Head Coach Matt O’Brien 9th season
mattob24@yahoo.com

In April of 2007 Matt O’Brien was chosen as head coach of the Winona VFW Buddies in hopes of carrying on the Buddies rich tradition of baseball. O’Brien is entering his ninth year as head coach of the Buddies taking over the program from his former coach and mentor Travis Akre.

O’Brien enters the 2015 season with a Buddies' career coaching record of 138 wins and 74 losses. (O'Brien is the only coach in the First District to have finished the season in the top 4 of the league in each of his seasons at the helm). In 2011, the Buddies won the District Tournament and advanced to the VFW State Tournament for the first time in 22 years. At the state tournament in Bemidji, MN, the Buddies had quite a memorable run, finishing as the second best team in the state of MN and a record of 29-10.

In his first season as skipper, O’Brien and the Buddies ended the 2007 season with a 18-10 record finishing second in the division. The Buddies participated in the annual St. Cloud VFW baseball tournament, one of the most competitive tournaments in Minnesota, winning 3 games and becoming the third team in Buddies history to advance to the title game. They would finish second being defeated by Forest Lake. The Buddies went on to host and win their section of the division tournament and qualify for the “Final Four” district tournament where they finished their season (0-2) losing to eventual state participant Northfield.

In O’Brien’s second season, he guided the Buddies to a third place finish in the division finishing with a record of 18-10. The Buddies once again hosted and won their section of the division tournament, qualifying them once again for the “Final Four” district tournament. O’Brien took the Buddies one step closer to a state tournament bid as the Buddies won their opener against Northfield, but lost back to back one run games to fall short of the state tournament.

In 2009, the Buddies accumulated their first 20 win season. The Buddies won 21 games to 9 defeats, while taking 3rd place at the Stars of Tomorrow tournament and winning the consolation championship at the St. Cloud tournament. The Buddies bowed out of the division playoffs, the earliest exit since O'Brien took over.

In 2010, the Buddies finished the season 17-11. They would continue their streak of four consecutive years of hosting a part of the division tournament. They once again advanced to the "Final Four" district tournament going 1-2 in the tournament.

In 2011, the Buddies had a season for the record books. The Buddies finished the regular season in second place out of the 14 team league. Winona hosted a portion of the Division Tournament and walked right through it. The Buddies advanced to the District Tournament in Red Wing, MN as the #2 seed in the "final four" tournament. After defeating the Rochester Rockets 13-3 in six innings, the Buddies defeated Northfield 9-0 in the semi-final game. In the District Tournament Championship game, the Buddies came back from 5-0, to defeat Northfield 10-5. It was the first district title for Winona in 22 years and earned them a spot in the State Tournament held in Bemidji, MN. At the state tournament, the Buddies defeated "team of the decade" Ranview 6-3 in the opening round of the tournament. In game 2, Winona would defeat eventual state champion Eagan 2-1 putting an end to their 18 game winning streak. In game 3, the Buddies defeated defending state champion and tournament host Bemidji, 1-0 off a home run from Owen Burnikel. In the semi-final game, the Buddies would defeat Grand Rapids 6-4. Winona would lose two games to Eagan in the championship by scores of 14-8 and 11-5 finishing the season with a record of 29-10 and a second place finish at state.

In 2012, the Buddies had a strong 21 game win season, advancing to the final four, and coming up just short of another state tournament berth. The Buddies won their division portion of the tournament and lost a heart breaking 12-11 extra inning game to the Rochester Spartans preventing them from clinching back to back state tournament appearances.

In 2013, the Buddies had one of the greatest turn arounds in program history as they finished the regular season in 11th place out of 15 teams. The Buddies upset #5 seed Rochester Knights 3-1. Then in one of the most memorable games Buddies' history, the Buddies beat #4 seed Cannon Falls. The Buddies trailed C.F. 13-7 heading into the top of the 7th inning, only to score 12 runs in the inning, and 7 runs with two outs. The Buddies would once again win their portion of the division and advance to the final four. There they lost a heart breaker to #1 seed Northfield 12-11 in 8 innings. The Buddies would bounce back defeating Rochester Century and Owatonna to advance to the District title game. In the end, Northfield proved to be too much to overcome, as the Buddies fell 10-5 placing second in the district, once again knocking on the state tournament's door step.

 
Prior to taking over head coach of the Winona VFW, O’Brien spent three seasons with the Goodview Sandlot Youth baseball program. O’Brien coached for two seasons in Goodview (12 and under and 14 and under), was the director of competition for the program for two seasons, and was a consultant for one season.

O'Brien started coaching in the St. Mary's University baseball league grades 4-6 for two seasons. He was the Head Coach of the Winona Cotter high school B-squad baseball team in 2008 and from 2009-2011 was an Assistant Coach/Pitching Coach for the Winona Cotter Varsity baseball team.

O'Brien spent 3 seasons as the Head Varsity Baseball Coach at Winona Cotter High School. After a 7-14 first season, the Ramblers' program turned the corner in 2013 winning the 1AA East Sub-Section Championship and participating in the Section tournament for the first time in five years. 

O’Brien born and raised in Winona, MN grew up playing baseball through local organizations. He played for Winona Park Rec, Goodview Traveling baseball, Winona VFW Buddies, Winona Cotter high school, Winona LeJetz, and the Winona Chiefs.

He attended Winona Cotter high school, where he participated in baseball, basketball, and football. He was named All-Conference in baseball three times, Cotter Athlete of the Month, Team MVP twice, Pitcher of the Year, All-Section twice, and threw two no-hitters.

After graduating from Cotter, O’Brien attended North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, Iowa. There, he participated on the 2005 regular season conference championship team and was named All-region and Academic All-region. O’Brien threw a one hit complete game shut-out against #1 ranked team in the country Iowa Central and is still listed at the top of many school records, currently sitting second all-time in career strikeouts.

O’Brien graduated from NIACC, and transferred to Winona State University. At WSU, O’Brien helped guide the Warriors to a conference tournament championship and regional participant while being named Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament Most Valuable Pitcher, along with All-Tournament team. O’Brien graduated with a degree in Physical Education. 

O'Brien is currently the Pitching Coach at Winona State University while working on a Master's degree in Sports Management.