference teams, four Conference Players of the Year, two Conference Pitchers of the Year, two Conference Freshmen of the Year and two Conference Newcomers of the Year.
In his prep days, Penders was a two-time all-state shortstop at East Catholic High School in Manchester, Conn. He played there for his father, Jim Penders, who won four state championships during his career and was named the National High School Coach of the Year in 1996. Rob’s brother, Jim, currently serves as the head baseball coach for the University of Connecticut, where both his father and his uncle, Tom Penders (long-time Division I men’s basketball coach), were members of the 1965 Huskies College World Series team.
Penders was a four-year letterman for Wake Forest and a team captain his senior year. Primarily a third baseman, he was voted to the Atlantic Coast Conference All-Academic Team three times from 1994 to 1996. In Summer 1995, he played for the Hyannis Mets in the Cape Cod League. After Wake Forest, he played professionally for the Richmond Roosters in the Frontier League in Indiana. He has a daughter named Emmy and a son, Jack. They live in Austin.
Rob Penders' All-Time Collegiate Head-Coaching Record
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