Stu Fritz honored for career as Hope baseball coach: 'A dream come true'
HOLLAND - A chance meeting led Stu Fritz to take a chance on Hope College - and Hope to take a chance on a 26-year-old to take over the baseball program.
Thirty-one years later, Fritz has led the Flying Dutchmen to 10 MIAA titles, more than 670 wins and been the cornerstone of a strong NCAA Division III program.
He announced before the season that this would be his final as Hope coach and he was honored at Boeve Stadium between games of a doubleheader with Adrian College on Friday.
Fritz, normally stoic, was moved by the ceremony as he spoke to the crowd. More than three decades is a lot of memories and emotions to recall.
More: Hope College baseball coach Stu Fritz announces 2024 will be final season
"It is hard to put it into words. To see the support, I just can't say enough about Hope to be honest. It is just a dream come true to come to a place like this, the friendships we have made. It has been incredible," Fritz said.
Fritz, along with his wife, Carol, found a home quickly in Holland.
"We knew right away the people were who we were looking for, we just weren't sure what God's plan was for us. We had an opportunity to go back to Iowa and we chose not to. After that, we knew this was going to be where we were going to land," Fritz said. "The people and the kids kept me coming back. They have been amazing. The kids we get to coach are incredible."
The players understand how pivotal Fritz has been to the Hope baseball program for more than three decades.
"He means everything not just to the program, but all of us as individuals and the community here at Hope and Holland," Hope outfielder Robbie Stuursma said. "He likes to win and loves to compete - and hates to lose. I am like that and he is always right to the point. He is a friend, mentor, father figure, everything. To be able to celebrate him - and Carol - it just means so much."
For Fritz, it has been nearly a lifetime in the sport that he started playing from a very young age.
"Baseball is what I fell in love with from the get-go. I love football, too, and it just felt right. It is what I played in the back yard with my dad and my brother. When the opportunity presented itself here, we were drawn to it," Fritz said.
Fritz, who also was an assistant football coach from 1993-2009, reached 600 career wins in 2021, became a grandfather in 2023 and has led the program to 10 MIAA titles and four NCAA tournament appearances. He was a professor of kinesiology as well and was president of the American Baseball Coaches Association for one year.
Combined with his wife's job at Hope, there are few families to have as much of an impact on the Hope and Holland community over the past three decades.
"I think your legacy is formed by how others view you. What Carol and I have tried to do is just be the best versions of ourselves," Fritz said. "If you love people well, it usually comes back to you tenfold. I couldn't be more grateful."
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Retiring Hope baseball coach Stu Fritz honored: 'A dream come true'
