March 8, 2008
FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University 30th-year baseball head coach Charles ‘Buddy’ Bolding earned his 800th career coaching victory on Saturday afternoon during a 6-5 win past visiting Binghamton University in game one of a doubleheader at Lancer Stadium in Farmville. Coach Bolding is now 800-412-3 during his storied tenure at the helm of the tradition-rich Lancer Baseball program. Coach Bolding’s 800 career wins is more than any other active college baseball coach in Virginia among all Divisions (I, II, III, and NAIA).
“I would like to congratulate Coach Bolding on his 800th victory, a truly well-earned achievement,” said Longwood interim Director of Athletics Troy Austin. “It should be noted that while accumulating these many wins, Buddy has enriched many lives, molded hundreds of young men, and has represented Longwood to the highest of standards.”
Coach Bolding has an outstanding overall record of 800-412-3 (.660) since taking over the Longwood program during the fall of 1978. He led the Lancers to a record of 34-19 during 2007, the program’s 27th winning season in 30 years. It was the program’s 12th 30-win season, the 20th 25-win season, and the 26th 20-win season overall.
Longwood finished 23-27 during 2006, the program’s second season of competing against a complete Division I schedule. Prior to playing its first Division I schedule in 2005 (16-32), as was required during the recent Division I Reclassification, Bolding had coached the Lancers to 26 consecutive winning seasons. In 2004, Longwood finished 31-16 for the program’s 24th consecutive 20-win campaign.
Bolding's time at Longwood is highlighted by six appearances in the post-season Division II Tournament, and two trips to the Division II College World Series. The Lancers first reached the national championships in 1982 with a record of 31-10-1. In 1991, Longwood completed a school-record 41-8 campaign while advancing to the final four of the national championships while led by All-American Michael Tucker who would go on to become a member of the 1992 United States Olympic Baseball Team and first-round selection by Kansas City (#10 overall) that led to 12-year career in Major League Baseball.
Bolding served as a United States Army medic in Vietnam before earning his B.S. in health, physical education and recreation from Milligan (Tenn.) College in 1973, and his M.S. from the University of Tennessee in 1974. He and his wife, Andrea, have three children: Lauren, Suzanne, and Brad - all of whom attended and two who graduated - from Longwood (Brad also played as a Lancer before graduating from Old Dominion University).
