(5-17-23) Defiance baseball coach Tom Held continues to win…last night his Bulldogs helped him picked up his 800th career win beating Oregon Clay 8-7.

Held told the Crescent-News after the win –

“It was an ultimate team win, all 15 guys played and that doesn’t happen very often unless it’s a blowout. It’s as much of a team win as I’ve ever been around, every guy had a piece of this play or that play.”

Held has 597 wins at Defiance, 164 at Bryan (1991-98) and Elmwood (39), 10 players drafted by MLB teams, three state titles, six OHSBCA Coach of the Year awards, six regional titles and 27 WBL titles (2022, 21, 19, 16, 14, 12, 11, 10, 09, 08, 07, 05, 04, 02, 00,19 99, 98, 97, 95, 94, 93, 92, 89, 85, 84, 82, 77)…and a 2012 member of the OHSBCA Hall of Fame.

Over those many years he has just 181 losses.

OHSAA Wins, All-Time (minimum 500)

1,011 – Don Thorp, Hebron Lakewood, 1,011-335-3 (1973-2021)
800 – Tom Held, Defiance, 800-181 (Defiance, Bryan, and Elmwood) (1988-2023)

(two below do not include this season)

769 – Dennis T. Woods, Villa Angela-St. Joseph, Mentor Lake Catholic, Cleveland Heights, Glenville, Cleveland Villa Angela – St. Joseph (1996-1974, 1986-2022) 769-410
768 – Doug Miller, Canton Central Catholic/East Canton, 768-333 (1982-2022)

RELATED: (story from 4-5-2017) Defiance: An Ohio Baseball Dynasty

NFHS Career Coaching Wins

Record — Holder —-State —Data Media

  • 1396- Dennis Olejniczak IA (Jamesville Decorah), 1962-2017 (1,396-552) [71.7%]
  • 1392- John Lowery Sr. WV (Harpers Ferry; Shenandoah Junction Jeffer­son), 1971-2022 (1,392-361-3) [79.4%]
  • 1315- Pat O’Keefe MI (Grand Ledge), 1968 1970-2019 (1,315-326-2) [80.0%]
  • 1297- Larry Tuttle MI (Blissfield), 1968-2019 (1,297-423-5) [75.4%]
  • 1132- Bill Miller KY (Pleasure Ridge Park), 1980-2017 (1,132-304) [78.8%]
  • 1086- Larry Turner OK (Owasso), 1983-2017 (1,086-238) [82.0%]
  • 1085- Mac Whitaker KY (Cynthiana Harrison County), 1978-2017 (1085-330) [76.7%]
  • 1047- Rich Hofman FL (Miami Westminster Christian, FL; Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy, FL; Sunrise Piper; Fort Lauderdale University School, FL, Miami SLAM Academy, FL), 1969-2012, 2016 (1,047-266-17) [78.7%]
  • 1,011 – Don Thorp, Hebron Lakewood, 1,011-335-3 (1973-2021)
  • 974- Bill Krumplebeck KY (Covington Cathlolic), 1977-2017 (974-413-2) [70.2%]
  • 962- Bob Mantooth KY (Owensboro Apollo), 1977-2017 (962-474-2) [67.0%]
  • 916- Jody Hamilton KY (Raceland; Ashland; Boyd County; Nicholasville West Jessamine), 1983-2017 (916-360-1) [71.8%]
  • 866-Lee Toole IA (Council Bluffs Lewis Central; Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson), 1983-2017 (866-445) [66.1%]
  • 865- Ken Frank NJ (Toms River South), 1978-2017 (865-282) [75.4%]
  • 830- Dan Griesbaum MI (Grosse Pointe South), 1984-2019 (830-454-4) [64.
  • 800 – Tom Held, Defiance, 800-181 (Defiance, Bryan, and Elmwood) (1988-2023)

Note: The two Ohio coaches are not listed currently on the NFHS web site

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