Camp Directors

Camp Staff

Note: The list below shows the instructors for all of our camps. Instructors for any specific camp may vary.

Ron Black

Ron has been umpiring for 28 years. He has 15 OHSAA Regional tournament assignments and 12 Semi-final/Final OHSAA assignments. He has also worked at the NCAA level for 26 years, and has worked conference tournaments in the GLIAC, Heartland, NCAC, WHAC and PAC conferences. In addition, Ron has officiated multiple NCAA Division III and NAIA Regional tournaments, as well as multiple Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League Conference tournaments. He is a former Frontier League umpire and serves as the assigner for the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League and the Ohio Regional Campus Conference. Ron resides in Bellefontaine, Ohio.

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Dave Buck

Dave is in his 35th year of umpiring. He attended the Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School in 1984 and was chosen as the school’s outstanding student. Dave worked the next eleven years in the minor leagues, including four years at the AAA level. He has been umpiring college baseball since 1995, and currently works in the American Athletic Conference, Big Ten, Big West, Mid-American Conference, PAC-12 Conference and Western Athletic Conference. His post season assignments include two Division III Regional tournaments, one Big Ten Conference tournament, three Conference USA tournaments, two Big East Conference tournaments, nine Mid-American Conference tournaments, fifteen Division I Regional tournaments, and nine Division I Super Regional tournaments. Dave was chosen for and worked the Division I College World Series in 2004 and 2007. He also umpired the 2007 World Cup and 2008 Olympic Qualifying tournaments in Taiwan. Dave was chosen as the 2019 recipient of the MHSAA's Vern L. Norris award, presented annually to a veteran official who has been active in a local officials association, has mentored other officials, and has been involved in officials’ education. In addition to umpiring, Dave officiates high school basketball, observes the umpires in Chicago for Major League Baseball and is actively involved with fundraising in the fight against cystic fibrosis, a disease affecting his oldest daughter, Hannah.

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Mike Conlin

Mike spent 35 years working baseball at the NCAA Division I level. During that time he worked in the Big 10, Big 12, C-USA, Pac 12, SEC, Big West, WAC, Big East, Mid-American and Horizon, working 28 conference tournaments during that span in the Big 10, Big 12, C-USA and Mid-American. Mike worked 14 NCAA Regionals, 10 Super Regionals and the Division I College World Series in 2005, 2008, 2011 and as a Crew Chief in 2014. Mike came off the field after the 2018 season to become the Coordinator of Baseball Umpires in the Missouri Valley Conference, Horizon League and Summit League. Mike’s officiating career also included working D1 Men’s Basketball for 19 years in the Big 10, Horizon League and Mid-American Conference. He retired at the end of the 2008 season to become the Men's Basketball Officiating Coordinator for the Horizon League, a position he held for eight seasons. He also worked college football for 30 years, the last 19 in the Big Ten and Mid-American Conference. Referee Magazine tabbed Mike as the only official to work Division I Football, Men’s Basketball and Baseball all at the same time (which he did from 1999 to 2008). Mike also officiated all three sports in the Big 10 and Mid-American. Mike has instructed at camps and clinics in all three sports across the entire country for the past 20 years. In addition to his work as a Division I Coordinator of Baseball Umpires,  Mike works as a Replay Communicator in the Big 10, coordinates men’s basketball officials in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and the men's and women’s basketball officials in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association. He is also the founder and executive director of the Capital Area Officials Association, a 220+ member high school football and basketball officials association in mid-Michigan.

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Mike Duffy

Mike has been umpiring for over 20 years. He currently works college baseball primarily in the Big Ten, Mid-American, and American Athletic Conferences. He has umpired post season tournaments for the Big Ten, Mid-American, Big East and Midwestern Collegiate Conferences and has worked nine NCAA Division I Regional Tournaments and three NCAA Division I Super Regional Tournaments. In 2015, he was selected for and umpired the Division I College World Series in Omaha, NE. Mike has also worked NCAA Division II, III, and JUCO Regional Tournaments. Mike has umpired three baseball high school State Championships. He currently works high school football and officiated a MHSAA State Final in 2012. He retired recently after a long career as a high school basketball official.

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Tim Farwig

Tim is in his 19th year of umpiring, working the last thirteen years at the collegiate level. He currently works at the Division I level in the Mid-American, Big10, Horizon and Atlantic 10 conferences. Tim also works in the Frontier League and assigns the summer collegiate Prospect League. His postseason experience includes the 2015-18 MAC Conference tournament, 2011-14 NAIA World Series and multiple NJCAA regional tournaments. In 2016 Tim worked the 18U Pan American Championship in Monterrey, Mexico and is slated to work the 2018 Championship in Panama City, Panama. He is a two-time attendee of the Bruce Doane Sr. Umpire Camp and resides in Elkhart, Indiana with his wife Kristin.

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Cory Hinga

Cory has been umpiring for 15 years. He attended the Wendelstedt Umpire School in 2005 and spent six seasons umpiring in Minor League baseball before choosing to retire in 2010. His last season was spent as a crew chief in AA in the Eastern League. Cory umpired in the Appalachian, Midwest, Florida State, and Eastern Leagues, working the Championship series in the Midwest and Florida State Leagues and the playoffs in the Eastern League. He was selected to umpire in the fall Florida Instructional League twice and the fall Arizona Instructional League. He was also selected to umpire in the Venezuelan Winter League for the 2008-2009 season. Currently Cory umpires collegiate baseball in the MAC, Summit, and Horizon as well as at the DII, DIII and NAIA levels. He also officiates high school football and basketball and is a high school math teacher. Cory resides in Kalamazoo with his wife, Jennifer, and children, Grace and Brody.

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Sean Howard

Sean has been umpiring for 17 years. He attended the Wendelstedt Umpire School in 2010 and umpired professionally in the Gulf Coast League,  New York-Penn League, Midwest League, and Florida State League. He has also umpired high school baseball through the MHSAA and as well as college baseball. Throughout his career, Sean has umpired 17 Tournament Championships, including the Gulf Coast League Semifinals and Championship Series, the Northwood League Semi-Finals, the Northwood League Championship Series, the New York-Penn League Semi-Final, a JUCO Regional, the Wolverine-Hoosier Championship, MIAA Championship, GLIAC Tournament (2), and NCAA Division II Midwest Regionals (2).

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Jim Jackson

Jim came off the field after the 2015 season and joined the NCAA as a Division I Regional Evaluator. He was an active umpire for 35 years, spending the last 28 years working college baseball. The majority of his assignments were in the Big Ten, Missouri Valley and American Athletic Conference. He umpired ten Big Ten Conference Tournaments, five Missouri Valley Conference Tournaments, and one Big East Conference Tournament. Jim was selected thirteen times for Division I Regional Tournaments and eight times for Super Regional Tournaments. In 2010 Jim was selected for and worked the Division I College World Series. He also umpired the 2002 Division III World Series and numerous Division III and NAIA Regionals, as well as 15 high school Regionals and Sectionals in Indiana. In 2005 Jim worked the 36th World Cup of Baseball in the Netherlands and in 2008 umpired the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Taiwan. He recently retired as an Indiana State Police Officer after 32 years of service, and is currently employed as a safety officer for a trucking company.

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Cory Ray

Cory has been umpiring for 10 years. He currently works collegiately at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels. In 2015 he was selected to work the MHSAA State Finals, which was special to him because that was his main goal when he attended this camp years ago. Cory has worked 5 straight NJCAA Regionals as well as the Opening Round for the NAIA National tournament to go along with multiple conference tournaments in the MIAA,WHAC & Crossroads leagues. In 2018, Cory was selected to work the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional tournament. Cory also officiates basketball and football at the high school level, and he also coaches JV basketball at his alma mater Vandercook Lake High School. Cory and his wife Sarah have two daughters, Breanna & Mya, and they currently reside in Jackson, Michigan. In his spare time he enjoys boating and coaching his daughters travel softball team.

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Brent Rice

Brent is currently the Assistant Director of the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA). His duties include supervision and coordination of the 10,000 registered athletic officials in Michigan, along with sport responsibilities for baseball. Prior to joining the MHSAA staff, Brent served on the staff of the Wendelstedt Umpire School for 18 years, where he held positions as the Administrative Director and Chief of Instruction. His responsibilities included staff management, coordination of curriculum, and daily classroom lectures. He umpired professionally for 13 years following his graduation from The Harry Wendelstedt School for Umpires in 2000.

In addition to his responsibilities with the MHSAA, he has continued to umpire college baseball, working primarily in the Big Ten and the ACC.

Brent grew up in South-central Michigan before moving to Louisiana after meeting his wife. He and his family moved back to Michigan around four years ago. During the offseason, he enjoys golfing, hunting, and spending time with his wife, Jenna, and two daughters, Abigail and Lucy.

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Nick Sweeney

Nick as been umpiring for 24 years, since the age of 13. He started umpiring JUCO college at the age of 17, working his way through college. While at Northern Illinois he worked numerous exhibition games for the Schaumburg Flyers of the former Northern Independent Professional League. After graduation, Nick attended the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpires in January of 2005. Nick was asked to work spring training that year where he was able to work several Major League intersquad games. His first assignment was the Appalachian league where he worked the championship series. He was assigned to the South Atlantic League the following season but decided to retire after the 2006 strike and go into the business world. Since then, Nick has mainly worked JUCO college at all levels working a number of regionals, quarterfinals, and sectional finals. In 2018, he decided to join the CBUA and work higher level college. Nick had the privilege of working the MIAA D3 conference tournament and D2 Midwest regional his first year. He resides in Cedar Springs with his wife Megan and three children, Griffin, Kyla, and Gavin.

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Scott Taylor

Scott Taylor comes back to the Bruce Doane Umpire Camp after being recently named the NCAA National Coordinator of Umpires for Division II baseball. He began his umpiring journey working Little League games with his father Adrian in Blackwell, OK at the age of 13. He continued working all levels of youth baseball through his college years until deciding to attend the Bill Kinnamon Umpire School in 1982. Scott then began a five year minor league career that included stops in the Pioneer League, Arizona Instructional League, Florida State League and the Texas League in 1985-86 before leaving the game to begin a career in business. His collegiate career began in 1987, as he began working many different levels of baseball. After taking 11 years away from umpiring, Scott returned to college baseball in 2006 and immediately achieved success, including many postseason assignments at both the Division I and Division II levels. He counts one of the biggest highlights of his long career as being selected to work at two consecutive NCAA Division II World Series in 2007 and 2008. Scott retired from active umpiring after the 2014 season and spent the next two years as the Supervisor of Umpires for the Great Lakes Valley Conference before accepting the NCAA job in November. He resides in Indianapolis with his wife Brenda, where he is self-employed.

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Dave Uyl

David currently umpires college baseball in the Big Ten and American Athletic conferences. He worked his second Super Regional in 2018. He has also worked five regionals along with working seven Big Ten conference tournaments. David previously spent ten seasons in professional baseball. He attended the Jim Evans Umpire Academy and later served as an instructor. He was twice invited to the Arizona Fall League, which led to him working two MLB Spring Trainings. David worked four seasons in AAA, serving as a crew chief for two of those years along with working the IL championship series. David also officiates college football in the Missouri Valley Conference. He played football and baseball at Hope College. David is currently a specialty development executive with a clinical laboratory, residing in Chicago with his wife and two sons.

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