NEWARK, NJ—Robbie McClellan, a former professional pitcher who has built a successful college coaching career, is joining the baseball program at NJIT as an assistant coach, new Highlanders head coach Brian Guiliana announced.
 
McClellan, who pitched in the minor leagues for three seasons after being drafted in the 12th round of the 2003 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft by the Kansas City Royals, made a quick transition into college coaching when his playing career ended prematurely due to injury.
 
After retiring from playing in the summer of 2007, he joined the coaching staff at Chandler Gilbert Community College in Arizona that September and has been the program's pitching coach until signing on for the staff at NJIT, where he will fill a similar role. At Chandler Gilbert, a national-level two-year program, 27 of his pitching pupils have either moved on to NCAA Division I programs or to sign professional contracts.
 
"Coach McClellan is an experienced evaluator and tireless recruiter.” head coach Guiliana stated. “Most importantly he has a proven track record of developing players. In five years of coaching in junior college and summer leagues, 27 players have signed professional contracts and over 35 have gone on to play at the Division I level. Coach McClellan will be a major part of the NJIT baseball team's continued success."
 
McClellan, himself, pitched two years at Seward County Community College in his native Kansas before moving on to the top Division I program at Arizona State, where his teammates included current major league stars Dustin Pedroia (2007 American League Rookie of the Year and 2008 AL Most Valuable Player for the Red Sox) and Andre Ethier (two-time National League All-Star for the Dodgers).
 
McClellan was all-conference both of his years at Seward, ranking second in the nation in strikeouts per inning as a freshman (80 strikeouts in 51 innings). At Arizona State, he was a key part of the 2003 team that won 50 games, was ranked first in the nation at one point, advanced to the NCAA postseason Super Regional and ranked seventh in the final national poll, as he posted a 7-0 won-lost record. A year earlier, he was honorable mention all-Pac-10 Conference and earned Pac-10 and National Pitcher of the Week.
 
Drafted by the Royals, he won 14 games in two seasons in their organization before missing the 2005 season. Joining the independent minor league Traverse City club in Michigan in 2006, he won 12 more games before retiring in July 2007. His manager, Jon Cahill, said at the time: “Robbie has been a great competitor for us the past two seasons and is a first class individual on and off the field. I wish more players had the heart and soul for the game of baseball like he does."
 
In addition to his coaching at Chandler Gilbert Community College, McClellan served as pitching coach for teams in the famed Cape Cod Baseball League and in the Texas Collegiate League, two of the top summer circuits for college players. In three years on the summer scene, he coached 35 players who were drafted by major league baseball.
 
He is a 2011 graduate of Northern Arizona University.