NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Brian Hamm, the Yale baseball team's new head coach, was honored last weekend by the American Baseball Coaches Association as an ABCA/ATEC National Coach of the Year. The award as announced last June and Hamm was recognized for it Friday Jan. 6 at the ABCA Convention in Nashville, Tenn.  He earned the honor at the Division III level for his work at his previous school -- he led Eastern Connecticut State to the 2022 NCAA Division III National Championship with a record of 49-3. 
 
The ABCA/ATEC National and Regional Coaches of the Year are selected by members of the ABCA All-America and Coach of the Year committees in all nine divisions: NCAA Divisions I, II and III; NAIA; NJCAA Divisions I, II and III; Pacific Association Division; and High School.
 
The ABCA award is one of several major honors Hamm earned for his work last year. He was also named the winner of the Skip Bertman Award as the top coach at any NCAA level by the College Baseball Foundation and was named National Coach of the Year by D3baseball.com.

In 2022 Hamm led Eastern to its first national championship in 20 years. The Warriors broke the school record for wins with 49 (tied for the second-most ever by a DIII National Champion) and tied the school record with a 23 game winning streak to end the year. They were ranked No. 1 in the nation from May 10 through the end of the season. 

Hamm spent the past four seasons at Eastern Connecticut, leading the Warriors to the NCAA Tournament in 2021 and 2022. Under his leadership, ECSU went 108-30 (.783) overall and 38-10 (.792) in Little East Conference play. The Warriors were LEC Regular Season Champions in each of the past two seasons, going 15-1 each year and establishing the LEC record for regular season conference wins. They won the LEC Tournament this past year, going 4-0 and outscoring their opponents 35-8. Hamm earned the LEC Coach of the Year Award and the D3baseball.com New England Region Coach of the Year Award for the second year in a row.

Hamm takes over a Yale program that has won eight Ivy League Championships, including two in the past four seasons, and produced 41 MLB draftees. John Stuper retired as head coach at the conclusion of the 2022 season after leading the Bulldogs for 30 years.

Hamm is a 2002 graduate of Middlebury College, where he was a two-sport captain (baseball and soccer). He holds a master's degree in sport management from the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Management. He is a native of Terryville, Conn.

Founded in 1945, the American Baseball Coaches Association is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its 13,000+ members represent all 50 states and more than 30 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association membership has broadened to include eight divisions: NCAA Division I, II and III; NAIA; NJCAA; Pacific Association Division; High School and Youth.