# Rusty Stroupe

Rusty Stroupe is an American college baseball coach and former shortstop. Stroupe was the head coach of the Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs baseball team from 2003 to 2019.

## Playing career

Stroupe played shortstop at Cherryville High School where he was part of three state championship teams, and earned a scholarship to play at Appalachian State University for the Mountaineers baseball program from 1983 to 1986.

## Coaching career

After taking a teaching position after college graduation, Stroupe began to coach middle school baseball. In 1990, Stroupe was an assistant coach at Appalachian State. Stroupe took his first head coaching position at North Greenville College in 1991. In 1993, Stroupe became the head coach at Brevard College. From 1998 to 2002, Stroupe was the head coach at Lander University, where he started the baseball program.
In the summer of 2002, Stroupe to the head coaching position at Gardner–Webb. On April 17, 2019, Stroupe announced that he would be retiring at the end of the 2019 season. Stroupe is the all-time wins leader in Gardner-Webb baseball history.
Stroupe was named the Big South Conference Coach of the Year in 2019.
In 2012, Stroupe received the prestigious FCA Jerry Kindall Character in Coaching Award (presented annually to the college or high school baseball coach in the United States who best exemplifies the Christian principles of Character, Integrity, Excellence, Teamwork and Service on and off the baseball field).
After retiring from coaching, Stroupe became a college professor, an ordained pastor, and a baseball color analyst for ESPN Plus.

## Head coaching record at Gardner-Webb

Statistics overview :
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason |
| Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs (Atlantic Sun Conference) (2003–2008) ||||||
| 2003 | Gardner–Webb | 33–23 | 18–15 | | A-SUN Tournament |
| 2004 | Gardner–Webb | 32–25 | 19-11 | | A-Sun Tournament |
| 2005 | Gardner–Webb | 28–30 | 15–15 | 5th | A-SUN Tournament |
| 2006 | Gardner–Webb | 24–31 | 12–18 | 8th | |
| 2007 | Gardner–Webb | 26–32 | 12–15 | 7th | A-SUN Tournament |
| 2008 | Gardner–Webb | 29–30 | 15–18 | 8th | A-SUN Tournament |
| Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs (Big South Conference) (2009–2019) ||||||
| 2009 | Gardner–Webb | 25–25 | 13–14 | 5th | Big South Tournament |
| 2010 | Gardner–Webb | 25–30 | 12–15 | 8th | Big South Tournament |
| 2011 | Gardner–Webb | 34-23 | 14–13 | 5th | Big South Tournament |
| 2012 | Gardner–Webb | 32–28 | 14–10 | 4th | Big South Tournament |
| 2013 | Gardner–Webb | 29–27 | 12-11 | 2nd (South) | Big South Tournament |
| 2014 | Gardner–Webb | 24–31 | 11–15 | 4th (South) | Big South Tournament |
| 2015 | Gardner–Webb | 22–31 | 7–17 | 9th | |
| 2016 | Gardner–Webb | 37–21 | 14–10 | T-2nd | Big South Tournament |
| 2017 | Gardner–Webb | 25–30 | 11–13 | 7th | Big South Tournament |
| 2018 | Gardner–Webb | 31–27 | 14–13 | 5th | Big South Tournament |
| 2019 | Gardner–Webb | 25–26 | 14–13 | T-5th | Big South Tournament |
| Gardner–Webb: | Gardner–Webb: | 481–470 | 236–143 | | |
| Total: | Total: | 837–678–2 | | | |
| National champion   Postseason invitational champion   Conference regular season champion   Conference regular season and conference tournament champion  Division regular season champion  Division regular season and conference tournament champion  Conference tournament champion ||||||