In July of 2011, Steve Hardman became the ninth head coach in Dominican University baseball history. During his tenure as head coach, Hardman has guided the Stars to a pair of appearances in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Tournament while shattering a number of program records including wins when he guided the Stars to 24 in 2014 while posting a program-best 3.79 earned run average.
In Hardman’s first season as a collegiate head coach, he led Dominican to a 21-22 overall record and an 11-11 mark in the NACC to claim the program’s first-ever trip to the NACC Tournament since the conference was founded in 2006 where they topped Edgewood 6-5 to earn the program’s first NACC Tournament victory. Two years later in 2014, Hardman had the Stars within one win of the NACC Tournament final, winning back-to-back tournament games as the fifth seed.
In addition to the on-field success under Hardman, the Stars have had similar success in the classroom. Dominican has raised their team GPA from a 2.8 in 2012 to a 3.48 in 2020. Hardman’s players have received internships with Northwest Mutual, Morgan Stanley, WGN Sports, Wilson Sports, the Schaumburg Boomers, and the Republican National Committee.
Prior to coming to Dominican, Hardman spent five seasons with the North Park University Vikings, serving as the associate head baseball coach. During his time with the Vikings, he helped head coach Luke Johnson rebuild the North Park baseball program, improving from 14 wins in Hardman’s first season to 30 wins and a share of the 2011 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) regular season championship. With the Vikings, Hardman mentored 26 All-CCIW performers including 13 All-Region selections as well as a conference pitcher of the year.
In addition to the athletic success the Vikings experienced, the program grew in roster size from 28 in 2007 to 40 in 2011 with Hardman serving as the department’s athletic admission recruiter. While growing the roster, the baseball team grade point average also increased from 2.3 to 3.1.
Prior to his stint at North Park, Hardman cut his teeth at North Central College, where he spent four seasons with the Cardinals’ baseball program as an assistant coach. He also spent three summers as the head coach of the Glen Ellyn Jam of the Chicago-Metro Collegiate Summer League with the Jam finishing as the runner-up in the AAABC tournament in Johnstown, Pa.
As a collegiate player, Hardman played at nearly every level, beginning his career at Division III Loras College where he went 8-1 as a starting pitcher for the Duhawks and was named the team's Newcomer of the Year. After his freshman season, he transferred to Illinois Valley Community College where he garnered Rawlings/ABCA All-American honors in 1999. Hardman finished his collegiate career at Division I Northern Illinois University where he was a two-year letterwinner for the Huskies. After college, he pitched professionally for three seasons with three teams in the Frontier League including the Cook County Cheetahs, the Rockford River Hawks and the Kenosha Mammoths.
Hardman currently resides in Bloomingdale with his wife, Sarah and twins Colton and Tessa.
