Willis added to Central baseball staff

Central Dutch Athletics

PELLA—Bringing strong conference ties, Tyler Willis is a new assistant baseball coach at Central College.

Willis spent the past year as a graduate assistant at Simpson College, where he is working towards a master’s degree. And he received 2015 all-Iowa Conference honors as an infielder at Wartburg College, where he graduated in 2016 and was coached for two seasons by Central head coach Matt Schirm, who was an assistant at Wartburg from 2011-14. Willis was a team captain in 2016.

This past summer Willis was an assistant coach at Grinnell High School and previously served as a seventh grade and 10th grade coach at Waverly-Shell Rock High School.

Following graduation, Willis spent a year as athletic facilities coordinator at the University of Minnesota and worked as a baseball camp counselor for the Gophers in 2017. He was also a student assistant football coach at Wartburg for four years.

“I think Tyler’s work ethic is what excites me most about him,” Schirm said. “I saw that first hand. He helped bring in a really good recruiting class at Simpson and will bring a lot to the table in recruiting for us. He was an Iowa kid and is familiar with the high schools around the state.”

At Central, Willis will work with the infielders and serve as hitting coach. Schirm is confident he will be a good fit for the Dutch program.

“My comfort level with him makes it a pretty smooth transition,” Schirm said.