ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Damian Stambersky has been named the third head baseball coach in Missouri Western State University history, Director of Athletics Andy Carter announced Monday.

A coaching veteran with over 20 years of experience – including seven years coaching in the MIAA – Stambersky spent the last season as the Griffons' lead assistant coach.

"I'm excited to have Damian take the helm of the Griffon baseball program," Carter said. "He is respected on campus and in the baseball community, and his energy, enthusiasm, and experience placed him at the top of an exceptional field of candidates for this position. Coach Stambersky played a key role at a program in our conference that has traditionally been one of the top programs in all of Division II. He is the right man to write the next chapter in the history of this program."

Immediately prior to joining the Griffon baseball staff this past season, Stambersky spent one season as the pitching coach at Radford University, working with his former coach Karl Kuhn; and one season as the head coach at Colorado State-Pueblo, where he guided the program to four top-25 wins – including a win over top-ranked Colorado Mesa, snapping their 21-game winning streak.

No stranger to the MIAA, Stambersky spent six seasons as the pitching coach at Central Missouri. While there, the Mules advanced to two NCAA Division II College World Series appearances (2016 and 2019) and compiled an incredible 210-91 record. The Mules captured two MIAA regular-season titles, made three appearances in the NCAA tournament, and captured three MIAA tournament titles during his tenure.

His pitching staffs ranked in the top-two in the MIAA in ERA during all of his seasons at Central Missouri. In 2019, the team posted a 46-16 record which included striking out a MIAA-best 562 batters. Opponents were held to a .227 batting average that season and in the postseason the program posted a 2.70 ERA on the way to a third-place finish in Division II.

Stambersky also coached 17 pitchers to All-MIAA honors and another two to All-American honors. Some of his primary duties as top assistant coach were to coordinate and implement all recruiting efforts. He was responsible for all advanced scouting and defensive game planning and ran all prospect and youth baseball camps. As the pitching coach, he designed individual pitching development plans, managed pitching staff usage, and created individual strength and conditioning plans for the pitchers.

Before his time at Central Missouri, he spent 11 seasons coaching at Kansas City Community College as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. While there he coached nine players to Division I opportunities as well as four players who would move on to play professionally. As just the third head coach in program history, Stambersky follows the tenures of Doug Minnis (1970-1999) and Buzz Verduzco (2000-2023).

"I want to thank Coach Verduzco for bringing me here a year ago, and I want to thank Andy Carter for his confidence in my ability to lead this program forward," Stambersky said. "I believe that Griffon baseball is positioned for success and I am looking forward to the road ahead."

After getting his coaching start with four seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Stambersky earned his bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship from UALR in 2000. He would later go on to obtain a master's degree in Exercise Science in 2007 from California University of Pennsylvania.