- All-time records
- Awards
- Camps / clinics
- Coaching staff
- Iowa Conference
- Letterwinners
- Media guide
- Recruit me!
- Roster
- Schedule / results
- Season outlook
- Statistics
- Baseball
- Basketball–men’s
- Basketball–women’s
- Cross country–men’s
- Cross country–women’s
- Football
- Golf–men’s
- Golf–women’s
- Soccer–men’s
- Soccer–women’s
- Softball
- Tennis–men’s
- Tennis–women’s
- Track & field–men’s
- Track & field–women’s
- Volleyball
- Wrestling
George Wares
Head coach
George Wares is the one of the winningest softball coaches in the U.S.
After 23 seasons as Central College head coach, Wares has compiled a 780-256-3 record (.752). On the all-time NCAA Division III charts he ranks third in career victories (780) and fourth in winning percentage. Among active Division III coaches, he ranks second in career victories, first in NCAA playoff appearances (20) and first in NCAA playoff victories (79).
In December, Wares will be inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Hall of Fame.
Wares has piloted the Dutch to national championships in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 2003 with national runner-up finishes in 1986 and 2001. Wares' teams have earned 20 NCAA playoffs berths, finishing in the national top five 12 times. The Dutch were third in the NCAA in 1990, 1994 and 1995, fourth in 1987 and 1989, and fifth in 1997. Central won or shared 
Iowa Conference titles in 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Wares and his assistants were named the NFCA Div. III coaching staff of the year in 2003, after taking regional honors in 2001.
For three years, Wares also served on the NFCA Div. III All-America Selection Committee, including two years as chair.
A 1976 Central graduate, Wares spent seven years as girls' softball coach at NESCO High School in Zearing , Iowa , posting a 214-94 record and piloting three squads to state tournament berths. He was named all-area coach of the year three times.
Wares also served as a high school boys' basketball coach for 18 years, including seven at NESCO and 11 at Pella High School . He compiled a 259-106 career record, earning four state tournament berths, with two state runner-up finishes. He served for four seasons as an assistant men's basketball coach at Central.
A highly regarded motivational speaker, Wares received a master's degree in counseling from Iowa State University. He worked as an at-risk counselor at Pella High School and as an academic counselor at Central.
To contact George Wares
Phone: (641) 628-5195
E-mail: waresg@central.edu
Alicia O'Brien
Associate head coach
After 17 seasons as a highly successful head coach at Western Connecticut State University , Alicia O'Brien is in her second year as associate head coach at Central. She also serves as the athletics department's senior woman administrator and works with the college admission office as transfer student coordinator.
At Western Connecticut State O'Brien posted a 423-213-3 (.664) softball record, guiding the Colonials to a 28-18 mark and their eighth NCAA Division III tournament berth in 2006. She piloted Western Connecticut State to the NCAA finals in 2002 and her teams posted 20 or more wins 13 straight seasons, capturing Little East Conference championships three times since 2001. She served as the school's associate athletics director and senior woman administrator as well.
A Western Connecticut State University graduate, O'Brien also earned a master's degree there in counseling. She served on the school's Hall of Fame Committee and was a member of its Wellness Initiative. She served a five-year term as a Title IX consultant with the Danbury , Conn. school system. The long-time director of the Western Connecticut Softball Camp, O'Brien was also an NFCA Division III Regional All-America Committee member.
O'Brien is the wife of Dutch head coach George Wares.
Phone: (641) 628-5434
E-mail: obriena@central.edu
Steph Anderson
Assistant coach
Steph Anderson is in her third season as assistant softball coach at Central College. Anderson, an Audubon native, serves as pitching coach for the Dutch.
A 2003 Wartburg College honors graduate, Anderson was a two-time team MVP and four-time letterwinner for the Knights, setting school records for season strikeouts, career strikeouts and career victories. She led Wartburg to the 2001 Iowa Conference title and three NCAA Division III playoff berths, reaching the national finals in 2003.
Anderson, a graduate of Audubon High School, also serves as a graphic artist.
E-mail: andersons@central.edu
Mary Vande Hoef
Assistant coach
Mary Vande Hoef returns to Central after two seasons as assistant at Ithaca College (N.Y.).
A co-captain of Central’s 2003 NCAA Division III championship team, Vande Hoef was a four-time NCAA tournament participant and a four-time letterwinner. She is a three-time recipient of Central’s LeRoy Timmer Most Inspirational Player Award.
After graduating with honors from Central in 2003, Vande Hoef earned a masters degree in sport psychology at Ithaca, where she also helped guide the Bombers to the 2006 NCAA Division III championship finals.
At Central Vande Hoef works with baserunners and with the junior varsity.
Phone: (641) 628-5191
E-mail: vandehoefm@central.edu
Jake Fisher
Assistant coach
Jake Fisher is in his first year as assistant softball coach at Central, returning after serving as a student assistant in 2004.
A Washburn ( Kan. ) University graduate and a Topeka , Kan. native, for four years Fisher was head coach for the Capital City Stars, among the premier age 18-and-under Class A ASA teams in Kansas. His teams posted a 122-52-2 record, placing fifth at the 2004 16A USSSA World Series in Aurora , Colo. and third at the 18A World Series in Kansas City. Kan. in 2006 and in 2007. He is also an experienced instructor at camps in Iowa and Kansas .
Fisher is a physical education instructor at Clay Elementary School in Altoona .