Donnie Platt is in his second season as director of operations for the West Virginia baseball team and is in his third season working with the WVU baseball staff. Platt’s responsibilities include organizing all aspects of the team’s travel, coordinating community service work and fundraising and managing the student-athletes’ daily schedules. Platt also plays a vital role in putting on the team’s annual Leadoff Dinner. He also currently serves as the pitching coach for the American Legion Post 2 squad, a position he has held since 2014. Platt is also beginning his fourth season as a coach and board member for the Morgantown Pony Baseball League. A Wheeling, West Virginia, native, Platt played baseball at Wheeling Park High School and continued his career at West Liberty University. As a freshman at West Liberty, he was named the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Freshman Pitcher of the Year.
Donnie Platt
Director of Operations
Platt graduated from West Liberty University in 2012 with a bachelors of arts degree in education. He earned his master’s degree in athletic coaching education from West Virginia University in 2015. Platt lives in Morgantown with his girlfriend, Mariana Matthews, and her son, Julian.
In his first season as strength coach for the West Virginia baseball team, Chris Dunaway brings 16 years of professional baseball experience to WVU. Dunaway most recently was with the Los Angeles Dodgers as the team’s strength and conditioning coordinator. He also worked for the Baltimore Orioles and with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Dunaway comes to WVU after two seasons as the strength and conditioning coordinator for the Los Angeles Dodgers, from 2014-15. He developed strength and condition programs for the Major League club, while establishing and implementing a comprehensive nutrition program. Dunaway and his staff also rehabbed players from injury back to competition. Dunaway’s Major League career began as a strength and conditioning intern with the Baltimore Orioles in 1996-97. He became the Orioles’ assistant strength and conditioning coordinator in 1998, a position he held until 2002. From 2002-09, Dunaway worked in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization as the Minor League Strength and Conditioning Coordinator.
Chris Dunaway Strength Coach
Prior to his time with the Dodgers, Dunaway was an adjunct professor at Wheeling Jesuit University from 2011-13 and a teacher and strength and conditioning coach with the Ohio County Schools. A four year varsity letterman for the WVU track and field team, Dunaway is a 1997 graduate of West Virginia University with a bachelor of science degree in exercise physiology. He earned his masters of education in kinesiology in 2006 from the University of Texas-Tyler in 2006 and in 2010 got an accelerated certification for teaching in biology/general science from Wheeling Jesuit University. A Wheeling, West Virginia, native, Dunaway lives in Wheeling with his wife, Dawn and their son, Luke (10) and daughter, Julia (8).
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