Terry Bocian

How much does Terry “Coach Bo” Bocian mean to Aquinas College? He worked for 43 years at Aquinas before retiring in 2016, including 38 years as Athletic Director, in the process increasing the Saints’ athletic teams from nine sports to 25. He had his uniform No. 13 retired, the first ever Aquinas athletic department member to receive such an honor. Stirrups Center’s basketball court was named “Coach Bo Court.”

Coach Bo coached 30 seasons of Saints baseball – every one of which was a winning season, and every one of which ended in trip to the postseason. The Saints won at 30 games in 27 consecutive seasons under Bocian’s tutelage, leading to Coach Bo becoming the first Michigan college coach to win over 1,000 games in a single sport.

When he stepped down as Saints head coach, Terry Bocian’s record stood at a remarkable 1,079-443-13, with seven National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) state championships and 10 state runner-ups. He was named the Michigan NAIA Coach of the Year on ten separate occasions and Region Coach of the Year four times.

Terry Bocian was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 2000. Four years later, Coach Bo was honored with the March of Dimes Warren Reynolds Lifetime Achievement Award.