Mike Cole begins his first season on the University of Mainebaseball staff. Cole joined the Black Bears in the summer of 2009after serving on the Vermont staff last spring.
"It is great to be reunited with Mike," said Maine head coachSteve Trimper. "I coached him as a player at Vermont. He has a lotof records over there and was one heck of a player. I was fortunateenough to have him in my staff at Manhattan when we really builtthat program up. He stayed on at Manhattan with a team that wonsome games in the NCAA Regionals and recruited some great classes.Once Vermont eliminated their baseball program and he was out of ajob, I was pretty excited to be able to bring him here. He is agreat teacher, motivator, evaluator and recruiter. He is going tohelp out our program immensely."
In 2008, Cole joined the Vermont baseball staff from Manhattan.While with the Catamounts, Cole served as the recruitingcoordinator. He helped lead Vermont to a 14-10 record in AmericaEast play a year ago and a win in the 2009 America EastTournament.
In 2009, the Catamounts set school records for hits, runs, RBI,home runs and doubles in a season.
Cole served as an assistant coach at Manhattan from 2005 to2008. He helped lead the Jaspers to three straight 30-win seasonsand the school's first-ever MAAC Championship in 2006. That seasonManhattan made its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1957. Atthe Lincoln Regional, the Jaspers defeated Nebraska and its aceJoba Chamberlain en route to reaching the regional title game. In2008, the Jaspers went 31-20 to capture a share of the MAAC regularseason crown. As Manhattan's recruiting coordinator, three ofCole's recruits earned Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-Americahonors and the Jaspers recruiting class in 2007 was rated thesecond best in the Northeast Region by Baseball America.
Cole played professionally in Holland in the summer of 2001,before joining Vermont as a part-time assistant coach for threeseasons. He was instrumental in Vermont winning its first-everAmerica East Regular Season Championship in 2003 when it won aschool-record 32 games.
A native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Cole was a four-year starter atshortstop and third base at Vermont from 1998 to 2001. He left asthe program's all-time leader in games played and RBI. He hit .318over his four-year career with 143 RBI in 181 games. Upongraduation, he was the career doubles leader at Vermont. He wastri-captain as a senior when he earned a spot on the America EastAll-Conference Second Team and picked up the Larry Gardner TeamMost Valuable Player Award.
Cole, and his wife, Eliza, are both 2001 University of Vermontgraduates. The couple has a daughter, Payton, who was born inOctober 2009.
