Drew University Athletics

After serving as the Rangers' head baseball coach for seven years, Brian Hirschberg returns to Drew in his new role as Assistant Athletics Director for Advancement and Operations starting in 2020-21. 

Hirschberg brings prior experience as an administrator, as he also worked as an assistant athletic director during his time at the Forest. In his role as assistant AD, he was responsible for supervising all winter sport athletic programs and coaches. He also worked with coaches on a daily basis to resolve budgetary, compliance, athletic facility, and general student-athlete-related issues. In addition, he represented the athletics department on Drew University’s Title IX committee. 

After leaving Drew, Hirschberg served as a physical education teacher at North Star Academy Charter School of Newark from 2018-2020. Among his duties included developing and and enhancing the PE curriculum based on the learning strategies and objectives of the Uncommon School network. He also served as the primary point of communication for concerns from social workers, the Dean of Students, school leaders, and grade-level teachers.

Hirschberg became the 13th coach in Drew's storied baseball history after three years as an assistant coach at Lehigh University. In just his first season in the spring of 2012, Hirschberg and the Rangers produced the fifth 20-win season in school history, the program’s second conference championship and the team's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
The Rangers made their first Landmark Conference postseason as the fourth seed after a school-record nine conference wins. Drew captured wins over the top two seeds in the first two days of the Landmark Tournament and claimed its first Landmark crown on a walk-off home run by Tom Murray in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Hirschberg garnered Landmark Conference Coach of the Year honors as well as the New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association co-Coach of the Year award in 2012. The Rangers landed three players on the league’s all-conference team for the first time since 2006. 

For his career, Hirschberg coached a total of 12 Landmark All-Conference players, five NJCBA All-Rookie selections and two ECAC All-Star First Team honorees.

As the Mountain Hawks hitting coach and recruiting coordinator, Lehigh led the Patriot League in 2011 in hitting with a team batting average of .292 and a league-low 256 strikeouts. In the two seasons prior, the Mountain Hawks posted back-to-back 20-win seasons and earned a Patriot League playoff appearance in 2010.

Prior to Lehigh, Hirschberg spent two seasons as an assistant at Penn State Behrend where he earned his Masters of Business Administration. The Lions posted a 61-24 record, won a pair of Allegheny Mountain Conference championships, and made back-to-back NCAA Division III tournament appearances in his tenure. In Hirschberg's first season, Behrend led the AMCC with 326 runs scored and finished second in the league with a .336  batting average.

In college, Hirschberg played right field for the Bucknell Bison, where he led the team in several offensive categories, including home runs, triples, and runs batted in. He was an All-Patriot League selection his junior year after leading the team with six home runs and 27 RBIs. The Bison went on to win the Patriot League crown and earn an NCAA Tournament bid in 2003. He returned his senior year and batted .305 with four home runs and 17 RBIs.

While at NCAA Regionals in 2003 Hirschberg hit one of the farthest home runs in UFCU Disch-Falk Stadium the home of the University of Texas. In a 10-7 loss to Arkansas Hirschberg hit a home run over the famed "Monster", becoming one of 27 players at the time to ever accomplish the feat.

A New Jersey native, Hirschberg helped Glen Rock High School win the Group 1 State Championship in 1999, when he was an All-State catcher. He returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach in 2005 coach before moving on to coach in the college ranks in 2006.