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David Haverstick joined the Catamount baseball staff in August of 2007. He came to Cullowhee after having spent five seasons as an assistant coach at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) where he worked with the Bees' pitching staff. He assumes a similar role at Western Carolina, working with the Catamount pitching staff.
Haverstick was also promoted to Associate Head Coach by WCU skipper, Bobby Moranda, prior to the 2009 campaign.
Through two seasons, WCU pitchers have garnered seven Southern Conference Pitcher of the Week accolades and one SoCon Pitcher of the Month honor. In 2009, the Catamounts led the SoCon (through the conference championship) in strikeouts with 487, which included 143 K's looking, second in the league. In 2008, Western Carolina's pitching staff featured a second-team All-Southern Conference selection in Mike Tavernier, with Chris Masters garnering three SoCon Pitcher of the Week plaudits - the most of any one pitcher in the league.
"Having a pitching background, I became aware of and impressed with David about five years ago. He is a hard-working individual who pitched with three different Major League organizations. I, along with many highly respected peers in the business, feel he is one of the top young pitching coaches whose instruction is on the cutting edge," said Moranda. "Kevin O'Sullivan (current Florida head coach, former Clemson pitching coach) and Derek Johnson (pitching coach at Vanderbilt), among several others, highly recommended David. With every phone call I made, his name kept coming to the top while trying to fill the position."
Under Haverstick's direction, SCAD posted the college's first-ever NAIA National Player of the Week honor in 2006 when Eddie Anderson was named National Pitcher of the Week. Haverstick has coached three All-Florida Sun Conference performers, as well as two NAIA All-Region XIV standouts. The Bees' pitching corps finished the season with the second-best ERA (2.58) in the NAIA as well as the fifth-best opponents batting average (.224).
In 2007, the Bees had three pitchers with ERAs below 2.37, with five different pitchers striking out 43-or-more batters. Haverstick worked with Ryan Pope, who led the Bees with a 1.15 ERA in 102.0 innings pitched and was drafted in the third round by the New York Yankees in June's MLB Draft. Pope, who was SCAD's first-ever NAIA All-American, holds the distinction as being the highest player drafted out of the Florida Sun Conference.
Prior to moving to Savannah, Haverstick spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Dallas Baptist University. While at DBU, Haverstick guided the 2001 pitching staff to the lowest team ERA in over nine years. He helped lead the Patriots to NAIA Southwestern Regional and Mid-South Super Regional championships as well as a berth in the 2001 NAIA World Series. While at Dallas Baptist, he earned his Master's degree in organizational management.
Haverstick, who was a 16th-round draft selection by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1997 and was in the system with the D'backs, Florida Marlins (1999) and Washington Nationals (2005), coached three players drafted by major league baseball teams as well as six All-Americans at DBU. The Patriots posted a 78-35 record in the two seasons Haverstick was on staff.
"Haverstick has coached at a couple of institutions with limited resources, but has always managed to produce talented players," concluded Moranda.
Haverstick, a graduate of Bethel (Ind.) College, earned his bachelor's degree in psychology while playing both basketball and baseball for the Pilots. He was an All-Mid-Central Conference selection in baseball as he helped the Pilots to the MCC baseball championship twice (1995,1997) and a berth in the NAIA Great Lakes Regional Tournament in 1997.On the hardwood, he was an NAIA All-American selection, highlighted by a NAIA Division II National Championship in 1997.
