Hello CBD readers, my name is Brian Leighton and I the Head Baseball Coach at Division III Albertus Magnus College located in New Haven, CT. I am entering my tenth season at the helm following one season as a HS coach and several years as a student-assistant baseball coach at Division III power Eastern CT State. Albertus Magnus College is a small (just over 500 day students) private catholic institution located in the college town of New Haven, CT. Nearby colleges include Quinnipiac University, Southern CT State, University of New Haven, and Yale University. In addition to my responsibilities as Head Baseball Coach, I am in charge of Athletic Facilities and Operations for the department. Like many Division III Head Coaches, I wear many hats within the department as it allows me to have my dream job of coaching college baseball.
Our program has grown by leaps and bounds during my tenure with the Athletic Department also growing immensely during my time here. My goal of this blog is to provide some insight into what makes a small private college Division III baseball program operate. There are many challenges that we face on a daily basis, whether it be facilities, weather, academics, community service, fundraising etc. Our student-athletes are tremendously committed to academics, community service, and the baseball program. As a current doctoral student myself, I can sympathize with the challenges of being a student-athlete and what sacrifices our student-athletes have to make in order to be successful.
As you will read in the coming weeks, our baseball program works hard to maximize our efficiency in instruction and often takes a “thinking outside of the box” to overcome challenges. One of our program beliefs is that “When you do what everyone else is doing, you get what everyone else is getting.” Therefore, we are constantly striving to achieve more on and off the field to be the most successful program that we can be while “not just doing what everyone else is doing.” For daily insight into the baseball program, Please follow me on Twitter @CoachLeighton
