{"id":19299,"date":"2026-03-31T00:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/waterloo-bucks\/?p=19299"},"modified":"2026-03-30T11:10:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T16:10:30","slug":"bucks-welcome-darrell-handelsman-back-for-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/waterloo-bucks\/2026\/03\/31\/bucks-welcome-darrell-handelsman-back-for-2026-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucks Welcome Darrell Handelsman Back for 2026 Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Waterloo, Iowa \u2013 After leading the franchise to a 42-30 record in 2025, the Waterloo Bucks are excited to announce that field manager Darrell Handelsman\"\"<\/a> will be returning to the team in 2026.\u00a0 Handelsman currently serves as the head coach at Olney Central Community College, a position he has held for two spring seasons.\u00a0 This will be Handelsman\u2019s eighth season in Waterloo.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the Bucks finished with the second-best overall record in the Great Plains East Division of the Northwoods League.\u00a0 The sixth game of the season marked Handelsman\u2019s 500th<\/sup> victory for his NWL career and on June 17, he notched his 500th<\/sup> career regular season win.\u00a0 Handelsman is the winningest manager in team history, with 276 victories, and ranks as the third-winningest manager in NWL history, with 525 victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more thrilled to welcome Darrell back for another season in Waterloo,\u201d said general manager Dan Corbin. \u201cHe is as excited as I am for the opportunity to chase a championship while continuing to build upon the culture that has been created in our clubhouse.\u00a0 Skip will continue to do an outstanding job leading our players.\u201d<\/p>\n

A veteran manager in summer-collegiate baseball, Handelsman \"\"<\/a>holds 871 career wins with six different teams in a career spanning 20-plus seasons.\u00a0 Prior stops include the Kenosha Kroakers (Northwoods League, 1997-98), Waterloo Bucks (NWL, 1999-2002), Madison Mallards (NWL, 2003-04), Fayetteville SwampDogs (Coastal Plain League, 2005-13), Green Bay Bullfrogs (NWL, 2013-16), and Alton River Dragons (Prospect League, 2021-22).\u00a0 Handelsman is the second winningest postseason manager in league history with 12 victories.\u00a0 In addition, Handelsman has won two NWL titles, earning trophies with the Bucks in 2002 and Madison in 2004.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been fortunate to spend many summers in Waterloo and I always look forward to returning and seeing all of the amazing fans and host families,\u201d said Handelsman.\u00a0 \u201cIt’s been fun to work with an incredible staff, especially our GM, Dan Corbin, who makes everything there possible for the players and coaches to have a great summer.\u00a0 I’m looking forward to pursuing another NWL championship for the Bucks.”<\/p>\n

Handelsman\u2019s coaching career began as an assistant at\u00a0Los Angeles Valley College,\u00a0followed by New Mexico Highlands University,\u00a0Cochise College,\u00a0San Jose State University, and\u00a0Centenary College.\u00a0 Handelsman played collegiately at\u00a0San Francisco State University.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

# # #<\/p>\n

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Group Outings, Season Tickets and Flex Plans for the 2026 season are currently available online at <\/em>www.waterloobucks.com<\/em><\/a> or by calling the Bucks Ticket Line at (319) 232-5633, while single-game tickets are available online only.\u00a0 Fans are encouraged to stay in touch with the Bucks by utilizing their website at <\/em>www.waterloobucks.com<\/em><\/a> or utilizing the Northwoods League Mobile App.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Waterloo Bucks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Now in its\u2019 32nd<\/sup> season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in history with 24 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires, and front office staff, nearly 2400 NWL alums have been drafted and over 400 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (TOR), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford and World Series Champion Chris Sale (ATL). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019\/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2023 World Series Champion, MLB All-Star, MLB Gold Glove, two-time Silver Slugger winner and two-time All-MLB first team shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX). League games are viewable live on Northwoods League+ (at watch.northwoodsleague.com) and ESPN+.\u00a0For more information, visit <\/em>www.waterloobucks.com<\/em><\/a> or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Bucks as your favorite team. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Waterloo, Iowa \u2013 After leading the franchise to a 42-30 record in 2025, the Waterloo Bucks are excited to announce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":19303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\nBucks Welcome Darrell Handelsman Back for 2026 Season - Waterloo Bucks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/waterloo-bucks\/2026\/03\/31\/bucks-welcome-darrell-handelsman-back-for-2026-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bucks Welcome Darrell Handelsman Back for 2026 Season\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Waterloo, Iowa \u2013 After leading the franchise to a 42-30 record in 2025, the Waterloo Bucks are excited to announce [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/waterloo-bucks\/2026\/03\/31\/bucks-welcome-darrell-handelsman-back-for-2026-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Waterloo Bucks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-31T05:15:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.northwoodsleague.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/03\/Waterloo-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1178\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin-waterloo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@admin-waterloo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin-waterloo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/waterloo-bucks\/2026\/03\/31\/bucks-welcome-darrell-handelsman-back-for-2026-season\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/waterloo-bucks\/2026\/03\/31\/bucks-welcome-darrell-handelsman-back-for-2026-season\/\",\"name\":\"Bucks Welcome Darrell Handelsman Back for 2026 Season - 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