Wagner College Athletics

Wagner College baseball coach Craig Noto has announced the hiring of Kyle Bestle as a graduate assistant for the 2024 season.

"Coach Bestle is the son of a coach. Best way to describe it," Noto said. "His dad is a New York State Hall of Fame coach and Kyle has begun to forge an impressive path for himself. He understands what it takes to be a successful coach. The past four years at a quality JUCO program like San Mateo has given him some great hands-on experience. Kyle is also one who connects with young players well and will help make our ball club better offensively and defensively."

Bestle returns to the East Coast after spending three years coaching in California. He got his start with Catholic Central High School in Troy, NY, as an assistant coach. While there, Bestle created practice plans and schedules, organized pregame warmups and batting and fielding drills, and served as the first base coach during games.

After a brief hiatus, Bestle returned to coaching during the summer of 2018 in the Thruway Collegiate Baseball League in Amsterdam, NY. He finished the first part of his New York coaching career as a baseball instructor at the Baseball Center NYC, where he orchestrated group and private lessons on fielding, pitching and hitting. 

In California, Bestle got his start at GamePrep Baseball Academy where he helped prepare high school athletes for the transition to Division I baseball. During his time as an instructor, he took up the assistant coach job at the College of San Mateo. While with the Bulldogs, Bestle scouted local high school players, and ran preseason, in-season and postseason practices for one of the top-ranked JUCO programs in California.

Bestle has also served as the director of Legends Baseball Camps, which focuses on the development of the foundation of baseball.