Baseball

John Slosar enters his 24th season as Fairfield University's head baseball coach. Before assuming the reins as head coach in the 1985 season, Slosar was an assistant coach for the Stags for eight years. Since coming to Fairfield in 1975, Slosar has helped coach the Stags to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship, four MAAC South titles, six ECAC playoff appearances and twelve 20-win seasons.

In his final season as a player for the University of Connecticut, he helped the Huskies to a fifth- place finish in the 1972 College World Series in Omaha, Neb., by hitting .400 in the College World Series. He was named to the Sporting News Honorable Mention All-American squad. Slosar finished with a career .346 batting average for the Huskies. After his playing days in Storrs, Conn., Slosar spent one year in the New York Mets farm system. In high school, he helped Stratford High School to a state championship in 1968, and was inducted into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.

In his first season as the Stags skipper in 1985, he led Fairfield to a 20-15-1 record, the school's third 20-win season. After a rebuilding period, the Stags earned their first MAAC South Championship in 1991, finishing with a 20-17-2 record. Along the way, Slosar picked up the MAAC Coach of the Year in 1991, and over the next two seasons he guided the Stags to a pair of 20-win seasons and a MAAC South Title, in 1993.

Slosar led the Stags to six consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins from 1995 to 2000, and 10 such campaigns in the last 12 seasons. Since 1995, Fairfield has captured a pair of MAAC South crowns, and the Fairfield mentor earned his second MAAC Coach of the Year in 1997. In 2000, Slosar led the Stags to a school-record 26 wins and a berth into the MAAC Championship game.

Slosar earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Connecticut in 1972, and is a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He currently resides in Huntington, Conn., with his wife Cathy. They have two daughters, Krista and Rebecca, and five grandchildren.

Patrick Hall enters his fourth season as an assistant coach on John Slosar's staff. Among his many varied duties, Hall serves as pitching coach, recruiting coordinator, while also assisting in the day-to-day administration of the Fairfield University baseball program.

Prior to Fairfield, Hall was an assistant at the University of New Haven, where he worked with the pitching staff and the junior varsity program. He was also an assistant coach at his alma mater the University of Bridgeport, where his pitching staff finished with the best earned run average in the conference in 2001.

His involvement in the sport of baseball has also led to several business endeavors as he owned H & H Baseball, LLC in West Haven, Conn., and the Connecticut Blue Jays Baseball Club.

He has been active in various AAU teams, throughout his coaching career, helping the 1998 Connecticut Wolfpack 14-U AAU squad, to a second place finish in the nation, as well as a seventh place finish in 1999.

In 2001 he served as the head coach of the Connecticut Blue Jays 14-U AAU junior Olympic team that participated in the national tournament in Sarasota, Fla. In 2002, his 18-U team finished number-one in New England in the AABC, and number-three at the Beast of the East Nationals in West Virginia.

He has helped many of his former players, play baseball in college. Hall was the captain of the 1998 Bridgeport team earning All-New England honors in the process. Before playing for the Purple Knights, Hall helped lead the 1995 Housatonic Community College to the Junior College World Series.

Hall resides in Bristol, Conn., with his wife Beth Ellen and daughters Kaylee and Ryleigh.

Dennis Whalen enters his 12th season as a member of the Fairfield University baseball coaching staff, after leading his alma mater, the University of Bridgeport, as head coach from 1988 to 1996. Whalen is currently a physical education teacher in the Bridgeport public school system, where he has taught since 1986.

The 1977 Bridgeport graduate brings a wealth of coaching experience to the Fairfield diamond. In addition to his eight-year stint as the skipper of the Purple Knights, he was the head coach at Norwalk Community College from 1982-87. In the off-season he directs the Dennis Whalen Fundamental Baseball Camp in Easton since 1989, and the Weston All-American Sports Camp since 1988.

While a great deal of Whalen's coaching tenure has been on the diamonds of southern Connecticut, he also spent some times on the gridirons, as he was an assistant football coach throughout the area for most of the last three decades, most recently at Fairfield Prep.

Whalen received a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education/health from Bridgeport. He also received a master's degree in education from Sacred Heart University in 1993. A native of East Hartford, Conn., Whalen currently resides in Fairfield, Conn., with his wife, Eileen, and their daughters Heather and Kelly.

Kevin Huber enters his third season as a volunteer assistant at Fairfield University. He is a graduate of the University of Bridgeport where he earned a bachelors degree in Human Services.

Huber was a standout for the Purple Knights as he still ranks in several offensive categories in the school's record book.

He is the founder of the Connecticut Blue Jays Baseball Club, and has guided many AAU Teams to Top-10 finished in AAU National Tournaments.

Prior to Fairfield, Huber spent the 2005 season as the head varsity coach at Greens Farms Academy. He guided the Dragons to an above .500 record. In 2004, he was an assistant coach at the University of New Haven, where he worked with JV players, infielders, and hitters.

He also spent time as a player in Europe, playing professionally as an infielder and catcher. He spent the 2001 season with the Zurich Lions of the Swiss Professional Baseball League.

Huber resides in Bridgeport, Conn. with his wife, Celina, and their son, Timothy, and daughter, Sarah Kate.