Photo Courtesy of Chatham Athletics
Beginning in the 2015-2016 school year, Chatham University will host its first Men’s Baseball team. The University brought on Coach Timothy Banner earlier this year to spearhead this groundbreaking new team.
Banner is no stranger to the game of baseball. He was a three-year starter at Point Park University, another Pittsburgh-area college.
After college, Banner played for the North Pittsburgh Semi-Professional Baseball club for 10 years. During those 10 years, Banner helped lead the team to earning seven titles.
Banner’s coaching career began in 1988 at Avonworth High School in Pittsburgh, PA. He remained at Avonworth for four years, until 1991.
In 1991, Banner proceeded to Moon Area High School, where he stayed for three years.
In 1994, Banner moved to North Catholic High School in Pittsburgh. Banner led his team to win the WPIAL AAA/AAAA title in 1995. In 1998, the team was runner up for the same title.
Banner began coaching at North Allegheny High School in 1999. During his time at North Allegheny, the team made it to the AAAA playoffs every year, earned the title of State Champions in their 2000 season, WPIAL Champions in 2003 and 2005, and State Semi-Finalists in 2005.
After his great accomplishments at North Allegheny High School, Banner began coaching at Woodland Hills High School in 2007. He remained there until 2013.
Banner is now on staff at Chatham University, alongside his wife, Cynthia Banner, who is currently the Assistant Softball Coach.
At the prospect of joining the Chatham community, Banner spoke to Chatham University Athletics, saying, “I’m very excited about coming to Chatham and being able to start up a new program.”
All coaches of male teams have a difficult road ahead of them in terms of recruiting, but Banner appears unfazed by the difficult task.
“I look forward to the opportunity, and think there is a lot of local talent we can draw from. Being the only Division III program in the City is going to mean great things for our program,” he said.
