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Chuck Hartman will go down in history as one of Virginia Tech's greatest coaches in any sport. He has been head baseball coach since 1979 and has amassed a career record of 961-584-8 during his tenure in Blacksburg, with the remainder of the 2006 season still to come. He is the fourth all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I. Let's take a closer look at this the career of this Virginia Tech legend, including his greatest accomplishments and disappointments.

During his 28 seasons as Tech's head coach, Chuck Hartman's baseball teams have finished with a losing record just three times. Two of those have come in the past two seasons, Tech's first years in the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference. Of Hartman's 25 winning teams, only four failed to win 30 games during the season. 

While at Virginia Tech, Hartman won conference championships in the Metro, Atlantic 10 and Big East. His first championship came during the 1981 season, when the Hokies won the regular season Metro championship. Tech was also Metro tournament champs in 1994 and tied for the regular season championship in 1995. The 1994 season saw the Hokies reach the NCAA tournament for the first time under Hartman. It would be the first of four trips.

The move to the Atlantic 10 resulted in three more NCAA tournament appearances for the Hokies. Tech won the A-10 West Division in 1996, and won the A-10 tournament three of the next four years.

The Hokies played their first season in the Big East in 2001 and posted a 29-28-1 record. They followed that up with a 33-26 mark in 2002 and won a share of the Big East regular season championship. In four seasons in the Big East, the Hokies never had a losing record.

One of Hartman's crowning achievements as a coach came on April 27, 1992. The Hokies defeated Liberty 11-4 that day to give Hartman career win number 1,000. He became just the ninth coach in Division I baseball history to college 1,000 career wins. Before taking the job at Virginia Tech in 1979, Hartman won 483 games at High Point College from 1960-78.

However, there have also been disappointments in Hartman's long career. Despite having a very successful career, his Tech teams advanced to the NCAA tournament just four times, and it was not until 1994 that the Hokies reached the tournament. From 1979-93, VT never made it. But arguably, they should have had at least three appearances under Hartman before 1994.

In 1981, Virginia Tech finished 48-9, won the Metro regular season championship and finished the season ranked #20 in the nation. Yet they did not receive an at-large bid. How can this be? It's unclear why the Hokies didn't receive a bid that season, but things would get worse. In 1982, Tech went 50-9 and finished the season ranked #9 nationally. And again, they did not receive an at-large bid. How can a team ranked in the top 10 in the nation not make the tournament? It's almost criminal.

It happened to Hartman again in 1985. His Tech team went 50-16 and finished ranked #24 in the nation and, yet again, did not get an at-large bid. Among the 13 teams that did receive at-large bids was the University of Virginia, which went 37-14 that year. Your first thought might be that Virginia received the bid because they played in a tougher conference, but the Metro Conference was no slouch in baseball, with powers Florida State and South Carolina among the teams present in the league.

To recap, the Hokies went a combined 98-18 over a two year period in 1981 and 1982, and did not get a tournament invitation. The 1982 and 1985 teams set personal bests for Hartman with 50 wins in a season, but neither received a bid to the tournament. Wow.

Tech's introduction to ACC baseball has been very difficult. The Hokies have struggled through their two worst seasons in the Chuck Hartman era, and this year's team stands a chance of not winning 20 games, which would be a first in Hartman's career at Virginia Tech. The last time a Chuck Hartman coached team failed to win 20 games was in 1968, when High Point College finished 19-20.

However, it is likely that Tech will get to 20 wins this year. Tech's current record is 19-27, and they have home games against Campbell and Charlotte remaining, as well as a three-game home series against NC State. They end the season with a three-game road trip at UVA. The Hokies beat Campbell 5-2 and 16-6 in two games to start the season. They also fell to Charlotte 8-5.

Chuck Hartman's final home game at Virginia Tech will be held on Tuesday, May 16 at 7 pm at English Field. The Hokies will take on the Charlotte 49ers that night, and Hartman deserves to go out with a big win. So if you're in the area, come out and show your support for a Virginia Tech legend. 

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-- Will Stewart