MSU Denver Athletics

Joe Strain, father of Roadrunners coach Ryan Strain and the son of the former MSU Denver men's basketball coach of the same name, joined his son's staff as an assistant coach for the 2019 season.
 

In 2021, he helped MSU Denver post the best record in program history at 34-10 and narrowly miss the team's first-ever invitation to the NCAA Division II Tournament.

Joe Strain had been an area scout and national crosschecker with the San Francisco Giants since 1990, part of a 42-year career in professional baseball that included three seasons as a major league player. 
 
A 1972 graduate of George Washington High School in Denver, Strain played collegiately at Northern Colorado, helping the Bears to the 1974 College World Series in Omaha, where they pulled an upset of Arizona.
 
A four-year starter at shortstop who hit over .300 each season, Strain also played for the USA's silver-medal winning Pan American Games team in 1975. He was a second-team academic All-American, and he is a member of Northern Colorado's Athletics Hall of Fame.

At MSU Denver, he works with the hitters and with the infielders.
 
After signing with the Giants in 1976, Strain reached the major leagues in 1979 and played second base for both the Giants and the Chicago Cubs. He appeared in 169 big-league games, batting .250 with one homer (a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the ninth off Rudy May of the Montreal Expos on July 10, 1979) and 29 RBIs. He continued playing through 1983. He was a career .307 hitter at the minor-league level, including .290 in 390 career games in Class AAA.

Strain managed in the Giants' minor-league system from 1985 through 1989 and again in 2003 and 2004, compiling a record of 282-244 for Everett Giants (1985-89) and Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (2003-2004) of the short-season Class A Northwest League. 
 
As a manager, Joe Strain worked with some of the youngest players in the Giants' system, and helped develop players such as third baseman Matt Williams, shortstop Royce Clayton, first baseman Travis Ishikawa and outfielder Nate Schierholtz. As a scout, he's credited with discovering pitcher Sergio Romo of Colorado Mesa, a 23^rd-round draft pick who has spent 11 seasons in the big leagues and pitched for the World Series champions in 2010, 2012 and 2014, frequently as the team's closer.
 
Joe Strain also taught at Cherry Creek High School from 1983 through 2003, where he was also the boys basketball coach from 1986 through 2002.
 
Joe Strain's father, Joe Sr., is a member of the MSU Denver Athletics Hall of Fame.