A lot has changed in the Permian Basin in recent years.  The oil boom brought an influx of people to Odessa-Midland area causing rapid growth all across the Permian Basin.
 
Now entering his 15^th year as Head Coach of UT Permian Basin Baseball, Brian Reinke has been around to experience the major changes to the UTPB campus and surrounding areas.  When he took the job back in 2005 campus was little more than a few buildings and lacked many of the amenities of traditional college campuses. 
 
"The exponential growth on campus is phenomenal," said Reinke.  "You look at an aerial photo from 15 years ago versus now and you'd be surprised at what we didn't have back then and the school has done a great job fixing that, just adding things like student housing and dining hall.  The new (D. Kirk Edwards Family) Human Performance Center brings us to the top of Division II and goes a long way with recruiting."
 
Projects like the D. Kirk Edwards Family Human Performance Center became possible with the increase in involvement from the Permian Basin community.  With the increased community involvement, the department has grown as well. Additional projects like the Champions Fund have helped not only baseball grow but all the UTPB Athletics programs.
 
"One of the major influential changes in my time here is the growth in the people in the community associated with the programs," said Reinke.  "The support in the community has definitely changed and you can see how it's helped a lot of the programs for the better."
 
Back in his playing days, Reinke was an All-American at Division II Augustana University where he is still the program's all-time leader in on base percentage by a wide margin.  Reinke had a sensational junior season with a .452 batting average and eye-popping .606 on base percentage.  He followed it by setting the Augustana single season record with 40 walks as a senior. 
 
With his historic collegiate career in the rearview mirror, Reinke moved to the ranks of coaching.  He bounced around for a few years before he came to the Permian Basin taking the assistant baseball coaching job at the newly started program at Midland College.  Five years later the top job at UTPB opened and Reinke knew he was the perfect fit for the young program.
 
"What really intrigued me was the department was transitioning to Division II and played Division II myself," said Reinke. "It's a great level for a lot of different reasons.  Between that and my wife Leticia working at the University at the time it seemed like a great opportunity and that was just the beginning of it."
 
When Reinke was named the Head Coach in 2005, he took over a program in just its second year and preparing to transition to the NCAA.  He needed a plan to build a competitive team as quickly as possible and started by keeping players home in West Texas.
 
"It took a lot of guys to buy into this new baseball school that before was never an option," said Reinke. "We did a great job building to get eligible our first year in the NCAA and have success.  We convinced some guys to stay or come back home.  UTPB became a place where guys could transfer and have a chance to play ball."
 
It worked out as Reinke and the Falcons hit the ground running upon jumping to the NCAA.  The Falcons had a good first year, winning 35 games and finishing towards the top of the conference but they were hungry for more.  Powered by the Heartland Offensive Player of the Year Logan Forest and a top-flight line-up the Falcons won 39 games and the conference championship to reach the NCAA Tournament the next year.  Forest was one of the early local players to take a chance and join the young program.
 
"It started with Will Basom coming here," said Reinke.  "I recruited him at Midland but he went elsewhere for junior college but came here to finish his career and he ended up all over the record books.  That got guys like Logan (Forest) to come and buy into what we were doing too."

Along with the local products, Reinke took a chance on a few players looking for one last chance to play.  Reinke turned many lives around, but no story is more famous than that of future World Series champion Evan Gattis.  Drew Kendrick, a Division I transfer and the stepbrother of Gattis, was part of the 2009 conference champions.  Off the heels of an NCAA Tournament appearance Gattis, the formerly highly-touted prospect, decided to give baseball one more chance.
 
"Drew and Evan talked after the 2009 season and Evan heard how much fun he was having here playing baseball," said Reinke.  "The rest you can say is history."
 
That decision led to one of the greatest seasons in UTPB history.  Gattis hit .400 with 12 home runs and 54 RBI as the Falcons reached the Heartland Conference Championship round.  The Falcons were snubbed for the NCAA Tournament despite according to Reinke, being one of the top 10 teams in the country.  Injuries hampered the 2011 team, which Reinke calls the most talented team he ever had, but those years will be remembered forever for the comradery and relationships they built to this day.
 
"They're the closest group of friends I've ever seen," said Reinke.  "They still go to each other's weddings and hang out when they come to the alumni game.  Different eras, different times, but that group was just special."
 
Reinke earned a second Heartland Coach of the Year honor in 2015 as the Falcons won 30 games for the fourth time.  David Lee was named the Conference Player of the Year after batting .428 with 59 hits and 32 RBI.  After a few more solid seasons and with expansion in the Athletics Department it was time for a change.  The school announced a transition to the Lone Star Conference starting in 2017.  The Falcons struggled initially against the new competition comprised primarily of public schools with more scholarships. 
 
"Moving to the Lone Star was hard," said Reinke. "We were in a position to compete and be competitive where we were in the Heartland.  We went from one of the top schools in the Heartland and two years later struggled."
 
Things are on the upswing as over the last two years the Falcons have answered the call and asserted themselves as a contender in the LSC.  The Falcons squeaked into the postseason in 2018 on the last weekend of the year before winning 20 games in 2019.  The Falcons enjoyed the fifth biggest turnaround of any Division II school. 
 
Things were looking even brighter in 2020 before the COVID-19 outbreak.  The Falcons were coming off their first sweep of an LSC opponent.  They beat a ranked team for the first time since 2015 and had just concluded a 24 inning shutout streak, the longest in program history.  The pitching staff led Division II with five shutouts and the offense was starting to heat up before the remainder of the season was canceled.
 
"Over the last couple of years we've been knocking on the door on where we want to be," said Reinke.  "Right before this season ended I thought we were really close to breaking down some barriers and getting to the next level."
 
That next level is winning a Lone Star Conference championship and being one of the teams that gets to play in the NCAA Tournament, which Reinke identifies as the goal of every season. 
 
"Only 54 teams get in the Division II tournament," said Reinke.  "Winning the conference automatically gets you into that field and gives you a chance.  Everyone wants to win a national championship but you need to reach the postseason first and go from there.  Accomplishing that goal leads you to bigger things moving forward."

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