Kris Wilken, head coach of the Bloomingdale Bulls baseball team, has always been a baseball standout, but he has taken his coaching career to another level. He was selected as the Western Conference Coach of the Year for his team’s outstanding performance this past season.

Wilken coaches in one of the toughest districts in the state of Florida. Division 8A, District 7, some coaches say, it is the AL East of high school baseball. The Bulls had an excellent year under Wilken’s guidance, winning the regular season district title with a 22-4 record. Five of his players were also selected to the All-Western Conference First Team.

  Wilken had an interesting career in baseball. From high school standout, to Division I athlete, to pro ball player, and now a current high school coach, Wilken’s coaching career has come full circle.

  Wilken attended El Dorado High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his team won the state championship his senior year. His batting average was .390 with nine home runs and 40 RBIs. One of his fondest memories about high school is “the group of seniors that grew up together and played little league through high school together,” he said. Wilken was drafted out of high school by the Boston Red Sox, but instead, chose to take a scholarship to the University of Houston to play baseball for the Cougars. He said 11 of his high school teammates were drafted, and Wilkin was the first position player drafted out of the group. At Houston, he played third base and catcher, with 22 career home runs. He said it was a lot of work juggling his sports conditioning with class study time. “It was like a job that you didn’t get paid for,” he said.

  After his junior year of college, he was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2000. He played in their minor league system for several years before deciding to retire as he and his wife were expecting their second child. “It was apparent that I was going to be a career minor league player, and I didn’t want that,” he said. During his baseball career, Wilkin played with the likes of Cody Ross, BJ Upton, Matt Holliday and Curtis Granderson, to name a few stars. He credits his minor league coach, Dave Trembly, with much that he has learned about the sport, and implements much of it as a high school coach. Trembly went on to manage the Orioles from 2007-2010.

  After completing his degree at the University of Phoenix, Wilken learned that long-time Bloomingdale coach K.B. Scull was retiring. He applied for the job and began coaching in the 2008 season.

  Wilken said he implements much of what he has learned in his pro career in his current program. He also utilizes fielding techniques and conditioning that he learned in college.

  Wilken said the biggest challenge as a high school coach is “how to best use the skill set and tools of the players.” According to MaxPreps.com, a comprehensive source for high school baseball statistics and information, Wilken’s overall record in his five seasons at Bloomingdale is 79-43. In his time as coach at Bloomingdale, Wilken has produced seven Division I college athletes.

  Wilken chuckles when asked how he feels about winning Coach of the Year, since his roster of seven seniors that he had coached since they were freshmen required very little guidance.

  He says he let them have a lot of leeway because of their talent and leadership. However, now that those seniors are gone, he will have to develop new talent and focus all of his energy on grooming a new team. “I’ll have to do a lot more coaching this year,” he said.