Roberts Accepts New Post at Oglethorpe University

ATLANTA, GA — Cotuit Kettleers Field Manager Mike Roberts, for over 20 years the head coach at UNC-Chapel Hill, has accepted a new head coach position at Division 3 Oglethorpe University, one of the finest liberal arts schools in the nation.

    Roberts, who led Wareham to the Cape Cod Baseball League playoffs in 1984 and 2000, returned to the Cape League diamond last summer and led the Kettleers to a respectable finish in the Western Division, narrowly missing the playoffs.

    Roberts was excited to return to Elizabeth Lowell Park in 2005 and was unanimously chosen to return. He has already assembled the makings of an intensely competitive Kettleers' roster for the 2005 campaign and more than likely will have the bulk of his coaching staff return as well. In addition to coaching at UNC-Chapel Hill for 22 season, Coach Roberts was also at the helm at UNC-Asheville. He also played in the Kansas City Royals organization.

    Affable, courteous, professional and above all, competitive, Roberts brings an air of refinement, expertise and excitement to Lowell Park and is largely deemed a fan and player favorite.

    Oglethorpe University Athletic Director Jay Gardiner said that above all things, Coach Roberts' teaching ability played a large role in his hiring.

    "I am pleased to have someone with Mike's experience leading Oglethorpe's baseball program," Gardiner said. "I look forward to the opportunity to work closely with Mike as he works to bring our baseball program back to a highly competitive level. Mike is not just a great teacher of the game, he is a great teacher of young people, something that fits well with our philosophy here at Oglethorpe University."

    During Roberts' tenure at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he initiated fundraising programs that raised nearly $1 million to improve facilities and meet other capital improvement needs. For five years, he supervised game day operations for all home football and basketball games at UNC. Roberts also founded the Mike Roberts Carolina Baseball Camp and the Eastern United States Baseball Showcase, in cooperation with Major League Baseball. Roberts' teams have made nine NCAA postseason appearances and two College World Series appearances. Eight of Roberts' former players have been first round draft picks in the annual Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft.

    Fifteen of his former players have played Major League Baseball. Roberts earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from UNC at Chapel Hill in 1972 and his Master of Arts in Teaching in 1976. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in sports administration at the University of New Mexico. Roberts and wife Nancy have two children: Angela, a CPA with Blockbuster Inc., and Brian, who plays professional baseball for the Baltimore Orioles.

      Oglethorpe University, founded in 1835, has a total enrollment of approximately 1,100. Its students represent 36 states and 21 countries. The average SAT score is 1200, and 43 percent of the freshmen graduated in the top ten percent of their high school classes. Oglethorpe University plays in the NCAA Division III Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Oglethorpe University is a member of the Annapolis Group, an organization of America's most selective 100 liberal arts institutions, the only such institution in Georgia that is co-educational.

Photo by Rick Heath/CAA 2004

Portions of this press release were written by Sean Walsh