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Rutgers University-Camden head baseball coach Keith Williams
collected his 150th career win on March 4 when the Scarlet Raptors
defeated Brockport State, 10-8, in a non-conference game. Williams, in his
ninth season at Rutgers-Camden, hiked his record to 150-142-1.
During the last five seasons, the Scarlet Raptors have played in two New
Jersey Athletic Conference tournaments and a pair of ECAC Metro
tournaments, winning the ECAC championship in 2003. The 2006 Scarlet
Raptors posted a 22-15 record for their fifth winning record in the last
six years. That span has produced the five highest victory totals in
school history.
After posting a 7-49 record in his first two seasons (1999 and 2000) while
building the Rutgers-Camden program, Williams’ teams have produced a
143-93-1 in the six-plus seasons beginning with 2001. Along the way he
passed Frank Trotman’s former program record of 82 coaching victories
(1986-92), set the single-season record for baseball wins during a 32-10
campaign in 2002 and received numerous coaching honors that season.
Williams was named the 2002 NJAC Coach of the Year and Rutgers-Camden
Coach of the Year. He also became one of five men honored as the New
Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association Division II/III Coaches of the
Year.
Williams also had his first player selected in Major League Baseball’s
First-Year Player Draft when senior closer Dan McKenna was taken in the
27th round by the Milwaukee Brewers on June 4, 2003.
A 1987 graduate of Bishop Eustace High School who was inducted into that
school’s Hall of Fame in October, 2005, Williams played baseball, soccer
and basketball for the Crusaders, earning All-Parochial honors in
baseball. He led the 1986 Olympic Conference National Division champions
in seven offensive categories. He helped the 1987 team capture the South
Jersey Parochial B title, the Diamond Classic championship and the top
ranking in South Jersey. Williams also earned All-Parochial,
All-Conference and All-State soccer honors at Bishop Eustace.
Williams continued his education at Catholic University of America in
Washington, D.C. He was a four-year starter and a team captain in
baseball, and graduated in 1991 with a Bachelors degree in Biomedical
Engineering.
Following college, Williams spent two years in Australia, where he served
as a player/coach. He built his Ryde-Eastwood Leagues team into a Pacific
Coast power, winning two league championships.
Returning to the United States, Williams coached the Medford Post 307
American Legion team in 1991, and served on the Haddon Heights Legion
staff from 1995-2000. He also was an assistant coach at Camden Catholic
High School from 1995-97, helping the Irish compile a 43-21 record and win
the 1996 South Jersey Parochial A title. He served as an assistant coach
at Eastern High School in 1998 before being hired as the Scarlet Raptors’
head coach.
Williams received his Master of Science in Administration, Sport and
Recreation from West Chester University in August, 2003, and was hired in
February, 2004, as Rutgers-Camden’s Assistant Director of Recreational
Services.
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