Nine Lives

In coach Mark Marquess' final season, Stanford turns to tried-and-true formula: stellar pitching.

- Teddy Cahill 

Mark Marquess has been at Stanford for nearly his entire adult life. And it's been a charmed existence. He arrived as a freshman in Palo Alto in the fall of 1965 as a baseball and football recruit, assigned to room with Mitt Romney. He was a three-year starter on the baseball team, twice earning all-American honors. After a brief stint in the minor leagues, he returned to Stanford in 1972 as an assistant coach and was promoted to head coach in 1977. He has held that job ever since, winning 1,585 games and two national championships.

Marquess, 69, is the second-longest tenured head coach in Division I and a titan in college baseball. He has become so much of a fixture at Stanford that he is often referred to simply as ‘Nine,’ his uniform number.

But nothing lasts forever, especially not head baseball coaches. This season will be Marquess’ last as the Cardinal’s head coach. He announced last June that he would retire following the 2017 season, his 41st leading the Stanford program.

“I have been blessed to have such a long and fulfilling association with Stanford University, a university that I deeply love,” Marquess said when he announced his decision.

Six months later, with his final season approaching, Marquess said he had spent some time reflecting on what the end meant. But mostly he was preparing for the season.

“Once I got on the field a lot of times in the fall and decided what best position was best for our players to play, once I did that, it was no different,” he said. “There was some down time before that when you think, ‘This is the last time I’ll do this.’ But I didn’t think about it when I was actually doing it.”