Jacksonville University Baseball

Chris Hayes enters his tenth year as the head coach of Jacksonville University baseball in 2026. Through his first nine seasons at the helm of his alma mater, Hayes has led the Dolphins to over 250 wins, an ASUN Tournament Championship, two NCAA Regional appearances, and a regular-season ASUN Championship. Under his guidance, JU has produced numerous All-ASUN selections, Academic All-ASUN honorees, multiple Freshman All-ASUN picks, national award winners, weekly conference award recipients, and several MLB Draft selections and professional signees. The Dolphins have also collected more than a dozen victories over ranked opponents during his tenure, including wins over top-10 foes Florida, Miami, and Florida State. Hayes became just the fifth head coach in program history to surpass the 150-win mark, continuing to elevate Jacksonville Baseball on the conference and national stage. 2025 Hayes was a four-year starter at Jacksonville from 1992-95, was drafted on two occasions by MLB organizations (1994, Seattle; 1995, Toronto) and twice earned All-Sun Belt Conference honors. He also picked up all-regional accolades as a junior. Hayes led the Dolphins to consecutive NCAA Regional appearances (1994, 1995) and ranks among the all-time Jacksonville leaders in RBI (176), at-bats (802), hits (271), doubles (53) and total bases (402). Before launching his coaching career, Hayes spent five seasons (1995-2000) with the Toronto Blue Jays organization after being drafted in the 28th round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. He played every infield and outfield position in five seasons with the Blue Jays’ minor league system finishing with a .276 career batting average. Over the course of his career, Hayes made stops in St. Catherines, Ontario; Hagerstown, Md.; Dunedin, Fla.; and Knoxville, Tenn. while in the minors. A native of Jacksonville, Hayes earned his bachelor’s degree from the University in finance in 1995 and his MBA in 2007.

Former Dolphin, Casey Kulina, joined JU for his first season as pitching coach in 2025. He spent the previous two seasons as pitching coach at the University of

Colby Bortles joined the Jacksonville University baseball staff as an assistant coach in August 2023. He has overseen recruiting efforts and worked with the hitters

Brown, a four-year letterman and all-conference performer at East Carolina University from 2016-19, was instrumental in the Pirates' success during his collegiate career. He contributed to 161 wins (56 in league play), three NCAA Regional berths (two as a national seed), and two Super Regional appearances. Brown was also a key part of one of the most productive squads in program history—the 2019 team—which achieved a program second-best 47 wins. That squad ranked in the Top 10 across nine statistical categories, including total sacrifices (1st/96), hit by pitches (1st/80), walks (5th/279), RBI (7th/402), runs (8th/435), doubles (t-8th/112), hits (9th/642), total bases (9th/983), and home runs (t-9th/71). ECU also claimed a league-best 20 conference wins en route to the American Athletic Conference regular-season title and a No. 10 National Seed. At the close of his career, he stood among the all-time leaders (Top 10) in sacrifices (first/56), starts (second/231), assists (605/third), hit by pitches (36/third), games played (235/sixth) and at-bats (803/ninth). Brown hit at a .269 clip, belted 12 home runs, drove in 126 and scored 127 times. Brown was a 19th round selection to the Colorado Rockies in the 2019 MLB draft. Recently Brown served as the Head Baseball Coach for his high school alma mater Whiteville High School. During his three seasons with the Wolfpack Brown led his team to a 60-17 overall record with a State Championship appearance in 2022 and a Regional Final appearance in 2024. A three-time AAC All-Academic Team selection (2016, 2018-19) and six-time ECU Director of Athletics Honor Roll member, Brown earned his undergraduate degree in criminal justice (spring 2019) and his master’s degree in physical education from UNCP (spring 2022). Brown comes to Jacksonville with his wife Kaitlyn and son Asher. During his first season under the guide of the baserunners, the team finished with 105 stolen bases, good for 7th all time in program history. The Dolphins look to continue that mark in the 2026 season.