Marty Lees Hometown: Lakeview, Ore. Position: Associate Head Coach Alma Mater: Western Oregon, '94

Marty Lees returns for his ninth season in Corvallis, and in this past offseason, was promoted to the position of associate head coach for Oregon State.

Lees has made a steady impact on the Beavers in each of his areas, turning the Beavers into a top defensive squad season after season and helping deliver top recruiting classes in just two years as the team's coordinator.

The Beavers are one of the nation's top defensive teams on a yearly basis, and owe a large portion of that success to Lees' tutelage of infielders and catchers. In 2009, for the third straight season, the Beavers ranked in the top 20 nationally in fielding percentage, posting a .977 mark, which tied a school record and placed the Beavers in a tie for sixth nationally and first in the Pacific-10 Conference.

As recruiting coordinator, Lees has established a level of excellence in just two full seasons with the title. Lees has an eye for talent and it has shown in his national recruiting rankings. His recruiting class for the 2008 season, when it was announced in November, 2007, was rated third nationally by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. His 2009 class was ranked 12th by Collegiate Baseball. The Beavers have continually pulled in top high school and junior college talent from across the nation and as stated above, it has been recognized.

During Oregon State's two national title runs and three straight visits to the College World Series from 2005-2007, pitching and defense were at the forefront.

In 2007, en route to its second straight national title, Lees' defense made school history for the third straight year.

The Beavers posted a .977 fielding percentage -- second in the Pac-10 and second nationally -- just a year after posting a then-school record mark of .975. In 2005, Oregon State finished the season with a .969 fielding percentage, then a program best.

During that time, the Beavers also increased their ability at turing two. In 2005, Oregon State turned 52 double plays.

In 2006, that number jumped up to 62, while in 2007, the Beavers turned 69. In 2007, the team ranked 22nd nationally with 1.03 double plays turned per game

From 2005 through 2009, eight starting OSU infielders who were eligible to turn professional were either selected in the Major League Baseball draft or signed free agent contracts with MLB teams. Most recently, Joey Wong signed a professional contract with Colorado after a fine OSU career. Darwin Barney, a former OSU shortstop, reached as high as Triple-A with the Chicago Cubs organization this past season.

The Pac-10 began its Defensive Player of the Year award in 2006, and the initial recipient was Kunda. The shortstop in 2005 and 2006, Barney, was named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 2005 and was selected to Team USA, the United States national team that plays an international summer schedule, in 2006.

Lees became a full-time assistant coach in 2004, having spent the 2002 and 2003 seasons as OSU's volunteer assistant coach. In addition to overseeing OSU's team defense, Lees supervises the Beavers' baserunning and coaches third base.

Lees, 40, was on the Beavers' staff while completing his standard teaching certification at OSU. He was also the athletic director and a teacher at Harrisburg High. He coached one of the state's top American Legion programs, the Pepsi Challengers of Eugene. In 2002, the Challengers went 56-13 and Lees was named the Oregon AAA Legion Coach of the Year.

Lees became head coach at Harrisburg in 2000, taking a team that was 4-20 the previous season and going 20-6 in his first year. In addition, he was also the athletic director at Harrisburg. Before going to Harrisburg, Lees was head baseball coach at Oakridge High.

Lees earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from Western Oregon in 1994.

Lees also attended Lane Community College, playing baseball and basketball. He graduated from Lakeview High.

Lees and his wife, Kristy, have three sons, Brandon (10), Brady (8) and Jacob (4).