There is a new face around the Rowenhorst Student Center, though not as new as some might think. After being hired in June of this year as the assistant baseball coach, Robby Laughlin has become the newest coach for the Northwestern Raider Athletic Department. However, this is not Laughlin’s first experience at NW.
In 2014 Laughlin first stepped foot on NW, not as a coach, but as a student athlete. According to NW’s head baseball coach, Brian Wede, “Robby was someone that we were excited to recruit as a high school student because he seemed like an over achiever. He was able to produce better results than what someone would guess looking at a paper resume.”
During his college career, Wede gave Laughlin the opportunity to become a student coach after a severe injury. According to Wede, even then, Laughlin “had a deep passion for baseball and had set himself up well to have a future in the game of baseball with some of the internships and jobs he was doing in the summers while in college.”
After four years away from NW, during which Laughlin worked as the hitting coach & recruiting coordinator at Dawson Community College and Bryant & Stratton Community College and Head Hitting Coach at Central College, Laughlin has rejoined the NW team as the hitting and recruiting coach, working directly with Wede to “recruit players to the program, help develop skill and improve player ability, work in conjunction with the [Wede] on player issues” and much more according to the head coach.
However, Laughlin is more than just a coach. Wede has expressed that part of Laughlin’s roll as assistant coach is to “be a good Christian role model and a impactful piece of our Christian Academic Community, and to help grow the faith of the players on the team so that they may know Jesus and so they can be ready to be a strong advocate for Jesus and to lead a family as a husband and dad if they are in that position during their lifetimes.” One of the ways Laughlin has done this is by leading a Bible Study for the baseball players.
Laughlin is in a unique position to speak into the lives of young college baseball players, since he himself only recently graduated from NW in 2018. And being a husband and father of two twin daughters, Wede believes Laughlin “will serve as another great Christian role model in our program.”
The story of this past baseball player returning to his roots here at NW may seem like a crazy coincidence. However, it seems as though Coach Wede might say it has been a long time coming.
“I had asked Laughlin and his wife Mariah to come back to Orange City to join our staff a couple times earlier, and was rejected, as they built their family.” Fortunately for NW, “Following the 2024 season we had an opening on our staff, and I asked him again to join us.” This brings us to now; the 2024-2025 baseball season for the NW Raiders.
As the baseball team begins preparing for their season in the spring, Laughlin is right there with them. “Laughlin was someone I wanted to have back on staff with me because he stands out in many ways. He is a great recruiter, he cares deeply about our players and wants the best for them, he is a hard worker who loves Northwestern and our baseball program, and he is curious, and he wants to continue learning about baseball and life and the best ways to coach and be a part of a community,” said Wede. Hopefully Coach Laughlin’s legacy of standing out at NW will continue on through his coaching, recruiting, and role modeling what it means to be a Christian husband and father for the NW baseball team in the season and years to come.
