University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Baseball

Scott Forbes is entering his sixth season as the head baseball coach at North Carolina in 2026 after taking over the reins of the program prior to the start ...

Allison Keim joined Carolina as associate director of sports nutrition in September of 2022. She serves as dietitian for women's basketball, baseball, field hockey, gymnastics, men's lacrosse, rowing, men's soccer, men's and women's tennis and wrestling. Keim joined the Tar Heels after working at NC State as their team dietitian. Prior to NC State, Keim worked as a sports nutrition intern with Ohio State football from 2019-21, supporting the Buckeyes' run to consecutive College Football Playoff appearances. She also worked with the Buckeye women's basketball and men's lacrosse teams. Keim earned her M.S in medical dietetics from Ohio State. She also has a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Maryland and earned her B.S. in nutrition and dietetics from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Keim is a registered dietitian through the Commission of Dietetic Registration and a licensed Dietitian Nutritionist through the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition. Originally from Reading, PA, Keim is an avid Philadelphia sports fan and enjoys running, hiking, baking, and being outdoors.

BaseballSkip AdMartorano, BrandonDatres, KyleForbes, ScottGaines, BryantHowell, JasonJackson, ScottMartorano, BrandonWierzbicki, Jesse

Bryant Gaines enters his first season as associate head coach and seventh as pitching coach for the Tar Heels in 2026. Gaines was promoted to associate head coach in August of 2025 after serving as assistant head coach for the previous five years. He also served as recruiting coordinator from 2021-2024. Carolina has won over 65 percent of its games with Gaines manning the dugout as both a player and a coach and has reached the NCAA tournament eight times in that span. In his tenure on the coaching staff, the team has racked up 212 wins, captured a trio of ACC titles, made five NCAA tournament appearances (each year minus covid), and earned a trip to the 2024 College World Series. A four-year letterman and two-time captain for Carolina from 2007-11, Gaines has now spent a total of 16 seasons with the program after previously serving on Hall of Fame head coach Mike Fox’s staff from 2012-15. He has been a part of half of the team’s trips to the College World Series, four as a player and two as an assistant. The 2025 season brought the crown jewel of Gaines' collection as a pitching coach, as he would guide Jake Knapp to National Pitcher of the Year and ACC Pitcher of the Year honors. Coming off of Tommy John surgery that took the entirety of his 2024 campaign, Gaines coached Knapp to an unbelievable comeback in 2025 that saw the big righty go 14-0 (best record in program history and best in the nation in 2025) with a 2.02 ERA. Knapp would go on to earn unanimous All-America hono

Carter Hicks was named director of player and program development at the University of North Carolina during the summer of 2022. Prior to joining the UNC staff, Hicks spent the previous four years with USA Baseball including the last three as its director of operations after being promoted from assistant director of baseball administration. A UNC graduate, Hicks was a student manager for the Tar Heels from 2015-18, serving as head student manager each season. During that span, Carolina reached the NCAA Baseball Championship twice, advancing to the College World Series in 2018. During his stint as director of operations with USA Baseball, Hicks served as the program director for the MLB Draft Combine, the tournament director for the National High School Invitational and coordinator of the National Collegiate Teams program. He served as operations coordinator for silver-medalist Team USA at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Hicks also oversaw the management and execution of the organization's relationship with Trackman, including the scheduling and training of taggers and ensuring a seamless flow of data communication between USA Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, and its 30 clubs. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics from UNC in 2018 and received his MBA from Campbell in 2021.

Daniel Wilkerson joined the UNC baseball program as Assistant to the Head Coach and Clubhouse/Equipment manager during the 2022 fall semester. Wilkerson assists the head coach with the daily operations of the baseball program, including all practice and game day activities, while also managing the entire clubhouse and functioning as a liaison with Nike for all apparel and equipment needs. Prior to joining the UNC staff, Wilkerson briefly served as the Director of Operations at Appalachian State, after coaching with the Cotuit Kettlers in the Cape Cod League. Wilkerson served as graduate assistant manager at East Carolina University for two seasons (2021-22), working alongside the director of operations, director of player development and coaching staff to assist with practices, analytics and administrative duties. He spent two summer seasons as the director of operations for Canes American in Fredericksburg, Va., assisting the coaching staff with all operational aspects of scheduling and travel logistics, and managing the team's equipment needs. A native of Oxford, N.C., Wilkerson was a four-year letterman at Randolph-Macon College. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology at RMC in 2020 before completing his master's degree in kinesiology at ECU two years later.

Dave Arendas, a former All-ACC second baseman at North Carolina, is in his 20th season as director of baseball operations with the Diamond Heels in 2024-25. ...

Dr. Jeni Shannon serves as the Director of the Carolina Athletics Mental Health and Performance Psychology Program (AMP). She is a Counseling and Sport Psychologist within the UNC Department of Sports Medicine, providing performance enhancement and psychological services to UNC student-athletes. After two and a half years in a part-time role, she joined the department full-time in January of 2017. Shannon meets with individual student-athletes on a one-on-one basis and also works with teams to offer comprehensive and integrated mental health and performance psychology support. Additionally, she collaborates with other Athletic Department staffers to educate student-athletes on a range of topics related to mental health, well-being and optimal performance. A native of Phoenix, Ariz., Shannon earned her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Arizona. She earned both a master’s and a doctorate in counseling psychology with an emphasis in sport psychology at the University of Missouri. She also completed a pre-doctoral internship and a post-doctoral fellowship, both with a specialty in sport psychology, at the University of California, Davis. Prior to coming to UNC, Shannon worked as a Counseling and Sport Psychologist at Regis University in Denver, where she also maintained a private practice. She is a licensed psychologist, a Certified Consultant with AASP and a member of the USOC Sport Psychology Registry. She also serves on the advisory board for the Collegia

Greg Gatz is in his 19th year as Director of Strength and Conditioning for Olympic Sports. While overseeing the facility management and organization of 21 varsity athletic teams, Gatz is directly in charge of program design and installation for several specific teams including baseball, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, and track (sprinters/ hurdlers). Gatz has worked with several national champion teams at Carolina including: women's soccer (1999, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012), men's soccer (2001 and 2011), a volleyball team that finished with one of its highest national ranking ever (No. 7) in 2014 as well as the baseball team's six recent appearances in the College World Series (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013). Prior to the University of North Carolina, Gatz spent 11 years as a high school physical education teacher and coach in the Orlando, Fla., area. A 1983 graduate of Ithaca (N.Y.) College, Gatz competed in football and track while receiving a degree in physical education. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Jason Howell is in his seventh season, fifth consecutive, as a member of the coaching staff at UNC and his second as Director of Pitching Performance, Development and Analytics after joining the Tar Heel coaching staff as a volunteer assistant coach. Howell, who served as a graduate assistant coach with the Tar Heels in 2006 and 2007, returned to Carolina in the fall of 2020 after serving as the Area Scouting Supervisor of the Mid-Atlantic Region (N.C., Va., D.C., Md. and Del.) for the Chicago White Sox organization. He spent his first three seasons in Chapel Hill instructing the outfielders and coaching first base, before assuming his new role during the summer of 2023. Howell is instrumental in leading the program's enhancement and use of pitching-specific technologies, including Trackman and Edgertronic, and in implementing the Newtforce mound, which provides access to cutting-edge ground force data capture abilities. In his first season as Director of Pitching Performance and Development, the Tar Heels reached the College World Series for the 12th time in program history and captured their eighth ACC Coastal Division title. Matthew Matthijs and Dalton Pence earned All-America accolades and Jason DeCaro was named Freshman All-America. Junior Shea Sprague and DeCaro were both named Second Team All-ACC while Matthijs and Pence received third-team all-conference honors. Sprague ranked among the top-6 in the conference in fewest walks per nine innings (2nd), strikeout-to-walk

Jesse Wierzbicki returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach in the fall of 2016 and is going into his 12th overall season, 10th consecutive, as a member of the Carolina coaching staff in 2025. Wierzbicki works with the Tar Heel hitters, catchers and infielders on defense and defensive positioning. He also coordinates the analytics team by applying data to player development and prepares scouting reports on upcoming opponents. He's coached several Tar Heel standouts, including MLB First Round Draft picks Michael Busch, Vance Honeycutt and Aaron Sabato, along with All-America players Kyle Datres, Parks Harber, Mac Horvath, Brian Miller and Logan Warmoth. He has tutored 23 All-ACC position players and 24 Major League Baseball Draft picks. With Wierzbicki on staff, UNC has been to the College World Series twice (2018, 2024) and has won two ACC Coastal Division championships (2017, 2024), three ACC Tournament titles (2019, 2022, 2025), and played in five Super Regionals (2018, 2019, 2022, 2024, 2025). Over the last eight seasons (2017-25), the Tar Heels are 353-165 overall and 149-97 in ACC regular season play. Under his direction, the Tar Heels set school records for home runs (115) and RBIs (502) while posting the program's second-highest slugging percentage (.524) and total runs scored (541) and registering its fifth-highest on-base percentage (.405) in 2024. Since taking over as the primary hitting coach in 2021, Wierzbicki has helped produce two of the top three home ru

Kate Douglas serves as the administrative assistant for the Carolina baseball program, handling the team's Diamond Heels Club operations, recruiting coordination, and financial management. She joined the Diamond Heels' staff in February of 2025 after moving to Chapel Hill from Florida where she served as a ticket sales rep for the Tampa Bay Rays, where she focused on season memberships and premium sales. She graduated from Georgia in 2023 with a bachelor's in sports management and a minor in business. In her time as a Bulldog, she spent two years working with the football program as a recruiting specialist. Those two seasons saw the team win two national championships and bring in recruiting classes ranked second and third in the country respectively. Douglas is a native of Albany, Georgia.

BaseballSkip AdDatres, KyleDatres, KyleForbes, ScottGaines, BryantHowell, JasonJackson, ScottMartorano, BrandonWierzbicki, Jesse

Scott Jackson is going into his second season since returning to North Carolina as assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator in July 2024 after spending eight seasons as the head coach at Liberty University from 2016 to 2024. The 2026 campaign will be Jackson's 10th overall season as an assistant coach with the Tar Heels. He was part of the coaching staff from 2009-2015 before leaving to take the head job at Liberty. Jackson posted a career record of 246-181 in eight years at Liberty and guided the Flames to five 30-plus win seasons, including a pair of 40-win campaigns. His 246 career wins and .576 winning percentage ranks third in program history among the program's seven head coaches. Jackson was the first coach in program history to lead the Flames to three NCAA Regional appearances (2019, 2021 and 2022), including a pair of at-large selections in 2021 and 2022. The Flames won a program-record 43 games in 2019 and captured their first ASUN Championship to secure the conference’s NCAA automatic bid to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. After the season, he was named the ASUN Coach of the Year and the VaSID Coach of the Year Under his tutelage, Liberty had 15 players selected in the MLB Draft and 16 go on to the professional ranks during the last eight years. More than a dozen players received first-team all-conference honors and six were selected All-America. During his first eight seasons in Chapel Hill, Jackson helped North Carolina post a

Terri Jo Rucinski has been the staff athletic trainer for the baseball team since the fall of 2005. In addition to her athletic training duties, Rucinski is ...