Utah Valley State baseball head coach Steve Gardner begins his 18th season in Orem as the Wolverines begin their fifth season of Division-I play in 2008.
Gardner has led Utah Valley to landmark wins early on in the D-I process; including the schools first win over BYU in April of 2005. On May 4, 2005 he helped UV to the athletic department's first win over a ranked opponent when he took the Wolverines to Tempe and knocked off #16 Arizona State. The Wolverines also took three out of five from in-state rival Utah during the 2005 season.
In his first year of NCAA Division I competition in 2004 Gardner led UVSC to a 19-17 mark, including a 10-9 clip against other D-I opponents. His team notched wins over Oregon State (who was ranked as high as 20th in 2004), swept the University of Portland in a three-game series, and split a six game series with in-state rival, Utah.
Gardner took over the reigns of the Wolverine Baseball program in 1991. At the junior college level he has guided the Wolverines to three SWAC Southern Division titles and two Region 18 crowns. He has taken the Wolverines to the title game of the Region 18 Tourney five times in his years as head coach. In 1993, the Wolverines beat Southern Idaho 9-3 in the championship game to give UVSC its first region title ever. In 1995 the Wolverines made it to the title game again, and earned their second Region title with a 7-4 win over Treasure Valley.
In 1998 Gardner's club had one of the most successful seasons in UVSC history. The Wolverines went 42-15, setting a school record for the most wins in a season. They won the Scenic West Athletic Conference Southern Division, finishing 26-4 in the conference. Gardner's current assistant coach, Nate Mathis was the starting second baseman on the record setting 1998 squad. However in 1999, Gardner had his first losing season at the helm of Wolverine baseball. His club went just 19-32 and did not qualify for post-season play. Gardner's team rebounded in 2000, finishing 31-24 overall and second in the league with a 23-10 SWAC record.
Before coming to UVSC, Gardner spent eight years (1983-1990) as the head coach at Snow College, winning 20 or more games five times and taking two conference titles. In addition to his coaching duties, Gardner served as the athletic director at Snow. Prior to that, he was the head baseball coach at Bonneville High in Ogden, Utah, for nine years (1974-1982).
In his playing days, Gardner was a standout at the high school, collegiate and professional levels. He was named Most Valuable Player for Spanish Fork High in 1966, and received the same award at Weber State College in 1968 and 1969. He signed a pro contact with the Houston Astros Organization and won the Western Carolina League batting title in 1971 with a .343 average. He was selected to the Western Carolina League All-Star team.
Coach Gardner is a native of Spanish Fork, and graduated from Spanish Fork High in 1966. He received his bachelor's degree from Weber State College in 1971, and his master's degree from Brigham Young University in 1981. He and his wife, Debi, currently reside in Benjamin, Utah.
