Brad Weitzel Assistant Coach Fifth Season at Florida

Brad Weitzel is in his fifth season at Florida following an outstanding 2011 campaign which saw the Gators establish a school record for wins, advance to the NCAA College World Series Championship Finals, capture their second-straight Southeastern Conference title and collect their first SEC Tournament trophy since 1991. UF finished with an overall mark of 53-19 and returned to Omaha, Neb., in consecutive seasons for the first time in the program’s existence after claiming the Regionals and Super Regionals held at McKethan Stadium.

Involved in all facets of the program, Weitzel’s efforts have been critical to the team’s resurgence over the past four years. His work with the Gator defense in 2010 resulted in a school-record fielding percentage of .978 that led the SEC and was ranked sixth nationally. Last season, Florida reached the 40-win plateau for the 20th time in school history and in back-to-back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1996-98.

In 2010, the Gators captured their first SEC Championship in five years and advanced to the final College World Series held at historic Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. Along the way to an impressive 47-17 performance and a top-10 national ranking, UF also seized its second-consecutive SEC Eastern Division crown, swept through the NCAA Gainesville Regional for the second year in a row and defeated Miami (Fla.) in two games of the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional to reach the CWS.

In ’09, the Gators claimed the SEC East, captured the NCAA Gainesville Regional with three-straight wins, appeared in Super Regionals for the first time in four years and enjoyed their highest finish in the national rankings since 2005 with a consensus top-15 showing. Florida enjoyed an increase in batting average (.309) and fielding percentage (.966), as well as a drop in the staff’s earned run average (4.27), for the second-consecutive year.

During Weitzel’s first season at UF in 2008, the Gators returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the program was the runner-up at the 2005 NCAA College World Series. His efforts were instrumental in helping UF improve across the board in hitting, pitching and fielding on its way to a third-place showing in the SEC after preseason projections had the club expected to finish near the bottom of the league. In 30 league games, the Gators boasted an SEC-best .305 batting average and also registered the lowest team ERA (4.00).

Named the Florida Diamond Club Scout of the Year in 1998, 1999 and 2004, Weitzel became a member of the Gator staff in June 2007 after serving as the Florida Area Scout for the Minnesota Twins since 1991. Seventeen of his signees have reached the Major Leagues, including A.J. Pierzynski of the Chicago White Sox and Denard Span of the Minnesota Twins. Weitzel was a coach for Minnesota's organization in the Instructional League between 1996 and 2001, coached with the Gulf Coast League Twins in 1996 and was the team's pitching coach in 2000. 

"When we put this staff together, what I wanted to do was have a well-rounded staff," head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. "Some guys get labeled as a hitting coach or an infielder’s coach. In coaching, you use a player’s strengths to put him in the right situation. Coaching is no different."

"When I put this staff together, Brad was at the top of my wish list. We each have the same coaching background. His hitting, fielding, and base-running philosophies are all what I would teach if my expertise was in those areas of the game. It would be a great mistake to limit either Brad or Craig (Bell) to coaching only one area on the field. They must have constant communication between each other about where they’re at with certain kids and we will do that on a daily basis. I’m going to let these guys go and do what they do best."

An assistant coach at the University of North Florida from 1987-91, Weitzel served on the staff of the Ospreys' teams which placed third in both the 1989 and 1991 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) World Series.

Weitzel served as pitching coach for the Erie (Pa.) Sailors of the New York-Penn League in 1990 and guided the squad to a runner-up performance in the best-of-three championship series versus the Oneonta Yankees. He was also an assistant at Palm Beach (Fla.) Community College from 1984-87. Weitzel coached current Gator assistant Craig Bell all four years of his collegiate career, in 1986-87 at Palm Beach and in 1988-89 at UNF, and coached O'Sullivan when the UF skipper was a member of the 1987 Jupiter (Fla.) American Legion team.

Weitzel earned his master's degree in health education from Nova Southeastern University (1987) and his bachelor's degree in health and physical education (1983) from the University of Georgia, where he was an infielder for the Bulldogs under head coach Steve Webber in 1981-82. He received an associate of arts degree from Palm Beach in 1980 and was a two-year letterwinner on the baseball team for head coach Dusty Rhodes during the 1979 and 1980 seasons.

Weitzel and his wife, Lori, have been married for over 28 years and are the parents of 17-year-old twins, Layne and Lucas.

The Brad Weitzel File

• Birthdate: November 16, 1957
• Hometown: Salamanca, N.Y.
• Education: Associate of Arts - Palm Beach Community College, 1980
• Bachelor of Science - Health and Physical Education, University of Georgia, 1983
• Master of Science - Health Education, Nova Southeastern University, 1987

Coaching Career:

• Assistant Coach, Palm Beach Community College, 1984-87
• Pitching Coach, Erie (Pa.) Sailors, 1990
• Assistant Coach, University of North Florida, 1987-91
• Coach, Minnesota Twins, Instructional League, 1996-2001
• Coach, Gulf Coast League Twins, 1996 & 2000
• Assistant Coach, University of Florida, 2007-present

Professional Baseball Experience:

• Florida Area Scout, Minnesota Twins, 1991-2007

Playing Career:

• Palm Beach Community College, 1979-80
• University of Georgia, 1981-82

Weitzel's Major Leaguers

Weitzel's Major Leaguers that he coached as an Amateur, Minor Leaguer or in Instructional League (27)