NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association Coaches Hall of Fame
Entering his 28th season as head coach at South Suburban College, Steve Ruzich is 22 wins away from 1,000 for his career, with a 978-565 record (.634) and currently ranks 13th among active NJCAA head coaches in career victories.
Ruzich was named SSC head coach in 1987 and has led the Bulldogs to 10 NJCAA Region 4 Championships and two District titles in 1991 (Great Lakes) and 2006 (Northern), which advanced his teams to the NJCAA Division I World Series.
He has garnered many awards during his tenure, earning 10 Region 4 Coach of the Year honors, two College Coach of the Year Awards from the Pitch Hit Club of Chicago and two NJCAA District Coach of the Year awards.
Ruzich has coached 12 NJCAA All-Americans and has seen 22 of his players selected in the MLB Draft – five have advanced to the majors, including pitcher Tony Cingrani, who had a breakout season for the Cincinnati Reds in 2013. In addition, 251 players coached by Ruzich have continued their careers at four-year colleges and universities and his program has a graduation rate of over 80 percent (80%).
A former NJCAA baseball player himself, Ruzich was an All-Region performer as a catcher at South Suburban (then known as Thornton Community College) where he also excelled on the basketball court. He then earned NAIA All-America honors at the College of Saint Francis and was drafted in 1985 by the Chicago White Sox.
(Update 4/2014)