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Karl Steffen retired after a distinguished 34-year career of the Rensselaer baseball program that included 30 winning seasons, 852 victories, 19 NCAA Tournament appearances, 10 Regional Championship games and two trips to the NCAA Division III Championship. Hired in 1985, he posted an 852-470-3 (.644) record over 1,325 games with his teams winning at least 20 games in 28 seasons and earning 30 victories seven times, including a school-record 37 wins in 2009. The Engineers established new school single season records for wins nine times under Steffen, who guided the team to 13 Liberty League regular season titles since the conference was established 23 years ago.
Steffen's teams rewrote the school's record book, including all of the team's batting records and the majority of fielding and pitching standards. In addition, players coached by Steffen hold nearly all of the school's individual marks while six were individual champions in NCAA statistical categories. He mentored more than 20 National All-Americas, nearly 100 NCAA All-Region Team selections, almost 150 All-League honorees and a dozen who were CoSIDA National Academic All-Americas. A dozen players who went on to play professionally, including four who were drafted in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Nine of his former student-athletes have been inducted into the Rensselaer Athletics Hall of Fame.
| Thirty winning seasons in 34 years ... Career record of 852-470-3 (.644) in 1,325 games ... Won at least 20 games in 28 of 29 seasons beginning in 1987 ... Thirteen Liberty League regular season championships ... Nineteen NCAA Tournament appearances ... Ten NCAA Regional Championship games ... Two NCAA Division III Championship appearances ... Won at least 20 games in 28 seasons ... Thirty victories seven times ... School-record 37 wins in 2009 ... School single season records for wins in nine years ... Team went 14-9-1 with ECAC Tournament appearance in 1985 ... School record for wins (20-8) and qualified for ECAC Tournament in 1987 ... School record for wins in 1989 (21-15) and 1990 (28-12), playing in ECAC Tournament both years ... Team in 1990 qualified for NCAA Tournament - first in school history ... Won 23 games (23-13-1) and earned ECAC Tournament berth in 1991 ... Tied school record for victories (28-10) in 1992 with bids to ECAC and NCAA tournaments ... Thirteen consecutive NCAA Tournament bids from 1992 to 2004 ... School record for victories (29-5) and first Division III Championship appearance in 1996 ... Won first of eight consecutive conference championships ... School record for wins in 1997 (31-8) ... Back-to-back NCAA earned run average statistical championships – only time in NCAA history at any level ... Tied school record for wins in 1998 (31-8) ... School record for victories (33-11) and second Division III Championship appearance in 2002 ... Team finished school record No. 5 in final national poll ... Won first two conference tournament titles (2003 & 2004) ... School record for wins (34-11) including school record 17-game winning streak in 2006 ... School record for wins (36-12) and won conference tournament before advancing to the NCAA Regional Championship game in 2008 ... School record for wins (36-12) and won conference tournament before advancing to the NCAA Regional Championship game in 2008 ... School record for wins (37-13) and won conference tournament before advancing to the NCAA Regional Championship game in 2009 ... From 1998 to 2009, Engineers listed in final Division III Collegiate Baseball Poll eight times ... Liberty League Tournament champions in 2013 and 2015 ... Won 30 games (30-15) and played in NCAA Tournament in 2013 ... Played in NCAA Regional Championship game in 2015 ... Mentored more than 20 National All-Americas, nearly 100 NCAA All-Region Team selections, almost 150 All-League honorees, 12 CoSIDA National Academic All-Americas, 12 professional players, four Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft selections and nine Rensselaer Athletics Hall of Fame inductees ... League Coach of the Year four times ... Regional Coach of the Year twice ... Marvin T. Anderson Award, given to the coach who most exemplifies the spirit of RPI Athletics, five times ... Albany Twilight Baseball League Hall of Fame ... Capital District Baseball Hall of Fame ... Intramural Director at Rensselaer ... Ithaca College graduate, Class of 1978. |
