William and Mary names new head baseball coach

Jamie Pinzino has been named the new head baseball coach at William and Mary College, according to a release from the school.

Pinzino was the Tribe's pitching coach and recruiting coordinator last season and also spent a year at Northeastern as an assistant. He worked five seasons as the head coach at Bryant.

"Through this process, I was impressed with the plan and passion that Jamie showed for William and Mary, and it became evident that he was a great fit for our baseball program," William and Mary Athletics Director Terry Driscoll stated in a release. "His experience in building a program at Bryant and his knowledge of the Colonial Athletic Association are two of the many valuable qualities we saw in him as our head baseball coach."

Pinzino, who has coached at the college level for 11 years, was with the Tribe as it went 31-25. The pitching staff led the conference in ERA (3.01) and opponent's batting average (.245). The staff also gave up the fewest hits (445), walks (126), doubles (79) and home runs (24) in the conference.

Also, behind the guidance of Pinzino, Matt Davenport was tabbed as the CAA Pitcher of the Year and a first-team All-East Region selection. Davenport was drafted in the 34th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Detroit Tigers.

"I feel fortunate to be given the opportunity as the head baseball coach at William and Mary," Pinzino stated in the release. "I want to thank athletics director Terry Driscoll, associate athletics director Steve Cole and the search committee for believing in me to lead this program moving forward. It's exciting to work with the type of student-athletes that we have in the program and can attract to this fine institution. Given its advantages and potential, the program has a bright future. I cannot wait to get to work."

Pinzino was the pitching coach at Northeastern during the 2011 campaign and helped the Huskies fashion a 4.26 ERA as a staff. He had three of his starters selected in the draft as well. Les Williams was taken in the 37th round by the Toronto Blue Jays, Brandon McNelis was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the 41st round and Drew Leenhouts was taken in the 43rd round by the Florida Marlins.

Pinzino has a 173-150 record as a head coach and was the Northeast-10 Conference Coach of the Year in 2007 after leading the Bulldogs to the NCAA Division II regional final. Bryant won a school-record 43 games in 2008 and the conference championship. Bryant became an NCAA Division I school in 2009 and Pinzino led Bryant to a 32-22 record. A year later, the Bulldogs finished 34-22 and won the NEC championship. He was named the coach of the year in the conference as well.

Pinzino also spent one year as a head coach at Assumption College and was an assistant for two years at Tufts University. He coached for one season at Holy Cross and for one season at Pomona-Pitzer College.

During his playing career at Tufts, Pinzino helped lead the Jumbos to three Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference championships. Tufts played in the NCAA Division III regional final in 1995. Pinzino graduated in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in History and earned his master's degree in Educational Studies.

He is married to Cheryl Milligan, the head women's softball coach at Tufts.

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