Adams State University

Veteran and successful Colorado high school coach Jim Capra, who has guided his teams to more than 350 wins, a 1994 state title and five final four appearances enters his eighth season (Spring 2020) at the helm of the Adams State University baseball program. 

The 2019 season saw the improvement that the Grizzlies were so desperately searching for, as win total and overall on-field production increased after a difficult 2018. Two Grizzlies earned All-Conference honors, as outfielder Nico Nintze was named to the All-RMAC second team, while his teammate, Logan Bistrup took home RMAC Gold Glove honors at third base. Entering 2020, Capra and the reloaded Grizzlies hope to continue to improve and get back to the conference tournament.

In 2018, the Grizzlies put their youngest team ever out onto the field, as progress moving forward was a focal point. Tyson Zanski earned second-team All-RMAC as a catcher, with a batting average of nearly .400 on the year. Capra's young team looked to the future, as nearly every starter would be returning for the 2019 campaign with at least a year of experience under their belts.

2017 looked as though it would be a rebuilding year for Capra and the young Grizzlies. Still, three players at the end of the season earned prestigious honors as both pitcher Josh Keaton and shortstop Evan Wiedner earned second team All-RMAC selections. Third basemen Marco Garmendia ended the year as an RMAC Gold-Glover at the hot corner. Keaton went on to be drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 10th round of the MLB Draft, and entered into their farm system following his 2017 campaign with the Grizzlies.

2016 marked another year of progress for the program as the Grizzlies posted their first winning record in RMAC play along with a second consecutive trip to the RMAC Tournament. With a 22-28 overall record and an 18-17 mark in conference play, Adams State earned the fourth seed at the tournament. The success was led by four All-RMAC performers in senior Chris Morley, juniors Michael Downs and Evan Weidner, and sophomore Bailey Garcia. The tandem of Morley and Weidner went on to garner ABCA/Rawlings Second Team All-Region (South Central) honors. Off the field, Morley was named a CoSIDA Academic All-District student-athlete as teammate Drew Wells snagged the RMAC Baseball Summit Award by virtue of having the highest cumulative GPA (4.00) of any player participating in the RMAC Tournament.

The 2015 season marked a critical turning point as Capra guided the Grizzlies to the RMAC Tournament in just the third season back as a varsity program. It was the first postseason berth for Adams State since 1976. ASU finished with a 20-31 overall record and a 16-20 RMAC mark. The Grizzlies went 11-10 at home and claimed their first win against Colorado Mesa University. ASU's 7-4 win over CMU snapped the Mavericks' 21-game winning streak. CMU was ranked No. 1 in the country at the time. Capra and the Grizzlies clinched their 2015 postseason berth with a win over Colorado State University-Pueblo during the last weekend of regular season games. After the season, outfielder Chris Morley was named to the All-RMAC Second Team and the Capital One Academic All-District team. Reserve outfielder Jacob Heaton was named the RMAC Baseball Summit Award winner by having the highest GPA (3.98) of any player participating in the RMAC Tournament. 

Capra, a 1980 ASC graduate, served as the head baseball coach at Arvada West High School from 1987-2012 before returning to Alamosa in the summer of 2012 to revitalize an Adams State program that had been dormant since the late 1970's.
Capra would collect his first win as the ASU skipper on Feb. 23, 2013 by a 5-4 score against Colorado School of Mines.

Capra, well known in Colorado baseball circles has sent over 60 players to NCAA (Division I and II) and NJCAA college programs during his time with the Wildcats and has had more than a dozen players selected in the Major League Draft, most notably 2-time Cy Young Award winning pitcher Roy Halladay who played for the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies before retiring from Major League baseball in 2013.

In 1994, Halladay’s junior year, the Wildcats won their only state title, scoring three runs in the last of the seventh to defeat Smoky Hill High School, 7-6, for Colorado’s 6A state title.  A year later, Capra led the Wildcats back to the 5A state championship game, which Capra regards as the greatest display of high school talent in the state. The contest, won 6-3 by Cherry Creek, included five eventual major-leaguers, including Halladay. The Wildcats also made the state semifinals in 1992, 2005 and 2007.

Capra, who was named as the Colorado 6A Coach of the Year in 1994, also had the opportunity to serve as the head coach of the first ever high school all-star game at the Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field in 1995 and is well recognized by his peers.
A 25-year head coach and a teacher with 31 years of experience, Capra served as the baseball president of the Colorado High School Coaches Association from 1999-2000 after serving as the vice president for the two prior years. In that role, he helped organize the CHSCA’s Top 40 game, played annually at Coors Field, numerous coaches’ clinics and served as a communication liaison between coaches and state athletic administrators.

A native of the west Denver suburb of Edgewater, Capra was a 4-sport athlete at Jefferson High School, where he graduated in 1975 and earned all-conference honors in both football and baseball.  He then took those talents to Adams State, where he learned in the summer after his redshirt year that ASC was dropping the sport.

However, Capra still shined on the gridiron and was a 3-year starting wide receiver for the then ASC Indians during his collegiate career playing alongside former Grizzly head football coach Marty Heaton and former women's basketball head coach, Larry Joe Hunt, among others.

After completing his bachelor’s degree with a double major in physical education and social studies in 1980, Capra began his teaching and coaching career at Alamosa High School, where he served as the school’s head baseball coach from 1981-82.
He then moved to Arizona and served as an assistant baseball coach for the Kingman High School Bulldogs in 1983 and 1984 and in a similar role for the Phoenix North High School Mustangs in 1985.

Capra and his wife Michelle, who he met while in Arizona, then returned to Colorado, where he served as an assistant coach at Arvada West for the 1986 season before taking over the reins of the program a year later.

He has also served as the head coach of Arvada West’s American Legion summer team since 1986 and in that role has helped the Wildcats win numerous tournament titles both in Colorado and out-of-state.

Capra and his wife, also an elementary school teacher in the Jefferson County school district, have three children.  His oldest son Vince is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy located north of Colorado Springs.  He played football for the Falcons for two years and baseball for one year before ending his athletic career to complete his degree and Special Forces training.

His son Nick is a former right handed pitcher for Regis University, a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, which ASU also belongs to.

Their daughter, Katie, also attended Adams State.