Baseball 5/4/2026 9:00:00 PM

Blinn head baseball coach Dusty Hart to be inducted into NJCAA Hall of Fame

Hart owns an 806-341 career record, including two national championships with Blinn and Grayson

Baseball 5/4/2026 9:00:00 PM

Blinn head baseball coach Dusty Hart to be inducted into NJCAA Hall of Fame

Hart owns an 806-341 career record, including two national championships with Blinn and Grayson

On five occasions, Dusty Hart watched as his coaching colleagues were honored at the NJCAA Hall of Fame induction ceremony during the lead-up to the NJCAA Division I Baseball World Series.

Now, Blinn College's head baseball coach will take his place among them.

Following more than 20 years as a head coach at the NJCAA level, more than 800 career wins, and two JUCO World Series championships, Hart will be inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame.

"Honestly, this is hard to believe, and my feelings about it are even harder to put into words," Hart said. "You see, coaches get inducted into the Hall of Fame and wonder if you'll get there one day, and now I'm there. I'm just unbelievably honored and humbled."

The induction ceremony will take place on the eve of the 2026 JUCO World Series during the pre-tournament banquet on Friday, May 22, in Grand Junction, Colo.

With an 806-341 career record across stints with Blinn and Grayson College, Hart is one of the winningest active head coaches in junior college baseball. He has captured two national championships, including Blinn's first title in 2024. He also led Grayson to a championship in 2008.

Hart's ballclubs have made five JUCO World Series appearances, including a current three-year streak with Blinn.

"I've been fortunate to have players, assistant coaches, and administrators throughout my career who have helped me push the boulder up the hill," Hart said, "as well as a wife and children who have been by my side from day one. None of this is possible without them."

Hart becomes one of four NJCAA Hall of Fame head coaches on the Blinn athletics staff, joining athletic director and men's basketball coach Scott Schumacher, softball coach Rick Church, and men's and women's golf coach David Johnson.

"This is a well-deserved accolade for Dusty, and we are so happy for him," Schumacher said. "What he has accomplished during his career – including leading two different junior college programs to national championships – is more than worthy of this incredible honor."

Ahead of the 2023 season, Dusty accepted the head coaching job at Blinn. In three years with the Buccaneers, he owns a 141-47 record with three Region 14 South regular-season championships, three Region 14 South Regional Tournament titles, and three Region 14 Super Regional/Mid-South District championships.

During Blinn's national title run in 2024, Hart earned his second of three Region 14 Coach of the Year awards before being named the JUCO World Series Coach of the Tournament and later the 2024 NJCAA DI ABCA/ATEC National Coach of the Year.

In 2008, Hart was named the NJCAA National Coach of the Year, American Baseball Coaches Association Junior College Coach of the Year, and Diamond Baseball Coach of the Year, as well as the JUCO World Series Coach of the Tournament.

Hart is a seven-time Region V North Coach of the Year and a two-time Southwest District Coach of the Year.

As a player, Hart spent two seasons at Grayson before concluding his collegiate career at the University of Texas-Pan American (now UT-Rio Grande Valley). He later joined the Grayson baseball staff as an assistant and held that role for four seasons before being promoted to head coach ahead of the 2006 season.

Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 53 national championships since 1987.

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