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Scott Doffek begins his third year as the head coach of the Milwaukee Panthers. A mainstay in the UWM baseball program, Doffek enters his 15th season with the Milwaukee coaching staff after spending the first 12 of those years as the assistant head coach. His squad recorded 25-plus wins for the 11th time in the past 12 seasons in 2008, and he has already established new marks for most victories by a first-year head coach (25) and most after his first two seasons (50). A year ago, the season ended just one victory away from the Panthers making their first trip to the NCAA Regionals since 2002, with UWM falling to UIC in a one-game, winner-take-all, title contest. Milwaukee rode three upsets and a potent offense to the title game, batting .347 in the six games, averaging almost nine runs and 14 hits per contest. Eight players earned postseason honors from the Horizon League and the offense ended the season ranked 73rd in the NCAA with its .309 batting average. Its 412 runs scored led the Horizon League and ranked 67th in the country. Its 672 hits were second all-time in program history, led the league and ranked 16th in the country. The Panthers were a doubles machine, recording 156 two-baggers to smash the old school record of 143 and end the season ranked No. 2 in the NCAA. Six regulars batted over .300 in 2007, including two finishing in the top 10 in the league. His team also reeled off the longest winning streak since the 2001 season (eight games) and set a program record when it scored more than 10 runs in seven consecutive games in May, breaking the old standard of five-straight 10-plus run outings. After a slow start where the team played series against nationally-ranked Arkansas and Kentucky and also against eventual NCAA-Tournament participant Austin Peay, the Panthers righted the ship to go 23-15 the rest of the regular season. After posting two postseason victories, they had their season come to a heartbreaking close in extra innings of the semifinals at the Horizon League Tournament.
Doffek was named the seventh head coach in the history of the Milwaukee baseball program on Sept. 25, 2006. As the assistant head coach in the past, he worked primarily with the team's hitting and defensive units while also serving as the lead recruiter and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the program. The 2006 season - his last as the assistant - will go down as a memorable one, as the Panthers won 30+ games for the sixth time since UWM moved to the NCAA Division I level in 1991, going 32-25 overall. Doffek led the offense to great heights, with seven regulars batting over .300, paced by All-American outfielder Mike Goetz. Doffek helped guide Goetz to a .493 average on the season - the highest in the nation - in addition to hitting streaks of 32 and 27 games and team records in seven categories. Goetz went on to be drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers. As a team, the Panthers batted .324, the 16th-best average in the nation. His squad also ranked in the national leaders in doubles (third at 2.51 per game), slugging percentage (18th at .488), triples (35th), and runs (48th). UWM set a team record in doubles (143) and ended in the top five in the record book in numerous categories: average (third), runs (third), hits (second), triples (second), runs batted in (third), total bases (third) and home runs (fifth). During Doffek's time at UWM, he has been instrumental in the Panthers' rise to a league and regional power. Since his first season in 1995, the Panthers have reset every offensive record and set school marks for wins and winning percentage multiple times. He has also coached a list of players nearing 30 that have been either drafted or signed by professional teams. Doffek's influence reached a national level in 1999 when Milwaukee upset No. 1 Rice University during the program's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Doffek, along with Jerry Augustine, was named the 1999 Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association (WBCA) Co-Coach of the Year. In 2001, the Panthers' offense ranked second in the nation after hitting a school-record .352 as a team. Together, Milwaukee saw all 10 regulars bat above .300 and five hit over .350. The team was led by a pair of players that hit over .420, including Scott Gillitzer's then school-record average of .424. Gillitzer is one of nine drafted players through Doffek's instruction. Before joining the coaching staff, Doffek spent five seasons (1989-93) in the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system, making it to the Triple-A level with the Albuquerque Dukes. Collegiately, Doffek played baseball at Waukesha County Community College, where he won the NJCAA batting title after hitting .539 as a sophomore. He was honored as an all-region and all-conference selection. Doffek attended Hartland Arrowhead High School, where he was selected to all-state and all-conference teams. He also played football for three years. Doffek lives in Menomonee Falls with his wife, Kara, and two children, daughter Kori and son Ty.
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