Ritch Price

Bio

Ritch “Skip” Price finished his 20th season as head coach at Kansas in 2022. Known for being a tireless worker and enthusiastic recruiter, Price instilled an atmosphere of camaraderie and competitiveness within his program during his tenure.

Price, the winningest baseball coach in school history, compiled a record of 581-558-3 (.510) at KU since being named the 32nd head baseball coach on July 1, 2002. He became the all-time winningest coach in program history on March 4, 2017, with an 11-7 win over Northwestern State. That 439th win on that day broke a record that stood 35 years, nine months and 27 days by legendary head coach Floyd Temple (438).

Skip led the program to three NCAA Tournament appearances (2006, 2009 and 2014) in his 20 seasons, which is more than the combined number of appearances the program achieved in its first 112 seasons before Price.

Price’s 581 wins at Kansas accounted for over 29 percent of the program’s 2,001 victories spanning 132 seasons. He was the longest tenured coach in the Big 12 Conference at the time of his retirement and had managed in over 250 more league games than any of the other eight head coaches. His 20 years at Kansas matched Texas’ Augie Garrido for the longest tenured coach in Big 12 baseball history.

In his 20 seasons holding the reins at KU, Price mentored players to 114 all-conference selections, 165 academic all-conference honorees, 75 professional contracts, two Big 12 Newcomers of the Year (Jordan Piché in 2013 & Ben Krauth in 2015), two All-Americans (Don Czyz in 2006 & Tony Thompson in 2009) and one National Stopper of the Year (Czyz in 2006).

Price amassed 798 wins during his 28 years coaching at the Division I level and coached in more than 1,500 games. He earned his 700th win on April 8, 2018 with a 17-3 victory of then-No. 5 Texas Tech. His 600th-career victory came on April 26, 2014, with a 10-2 win at Baylor, before following up the next day with an 8-5 win over the Bears to pick up the 1,000th-career win among all his stops in his 44 years of being a head coach at the Division I, JUCO and high school levels.

In 2008, Price was named an assistant coach for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. Price coached future Major Leaguers Stephen Strasburg, Mike Leake and Mike Minor on the team. Price helped lead the Americans to a perfect 24-0 record in international play, the only Collegiate National Team to ever go undefeated. The squad won the Harlem Baseball Classic and its third straight FISU World Championship. The Team USA club also defeated Cuba twice during the summer, marking the first time an American team accomplished that feat.

In addition to 20 seasons at Kansas, Price was the head coach at Cal Poly (1994-2002) where he transitioned the Mustangs into a Division I program; at De Anza Community College (1987-94) where he was also the director of athletics; at Menlo College (1983-86); and got his start both at Phoenix High School (1978-81) and at Jasper High School (1982-83).

A Sweet Home, Oregon, native and 1978 graduate of Willamette University (Salem, Oregon), Price was inducted into the NWCA Hall of Fame as a player in 1998 for his two seasons at Linn-Benton Community College. He received his master’s degree in physical education from Cal State Hayward in 1987.

Price was inducted into the California Community College Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in May 2008. He earned the Hall of Fame honor for his eight seasons spent at De Anza Community College in Cupertino, California.

Price and his wife, Cindy, have three sons: Ritchie, Ryne and Robby, and one grandson, Ryan. All three sons played four seasons for their father at Kansas, and were drafted to the majors. Ritchie played in the New York Mets organization, and is in his 10th season as an assistant coach at KU. Ryne played two seasons in the San Francisco Giants’ organization and is a heavy equipment operator in Overland Park, Kansas. Robby played five years in the Tampa Bay Rays’ organization and is a firefighter in Lenexa, Kansas.

Highest Draft Picks in the Price Era

Round 3, Overall 99 – Jackson Goddard, RHP, Arizona Diamondbacks, 2018
Round 3, Overall 107 – Ryan Zeferjahn, RHP, Boston Red Sox, 2019
Round 5, Overall 156 – Wes Benjamin, LHP, Texas Rangers, 2014
Round 5, Overall 167 – Jaxx Groshans, C, Boston Red Sox, 2019
Round 6, Overall 185 – Tony Thompson, INF, Oakland Athletics, 2010