In 2007, during his first season at the helm of the Harford baseball team, head coach Tom Eller led the Fighting Owls to their first playoff appearance in over 10 years. Two years later, Eller has doubled his debut season win total and boasts the first .500 season in recent school history.
The 2009 Fighting Owls squad finished with a 24-24 overall record and 24-23 record for the regular season, while earning the No. 5 seed in the NJCAA Division II Region XX tournament, a vast improvement from the eight seed awarded in 2007.
Throughout his three years as the Harford skipper, Eller’s players have grabbed their fair share of hardware, with six players earning All-Region XX accolades and four grabbing MDJUCO All-Conference honors including First-Team All-Region XX and All-Conference selection Joe Harbach in 2009.
In addition, Eller’s coaching resume includes two national award-winners in 2008 NJCAA Division II Third-Team All-American Brandon Maupin and 2008 NJCAA Division II Rawlings Gold Glove pitcher Bryan Wolfe. Eller’s defensive coaching skills continued to shine in 2009, as Harbach garnered MDJUCO and Region XX Gold Glove honors and advanced as a finalist for the district teams, with the possibility of becoming the second Rawlings Gold Glove winner at Harford under Eller’s direction.
Two of Eller’s former players were picked up in the MLB draft as Rob Bryson went to the Milwaukee Brewers during the 31st round in 2006 and Brett Oberholtzer was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the eighth round of the 2008 draft. Throughout his coaching career, Eller has also seen numerous players go on to play at four-year schools including the University of Delaware, Delaware State, Georgia Southern, Millersville and Wilmington.
Eller’s influence is not only apparent through the accomplishments of his players, but in his coaching staff as well. Harford is proud to showcase one of the best coaching staffs in the region, which Eller supplemented in 2009 with the addition of former major-leaguer Jay Witasick, who spent 12 years with various MLB teams including the Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres and New York Yankees.
Ken Krsolovic, a former associate head coach at NCAA Division I Saint Joseph’s University and former athletic director and head coach at NCAA Division III Lake Erie College and current Harford athletic director, Jerry Kalista, with 37 years of coaching experience and Jon Hart, a former Harford and NCAA Division I UMBC player complete Eller’s coaching corps.
Prior to taking the reins at Harford, Eller spent the 2005-06 season at NCAA Division II Wilmington University, where he helped the Wildcats to a second-place finish in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference and a No. 6 ranking in the region. During his time at Wilmington, Eller also coached the American Legion Stahl Post #30 team for two years, where he instructed Bryson and Oberholtzer and piloted his team to two consecutive state titles and Mid-Atlantic Regional appearances.
Eller began his coaching career at MDJUCO-foe Cecil College in the fall of 2004 before furthering his education at Millersville University where he also served as an assistant coach for the 2005 season.
Eller was an accomplished player as well, his career beginning at Rising Sun H.S. where he helped the Tigers to a state championship title in 2000 and continuing at Cecil, where he was named MDJUCO All-Conference, and at Wilmington.
A 2005 graduate of Wilmington with a bachelor’s in general studies, Eller went on to earn his master’s in sports management from Millersville in 2006 and also serves as the facilities manager at Harford.
A native of Rising Sun, Md., Eller currently resides in Elkton, Md. with his fiancée Kim and their two dogs, Diggy and Kerbie.
