He thinks he might have been 5-foot-10 since the day he was born. He grew up a self-diagnosed baseball knucklehead who eventually married an artist who doesn’t have one athletic bone in her body. To top it off, he fluently speaks a language he calls “ghetto.”
Steve Babinski is also the new Indiana Wesleyan University softball coach – the first one in more 24 years.
IWU Athletic Director Mark DeMichael hired Steve Babinski after longtime softball coach Sue Bowman retired from athletics in May of 2011. DeMichael said Babinski stood out above the other applicants because of his heart for sports as a ministry and his history of success.
Babinski played baseball for most of his life and was voted Grace College’s Athlete of the Year. He was a player on the team for four years and a paid assistant his fifth year.
Babinski worked as a paid assistant at Grace for one season, then moved on as an assistant coach at Bowling Green State University. From there, he was hired as head coach for the MidAmerica Nazarene ladies softball team, the Pioneers.
He now lives in Marion with his wife Rachel and their four children, Corianna, Alizzia, Benjamin and Emi to kick off his first season with IWU softball.
During his years with the Pioneers, he received two notable coaching awards. Babinski was named Heart of America Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and NAIA Region 5 Coach of the Year in 2006. Four years later, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association named him Midwest Region Coach of the Year.
DeMichael said he has confidence in Babinski’s ability to help athletes hit their potential, the way he did when he helped transform the Pioneers from mediocre to NAIA qualifiers—the first time in the history of the program.
Kelsey Decker (sr) is one of the Wildcats’ leaders and has been impressed with “coach Babs” and his mind for the game.
“His knowledge of the sport is better than anyone that I’ve ever played for – or even against,” Decker said.
Babinski is taking over a program that Bowman created in 1987 and was the coach of since its inception.
He laughs when people ask him what it’s like to follow a woman with such a big legacy.
“It’s not about filling shoes; it’s a relay,” Babinski said. “Sue passed the baton to me, and I’ll pass it on to whoever’s next.”
How’s he feeling about his first season?
That’s another question that makes him laugh.
“I know a lot of people are wanting to know wins and losses, but that’s not who I am,” Babinski said. “Basically, what I’ve seen is my girls get better every day. From day one to right now, everyone on our team is better. On the field, off the field, in the classroom: as people. So it’s already been a successful season.”



