Jim Koerner joined USA Baseball as the Director of Player Development in 2021. In that role, he is responsible for developing on-field programming for USA Baseball’s six national teams and three national team development programs. He will also produce curriculums related to player development for USABDevelops.com, the organization’s free online educational resource center.
Koerner runs the 13U/14U Athlete Development Program (ADP) and 16U/17U National Team Development Program (NTDP), a role he assumed in January 2023. The ADP and NTDP both serve as identification events for national team programming, while also providing the nation’s top athletes an opportunity to connect with USA Baseball coaches, task force and national team staff to better prepare for a future national team experience. Participants take part in skill development sessions, off-field educational seminars, and a series of intrasquad games to assist in the development of the athletes as both a player and a person.
Additionally, Koerner helps run the Prospect Development Pipeline (PDP) Premier Winter Camps in the offseason, which give the top players in the nation the chance to continue within USA Baseball programming while learning from the best coaches in the nation. Koerner has coached over a dozen Major League Baseball Players between his collegiate coaching career and with USA Baseball.
Koerner was the head coach at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) from 2011-21. As just the second head coach in the program’s modern-day history, Koerner took NCCU baseball to new heights in his 10 years at the helm, culminating with a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Southern Division Championship, and MEAC Coach of the Year recognition during the 2021 season. Under his guidance, the Eagles set the school record for wins twice, in 2013 (27) and again in 2018 (28). He also coached seven MLB Draft picks or free agent signees with NCCU, including MLB pitcher Devin Sweet (Mariners & Athletics), 12th round selection Corey Joyce, 28th round selection Andrew Vernon, and Austin Vernon, who became the highest player drafted in program history when he was taken in the 10th round by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2021. Koerner helped lead NCCU’s transition to the NCAA Division I level in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference during the 2011-2012 season and has since coached 39 All-MEAC selections, including the 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2021 MEAC Rookies of the Year, the 2018 and 2019 MEAC Players of the Year, and the 2021 MEAC Pitcher of the Year.
Before his time at NCCU, Koerner was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Buffalo from 2007-2011, helping the Bulls reach their best offensive performances in program history in 2009 and 2010. The team recorded an all-time high in wins since 1999 during the 2009 season and set the records for team batting average (.312), home runs (46) and stolen bases (71) in 2010. In those two seasons combined, the Bulls broke over 25 season, career, team, and individual records.
He began his coaching career in 2001 as the head coach at Medaille College, where he helped found the program and was named the 2003 North Eastern Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. In 2004, he moved to the Division I ranks as an assistant coach at Monmouth University before taking the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator role at Marshall University from 2005-2006. During that time, Marshall ranked highly among NCAA teams in most offensive categories and Koerner helped Adam Frederick break the program’s all-time hits record (250) while also recruiting and signing several of the Top 100 rated players in the Northeast.
Koerner received his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1997 from St. John Fisher College (N.Y.) and a master’s degree in athletic administration from Marshall University.
Koerner currently resides in Durham, N.C., with his wife, Kylie, and two children, Sam and Elizabeth
