Ed Servais - Head Coach - Baseball Coaches - Creighton University Athletics

Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann

Ed Servais

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
eservais@creighton.edu
Phone:
(402) 280-2483

Ed Servais returns for his 21st season as head coach of the Creighton baseball program in 2024.

Known as a coach who emphasizes team defense, Servais’ teams have consistently been among the nation’s best in fielding percentage. In his first season (2004) the Bluejays’ .982 fielding percentage led the country. Creighton has repeated that impressive feat two additional times (2009 & 2014).

Under Servais the Bluejays have finished in the NCAA’s top-10 in fielding 12 times (including second in 2021 while second baseman Andrew Meggs was a Rawlings Gold Glove finalist).

During the 2023 season the Bluejays held the fourth-best fielding team in the NCAA. Since the Servais era began, Creighton has committed the fewest errors in the nation (879), while also leading the country with a .975 fielding percentage.

The focus on defense and fundamental baseball has helped deliver wins in historic fashion. Servais’ overall record of 825-469-2 (.637) places him 21st in the nation in wins amongst active DI coaches and his 643-387-1 record (.624) with the Bluejays makes him the winningest coach in program history and second most in Creighton Athletics history.

Servais has posted a winning record in 24 of his 28 full seasons as a head coach. A total of 12 times Servais led his teams to at least a .667 winning percentage. During his 20 seasons at Creighton, Servais has guided the Bluejays to 14 seasons of at least 30 wins and has topped 40 wins in four seasons.

Servais’ reputation for teaching was rewarded during the summer of 2013, Servais served as one of three assistants for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team. Servais was responsible for team defense and was the first base coach. Servais helped Team USA post a 7-3 record, including a five-game sweep of the Cuban National Team.

Servais’ ability to prepare his squad to play beyond the college ranks led to 39 Bluejays being taken in the MLB Draft. Six Creighton players were selected in the draft following the 2019 season, tying the six Bluejays taken from the 1991 team. Two Bluejays (Dylan Tebrake and Alan Roden) were selected in the 2022 MLB Draft.

Two former Bluejays who were under Servais’ direction at Creighton and known for their spectacular defense played during the 2022 MLB season.

Nicky Lopez (2014-16), who kept a .973 fielding percentage in three years in Servais’ infield, will enter his sixth season in MLB during 2024. Last year Lopez split time with the Kansas City Royals and the Atlanta Braves.

Darin Ruf (2006-08) split time with the San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Brewers in 2024. Ruf led the Bluejays with a .997 fielding percentage and was a two-time NCAA DI Rawlings Gold Glove winner (2007 and 2009).

Servais was named the Creighton head coach on July 29, 2003 after serving as the program’s interim head coach for the previous month. As an assistant, Servais was on the bench for 174 Bluejay wins (including a pair of NCAA Regional berths in 1999 and 2000). Servais was on staff when previous head coach Jack Dahm was named MVC Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2002.

Servais also served as the Bluejays’ recruiting coordinator. He made an immediate impact on the program in his first year, as the Bluejays ranked among the nation’s top defensive teams with a .965 fielding percentage in 1998. The team’s offensive numbers also increased significantly as the team batting average went up 29 points to .313. The run production also increased from 6.9 to 7.5 runs per game.

Before coming to Creighton, Servais spent two years as an assistant coach at Iowa State University. During his time at ISU, he served as recruiting coordinator, hitting instructor, infield and outfield coach. He helped lead the Cyclones to a second-place finish at the final Big Eight Conference tournament in 1996.

Prior to Iowa State, Servais was the head coach at St. Mary’s (Minn.) for seven years from 1989-1995. While at St. Mary’s, he compiled a record of 159-76-1 at the NCAA Division III school. He was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Coach of the Year in both 1990 and 1993 after leading St. Mary’s to MIAC championships in both years. His 1990 pitching staff led Division III schools with a 2.34 earned run average. Between the years of 1991 and 1992, his teams went on a 26-game winning streak.

His 1993 team at St. Mary’s came just short of making the Division III World Series, falling in the finals of the Division III Midwest Regional. That team was ranked as high as No. 10 in the country. In his seven years as head coach, St. Mary’s had six players drafted by major league teams.

Servais’ first collegiate head coaching position came at Viterbo College in La Crosse, Wis., in 1988 when he coached the NAIA Division II V-Hawks in the first year of baseball at the school. He made his only season there one to remember, leading the V-Hawks to a 23-6 overall record and an 11-1 conference mark. Making that record even more impressive is that of the 17 players on the team, 14 were freshmen. One of those freshmen he coached was Damian Miller, was a member of the 2001 world champion Arizona Diamondbacks.

Servais’ first college coaching job came at St. Mary’s in 1984 as an assistant. He stayed there for three seasons, after which he left to start the baseball program at Viterbo. He got his start in coaching at Rib Lake High School in Rib Lake, Wis. He coached for two years at Rib Lake and rang up a two-year record of 24-11 from 1982-1983. He led Rib Lake to the district finals in both of his years.

Servais graduated from Wisconsin-La Crosse in 1980 with a degree in physical education. As a player, Servais was a three-time all-conference selection, the team’s co-captain and Most Valuable Player his senior year. He holds a master’s degree in physical education from Wisconsin-La Crosse, which he earned in 1986 while coaching at St. Mary’s.

Servais resides in Omaha with his wife Anne. They have three children: Angela, Joe and Michael. Ed has six grandchildren (Angela: Gwen and Vincent, Joe: Harper and Riley, Michael: Aiden and Elijah).

Ed is also the uncle of former Creighton All-American and major league catcher Scott Servais, who will begin his ninth season as the manager of the Seattle Mariners after leading them to their first playoff appearance in 21 years in 2022.