Kevin Kopple | Head Coach

Kevin Kopple enters his third season at the controls for Bruin baseball in 2021-22 after first joining the program as an assistant in 2007.

Six Bruins were named All-Northwest Conference in 2021 during Kopple's first full season at the helm. The Bruins just missed the postseason in 2021 after finishing a game below .500 at 19-20 overall, but there were flashes of brilliance throughout the year that the team can build on in 2022.

In his first year as the Bruins' head baseball coach, Kopple led the Bruins to an 11-4 (.733) overall record and a 7-2 record against Northwest Conference opponents in a COVID-19-shortened season. Prior to the pandemic, the Bruins notched a perfect weekend against Texas Lutheran, Concordia-Texas, and Hardin-Simmons (Texas) to start their 2020 campaign and Kopple's career on an undefeated note.

"Kevin's passion for George Fox University baseball and his loyalty to the university, combined with his relentless pursuit of baseball knowledge and tireless work rate, makes him the perfect head coach," says athletic director Adam Puckett. "I have every confidence that Coach Kopple will lead the program to contend for Northwest Conference championships and national championships, will guide his student-athletes toward academic success, and will mentor them in Christlike character."

Kopple was a catcher for the Bruins under Pat Bailey, the renowned former George Fox skipper. As a player, Kopple helped lead his team to consecutive Northwest Conference titles in 2005 and 2006 and an appearance in the NCAA DIII National Tournament in 2006.

Kopple joined the program as an assistant coach under Bailey for the 2006-07 season and stayed with the program through Marty Hunter's 12-year tenure as the Bruins' skipper. During his 13 years as an assistant, Kopple worked his way up to the role of lead recruiter and helped Bailey and Hunter lead the program to 10 winning seasons, 11 NWC Tournament appearances, an NWC championship, and a pair of NCAA DIII National Tournament appearances.

Kopple has also helped coach five NWC Player of the Year honorees and dozens of players named to All-NWC teams for their performance on the field.

Off the field, Kopple has helped demonstrate the value of academics to his student-athletes. The Bruins' baseball program finished its two most recent seasons - 2018-19 and 2019-20 - as a recipient of the Team Academic Excellence Award from the American Baseball Coaches Association. The award is given to programs that finish the academic year with a cumulative team GPA of 3.00 or above.

"I am honored and excited to have this opportunity to lead the program and develop young men," Kopple said. "I look forward to starting this fall and getting ready for what is to come for the program."

Outside of his career at George Fox, Kopple has spent his summers coaching in the West Coast League, a summer developmental league for collegiate baseball players. Kopple led the Portland Pickles to a pair of championships and a runners-up finish and later guided the Bend Elks to a league championship in 2015.

Kopple also has served as the head coach of Team Northwest in the USA Baseball Championship Cup, part of the National Team Identification Series for the USA National Team. His 16-and-under team swept the field and went 5-0 in Cary, North Carolina, winning the gold medal game in August of 2019 after outscoring opponents 29-9.

Originally hailing from Vallejo, California, Kopple played baseball for Napa Valley College in Napa Valley, California, for two seasons before finishing his playing career at George Fox. Kopple graduated from the university in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in history, and earned his master's degree in sports management from the United States Sports Academy in 2015. He and his wife, Nikki, are parked out by the lake in Newberg.

Brandon Rupp | Assistant Coach

Brandon Rupp joined the Bruins' athletic staff in the fall of 2019 and enters his second year with the Bruins in 2020-21. Rupp serves an assistant coach for the Bruins' baseball pitching staff and also works with the deparment as the director of game management.

In his first season as the Bruins' pitching coach, the Bruins' starting rotation tallied 96 K's in 15 games during the 2020 COVID-19-shortened season and posted a 3.38 ERA in 82.2 innings of work from the three starters. As a whole, Rupp's pitching staff averaged better than nine punchouts per game and a staff ERA of 4.00 in 135.0 total innings of work.

A 2006 alumnus of the university, he worked the previous two years as an assistant baseball coach at Lewis & Clark College in Portland while also running his own business, the Yard Baseball Academy, for which he has served as lead instructor since he launched the venture in 2008. He also gained coaching experience as an assistant baseball coach at George Fox from 2006 to 2012. Brandon played baseball for the Bruins from 2004 to 2006 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He lives in Tigard with his wife Kristine.

Brent Trask | Assistant Coach

Brent Trask enters his seventh season for the Bruins in 2020-21 serving under head coach Kevin Kopple. Trask works with the Bruin battery overseeing the catchers and is also the camps director for the team.

A George Fox standout, Trask was named second-team All-NWC his junior season (’09) and first-team All-NWC his senior season (’10) as a catcher. He finished his career hitting .308 and played in over 60 games. He was a part of the 2009 team that won the Northwest Conference Championship and made the NCAA D-III National Tournament.

Before his time at George Fox, he spent two years at Linn Benton Community College. He earned honorable mention for his play as a catcher his freshman year and was named first-team all-conference as a sophomore.

Trask graduated from George Fox in December of 2010 with a degree in pre-physical education. He later received his master’s degree in June 2013 from Oregon State University in its physical education teacher education program, a degree that has national accreditation and acclaim.

In addition to his role with GFU baseball, Trask works for local Newberg school Edwards Elementary as a teacher in physical education.

Brent married former women’s basketball national champion and current GFU Associate Athletic Director Elise (Kuenzi) Trask in 2011. The two former standout Bruins have two children together.

David Dennis | Assistant Coach

David Dennis joined the Bruins' coaching ranks in the fall of 2021 as an assistant baseball coach on Kevin Kopple's staff. Dennis' primary duties include producing scouting reports, coaching the infielders, overseeing the Bruins' baserunning, and overall player development.

Dennis brings 15 years of prior coaching experience to the program after coaching stops at Fairleigh Dickinson (N.J.), Willamette, and Corban at the collegiate level. He also has spent over a decade coaching summer college baseball teams and youth leagues, giving Dennis a wide base of knowledge to draw on.

Dennis' most recent collegiate experience prior to Fox includes a stop at NCAA DI Fairleigh Dickinson. Before that, Dennis worked for NWC opponent Willamette for multiple seasons. Dennis originally cut his teeth at the college level by serving as a graduate assistant for NAIA program Corban in Salem, Ore.

He has also worked for over a decade as a summer ball coach and talent scout at various levels and has multiple years of experience giving private lessons and overseeing player development for multiple positions on the field.

Dennis played collegiately for College of Idaho (NAIA) and graduated from Nevada-Reno in 2012 with a degree in health sciences. Dennis obtained a master's degree in business management in 2017 from Corban.

Randy Rutschman | Advisor to the Head Coach