Darrell Handelsman, a mainstay of summer-collegiate ball for more than a decade, reached a milestone when his Fayetteville SwampDogs defeated the Columbia Blowfish.
For those spending any time following the summer-collegiate field with any serious intent, chances are good you've cross paths with Darrell Handelsman, one of the more colorful folks in the game. He first made his mark with Northwoods League teams (Brainerd, Waterloo, Madison), where his managerial style was aggressive, to say the least: run, run and run was the basic blueprint. (So was the occasional outburst and inevitable tossing.)
But he's mellowed out a little in recent years, and last night he reached a big milestone: win #500 in summer-collegiate play. He's the winningest coach in Northwoods League history, he's the winningest coach in Coastal Plain League history, and now he's one of the winningest coaches in all of summer-collegiate ball after last night's victory over the Columbia Blowfish.
Justin Sellers of the CPL has researched the winningest coaches in summer-collegiate history (an ongoing process) and has come up with this list: Bill Pintard (Santa Barbara / California Collegiate), 636 wins (still coaching); Jim Dietz (Alaska Goldpanners / Alaska), 609 wins (still coaching); Denny Robison (Quakertown Blazers / Atlantic Collegiate), 604 wins (retired); Darrell Handelsman (Fayetteville / Coastal Plain), 500 wins (still coaching); John Schiffner (Chatham Anglers / Cape Cod), 407 wins (still coaching). Records for a few of these active coaches are a little sketchy, and there could be some other wins for them still to be discovered.
Handelsman and his father, Lew, bought the Fayetteville team in 2005. Congrats, Skip.
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