Jad Prachinak (born August 5, 1981) is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach and former

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

, who is the current head baseball coach of the

North Alabama Lions The North Alabama Lions are the athletic teams of the University of North Alabama, located in Florence, Alabama. The Lions are a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and compete within the ASUN Conference. ...

. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

from 2001 to 2004. He served as the head coach of the

West Chester Golden Rams The West Chester Golden Rams represent West Chester University of Pennsylvania, which is located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in intercollegiate sports. They compete in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) in NCAA Division II. Th ...

(2012–2020).

Playing career

Prachniak grew up in

Lincoln, Rhode Island Lincoln is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,529 at the 2020 census. Lincoln is located in northeastern Rhode Island, north of Providence. Lincoln is part of the Providence metropolitan statistical are ...

, where he attended Lincoln High School, where he was a letterwinner for the Lions in baseball. Prachniak would go on to pitch for the

Rams In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

with a 6.04

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

Coaching career

Prachniak began his coaching career immediately following his playing career. He served as a volunteer assistant for Rhode Island as well as the pitching coach for

The Prout School The Prout School is a private, coeducational, college-preparatory high school located in Wakefield, Rhode Island. It is a member of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and is an International Baccalaureate school. It is t ...

, while finishing up his degree in 2005. When Rhode Island head coach,

Frank Leoni Frank Leoni (born November 28, 1968) is an American baseball coach, currently the head baseball coach of the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers. He played college baseball at Rhode Island from 1988–1991. He then served as head coach at William & Ma ...

took the head coaching job at William & Mary, he brought Prachniak with him as the Tribe's pitching coach. On June 30, 2011, Prachniak was named the head coach of the

. Prachniak led the Golden Rams to a National Championship season, in just his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

. The Golden Rams became champions again in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. On December 4, 2020, Prachniak stepped down as the head coach of the Golden Rams to take an assistant coaching position on the

Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens The Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens are the college athletics, athletic teams of the University of Delaware of Newark, Delaware, Newark, Delaware, in the United States. The Blue Hens compete in the Division I-AA#Football Championship Subdivision, Foo ...

staff. On June 23, 2022, Prachniak was named the head coach of the

Head coaching record

References

External links

North Alabama bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prachniak, Jad 1981 births Living people Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens baseball coaches North Alabama Lions baseball coaches Rhode Island Rams baseball players West Chester Golden Rams baseball coaches William & Mary Tribe baseball coaches