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Parkland Baseball Removes Jon Goebel’s Interim Tag
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Parkland Baseball Removes Jon Goebel’s Interim Tag

Four-year pitching coach takes reigns of National Runners-Up

Parkland Athletic Director Brendan McHale announced on Wednesday evening the removal of head coach Jon Goebel's interim tag. Parkland's pitching coach over the previous four seasons, the former Cobra led a pitching staff that routinely ranked among the best in Division II and helped the team reach three straight NJCAA DII World Series. Goebel was originally named Parkland's the interim head coach after former head coach Dave Garcia accepted an assistant coaching job at Western Carolina University.

"Jon has done an incredible job working as the interim head coach of the Cobra Baseball team for the last several months," McHale explained. "He continues to lead our baseball team in a very positive and successful way by consistently setting the expectation of our student athletes to excel in the classroom as well as on the baseball field. Jon has the respect of our student athletes, coaches, faculty, staff and administration. We are fortunate to have Jon's talents leading our baseball program, and we are pleased to add him to our already incredible coaching staff here at Parkland College. The Cobra family is looking forward to seeing the excellence Jon will bring to the program as the head coach."

By suppressing opponents' offense, Goebel and the Cobras pitchers have led Parkland to three consecutive NJCAA DII World Series appearances, including back-to-back top-three finishes highlighted by a National Runner-Up finish last season. Winners of 50-plus games in 2017 and 2018, the Cobras have dominated Region 24 and the Mid-West Athletic Conference with three straight titles.

"Coaching at Parkland is unique," said Goebel of the opportunity. "There are so many factors to being a success here. You have to win, but you also have to develop and advance players. I love that about junior college. I want pressure to win and so do the athletes. I can't thank Parkland and Mr. McHale enough for this opportunity. I made a commitment to this program in July, and now it's time to see it through."

Taking over development of Parkland pitchers prior to the 2015 season, Goebel's staff has combined to lead the nation in strikeouts each of the last three years and earned run average (ERA) and batting average against (BAA) in two of the last three seasons.  In that span, the Cobras have struck out more than 11 batters per nine in each of the last three campaigns, including 12.89 in 2018, and twice held a staff ERA under 3.00.

Individually, Goebel has sent 21 hurlers on to either the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft or an NCAA Division I program. Highlighting Goebel's mentorship is two-time NJCAA All-American Brady Schanuel. Twice selected in the MLB draft while at Parkland—2015 by the Oakland Athletics and 2016 by the Philadelphia Phillies—Schanuel moved on to pitch at Ole Miss and the University of Iowa before signing with the Milwaukee Brewers after his junior season. By committing to Ole Miss, Schanuel became the first Parkland baseball player ever to commit to a school in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

Prior to his previous four years, Goebel also was a member of the 2009-2010 coaching staff that guided the Cobras to the NJCAA World Series and took fifth place. Additionally, the team featured current Major Leaguers Kevin Kiermaier (Tampa Rays), Nick Wittgren (Miami Marlins) and Daniel Winkler (Atlanta Braves).

During his playing days, Goebel played four years of collegiate baseball, first at Forest Park Community College in St. Louis and then went on to play two years at Bradley.

Goebel and the 2019 Parkland Baseball team will make its season debut Feb. 22 in Gallatin, Tenn., against Volunteer State.

[Article by Chad Beyler]
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