Central College Athletics

George Wares is the winningest softball coach in NCAA Division III history.

In 41 seasons as Central College head coach starting in 1985, Wares has compiled a 1291-463-3 record (.735), including a 101-67 postseason mark. He became the first Division III coach to record 1,000 wins on April 8, 2014 and has guided the Dutch to a record 33 NCAA Division III tournament berths. In 2007, Wares was inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Hall of Fame.

Wares piloted the Dutch to national championships in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 2003 with national runner-up finishes in 1986 and 2001. His 33 NCAA playoff teams have finished in the national top eight 13 times, with 15 regional tournament titles, including 2024. The Dutch were third in the NCAA in 1990, 1994 and 1995, fourth in 1987 and 1989, fifth in 1997 and tied for seventh in 2013. They advanced to the NCAA Super Regional in 2015 and 2024.

Central captured the 2024 American Rivers championship, the 14th conference crown the Dutch have won or shared (1986, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2019, 2024).

Wares and his assistants were named the NFCA Division III coaching staff of the year in 2003, after taking regional honors in 2001.

Wares and his staff have won or shared the conference coach of the year award 10 times (1990, 1993, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2019, 2024).

Wares served a three-year term as Midwest Region Representative on the NCAA Division III Softball Championships Committee (2017-19). He previously spent three years as a member of the NCAA Division III Midwest Region Advisory Committee, which he later chaired, and also served on the NCAA Softball Rules Committee. He's currently a member of the NCAA Division III Region IX Advisory Committee.

Wares is also active within the NFCA. He served two terms as the Division III representative on the NFCA Board of Directors and served two three-year terms on the NFCA Division III All-America Selection Committee, including two years as chair. Also a former NFCA Coaching Staff of the Year Committee member, Wares spent six years (2014-19) as the Midwest Region representative of the NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll Committee. He was a co-instructor at the 2017 NFCA Convention in Las Vegas and was the only non-Division I coach to serve as a featured speaker at the 2018 NFCA Coaches Clinic in Minneapolis.

A 1976 Central graduate, Wares spent seven years as girls softball coach at NESCO High School in Zearing , Iowa, posting a 214-94 record and piloting three squads to state tournament berths. He was named all-area coach of the year three times.

Wares also served as a high school boys basketball coach for 18 years, including seven at NESCO and 11 at Pella High School . He compiled a 259-106 career record, earning four state tournament berths, with two state runner-up finishes. He served for four seasons as an assistant men's basketball coach at Central.

A highly regarded motivational speaker, Wares received a master's degree in counseling from Iowa State University. He worked as an at-risk counselor at Pella High School and as an academic counselor at Central.

He is the husband of associate head coach Alicia O'Brien.

NCAA Division III Championships participants in bold
*2020 season ended March 8 due to global pandemic