University of Missouri - St. Louis Athletics

Ric Lessmann enters his fifth season as pitching coach for the UMSL baseball program.

Lessmann came to UMSL from Washington University in St. Louis, where he retired after 17 years at the helm of the program. The all-time winningest coach in WUSTL history, Lessmann compiled an overall record of 396-231-1 with the Bears.

While at Washington U., Lessmann guided the program to 12 consecutive winning seasons dating back to the 1999 campaign, and his 2006 squad posted a program-record 34-7 overall mark. Eleven of his 16 teams won at least 20 games and he guided four squads to postseason play, including a stretch of three-straight NCAA appearances from 2005-2007.

Prior to becoming the coach at Washington U. in 1994, Lessmann spent 27 years as the baseball coach at Meramec Community College, where he never experienced a losing season. He led nine teams to the junior college World Series and won the national championship in 1974.

In 1995, Lessmann became just the 18th coach in collegiate baseball history to eclipse 1,000 career wins, and he was the third winningest baseball coach in junior college history.

In 45 seasons as a collegiate baseball coach he tallied an overall record of 1,365-556-1 for a winning percentage of .711.

Lessmann was inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1991,  was a 1992 inductee into the St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame and a 2015 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductee.

A graduate of St. Louis’ Southwest High, Lessmann signed with the New York Yankees at the age of 17 as a left-handed pitcher. During his time as a minor league ball player, he pitched a no-hitter in the Midwest League in 1955.

Lessmann studied at Harris Teachers College (now Harris-Stowe) during the off-seasons and earned his degree in 1960. He earned his master’s from WU in 1963 and began his tenure at Meramec in 1966. Lessmann also completed 36 postgraduate hours at St. Louis University in educational administration.