ORONO, Maine – University of Maine baseball head coach Nick Derba announced on Monday the addition of two new staff members for the upcoming 2018 season.
On Derba’s staff, John Schiffner has been hired as an assistant coach while Matt Marsh has joined the program as a volunteer assistant coach. This will be Schiffner’s second stint with the Black Bears, as he previously served as a volunteer assistant coach during the 2014-15 season.
Schiffner comes to Orono after 25 years at the helm of the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). Schiffner guided Chatham to two CCBL championships, six East Division titles, 15 playoff appearances and 541 regular season wins before retiring at the end of the 2017 season. From 1978-82, Schiffner served as an assistant for the Chatham Anglers and then worked as a scout with the Montreal Expos from 1983-1988. Schiffner has coached and managed 39 first round draft picks and more than 125 athletes that reached the major leagues, including 2015 National League Rookie of the Year, Kris Bryant. Derba can also count himself amongst Schiffner’s former players.
He also served as head coach of the Plainfield High School from 1978-2011, guiding the team to state tournament appearances in 31 of his 33 years at the helm. In 2001, Schiffner was named American Baseball Coaches Association, District I, Division III National High School Coach of the Year and in 2000, he was honored as the Connecticut High School Baseball Coach of the Year.
Schiffner graduated from Providence College in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies Education before achieving his master’s in Human Relations at Eastern Connecticut State University in 1986. While at Providence College, Schiffner captained the baseball team before playing with the Harwich Mariners in the CCBL.
Marsh was most recently the general manager at Motus Academy, a 16-team player development program based in St. James, N.Y.
While at Motus Academy, Marsh was responsible for managing the recruitment process for players, creating recruitment videos, managing budgets and building schedules for tournaments, league play and practices and oversaw 52 players go on to play collegiately.
Marsh was also the junior varsity head baseball coach at Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, N.Y. in 2016 and 2017, going 30-9 while earning Section XI League I JV Coach of the Year honors and a league title in 2017. He has been coaching travel baseball teams since 2010, with stops at the Long Island Patriots, New York Nationals and Long Island Lookouts and in 2011, Marsh started his own organization, the Longhorns Baseball Club.
Marsh earned his bachelor’s degree in Finance and Information Systems from Loyola University Maryland in 2015, captaining and coaching the club baseball team as a senior.
