The National Olympic Committee and the National Sports Federation awarded Robert EENHOORN, head coach of the Dutch national team, with the Coach of the Year trophy. He won the European championships in 2007 and led them to a fourth place finish at the Baseball World Cup in Taiwan. It was the third time after 2003 and 2005 that he was nominated for the Award. However he felt short in his first two tries. Previous winners were soccer-coach Guus HIDDINK (2002, 2005), basketball-coach Ton BOOT (2004), speed-skating-coaches Jac ORIE (2003) and Gerard KEMKERS (2006).
EENHOORN announced after the World Cup in November that he is going to resign of his job after an eventual participation of the Netherlands at the World Baseball Classic 2009. Nevertheless he will coach the team at next years Olympics in Beijing.
He is a former Major League player of the New York Yankees and the California/Anaheim Angels. He attended the Davidson College in North Carolina and was drafted by the Bronx Bombers in the second round of the 1990 amateur draft. He celebrated his debut in 1994 and was in the big leagues until 1997. The infielder appeared in 37 games, batting .239 with one homerun and ten RBI.
Photo © Ron Wickert, www.eott.nl