{"id":31355,"date":"2017-08-09T19:50:12","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T02:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=31355"},"modified":"2017-08-09T19:59:15","modified_gmt":"2017-08-10T02:59:15","slug":"denny-bruckert-resigns-as-mens-national-team-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=31355","title":{"rendered":"Denny Bruckert resigns as USA Men’s National Team Head Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

From USA Softball<\/em><\/p>\n

Denny\u00a0Bruckert<\/span>\u00a0resigns as Men\u2019s National Team Head Coach; Gregg Leather named as replacement<\/b><\/h3>\n
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OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 The USA Softball Men\u2019s National Team Selection Committee (MNTSC) has named Gregg Leather (Staten Island, N.Y.) \u00a0as the Head Coach of the Men\u2019s National Team (MNT), USA Softball announced today. Following the resignation of Denny Bruckert (Gillespie, Ill.) due to health concerns, Leather will step in to lead the Men\u2019s National Team as they look towards closing out the season at the Pan American Championship September 15-24 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.\u00a0 The event serves as a qualifier for both the 2019 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Men\u2019s World Championship, to be held in the Czech Republic, and the 2019 Pan American Games, to be held in Lima, Peru.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of health concerns, it was best for me, my family and the USA Men\u2019s National Team program that I turn the reins over to my coaching staff for the upcoming Pam Am\/World Championship Qualifier,\u201d said Bruckert. \u201cCoach Leather, Coach Hicks and Coach McCurry are great coaches, and it certainly made this hard decision much easier for me. These three share my thoughts and ideas to carry this program to the next level, and that is to stand on the medal stand soon! I want to thank Bruce Tanski, Bob Nydick, and Ron Guzman \u2013 with you three, we were able to achieve several of our goals. Thanks to Craig Cress, Warren Jones, Ronnie Isham, Chris Sebren, all National Office staff, past and incoming USA Softball Presidents, and the entire selection committee for working with me. It’s been a pleasure!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruckert was appointed head coach of the Men\u2019s National Team program in August 2013 and has played a key role in developing the Men\u2019s Fast Pitch program through his work coaching on the National Team in addition to hosting a series of exposure camps and National Invitational Tournaments (NITs) throughout the United States. During Bruckert\u2019s time at the helm, the MNT finished with a combined record of 16-10 at the 2013, 2015 and 2017 WBSC Men\u2019s World Championships.<\/p>\n

Prior to becoming Head Coach, Bruckert served as an assistant coach at the 1996 International Softball Federation (ISF), now WBSC, Men’s World Championship where the team finished fourth, as well as the 1999 Pan American Games, where the team earned a silver medal.\u00a0Before joining the National Team program, Bruckert coached seven USA Softball Men’s Major Fast Pitch National Championship squads.\u00a0 He coached the Decatur Pride to back-to-back National Championships in 1994 and 1995 and added another in 1999 prior to the team’s disbanding.\u00a0Bruckert added another three Men’s Major Fast Pitch titles to his resume: in 2002 with the St. Joseph Frontier Casino Players, in 2005 with the Tampa Bay Smokers, in 2006 with the Green Bay Circle Tap, and in 2012 with the New York Gremlins. Bruckert was first inducted into the USA Softball of Illinois Hall of Fame before becoming a member of the National Softball Hall of Fame in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing in a legend like Denny’s footsteps is never easy,\u201d said Leather. \u201cFortunately Denny worked very closely with his coaching staff and included us in his decision making, which makes the transition to Head Coach a bit easier. Denny has been a mentor to me for a long time and we will work hard to continue the progress he has made with the program. I believe our hitting has come a long way in the past few years. As a staff, we challenged our players to make an effort to play in the top club team tournaments and face elite international pitching. Our players answered that call and our program is starting to reap the rewards of their hard work.\u00a0We know the competition will be fierce at the Pan Am\/World Championship Qualifier, but our players will be finishing up their club season and will be in good form. We are looking forward to the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From USA Softball Denny\u00a0Bruckert\u00a0resigns as Men\u2019s National Team Head Coach; Gregg Leather named as replacement OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 The USA Softball Men\u2019s National Team Selection Committee (MNTSC) has named Gregg Leather (Staten Island, N.Y.) \u00a0as the Head Coach of the Men\u2019s National Team (MNT), USA Softball announced today. Following the resignation of Denny Bruckert (Gillespie, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,22,61],"tags":[698,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-31355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-people","9":"category-usa-softball","10":"tag-usamnt2017","11":"tag-usasoftball","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31355"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31357,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31355\/revisions\/31357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}