Dave Oster comes to Maryville University after over 30+ years serving as both Head Coach and Assistant Coach at Jefferson College. Oster was a standout middle infielder on the 1968 and 1969 Viking teams and has the distinction of being the first scholarship baseball player for Jefferson College. After graduating from Jefferson, he attended New Mexico Highland University where he was a pre-season All-American his senior year.
In 1980, he was named the sixth head baseball coach at Jefferson and he quickly molded the Vikings into one of the more prominent programs in the nation. Oster’s teams won 12 conference titles, three NJCAA Regional titles, and, in 2002, participated in the NJCAA World Series. One of his strengths was recognizing and developing talent: 41 of his recruits signed professional baseball contracts after playing at Jefferson, with five players, Mike Henneman-(Detroit Tiger, Houston Astros, Texas Ranger), Donnie Wall-(San Diego Padres), Cliff Politte-(St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox), Mark Buehrle-(Chicago White Sox) and Steve Bieser-(New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals) making it to the Major Leagues.
He retired in 2006 as Jefferson College’s most successful baseball coach, with 936 team victories. He rejoined the coaching staff in 2008 as assistant coach working primarily with infielders. He has also been inducted into the St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.
