Brian Furlong - Baseball Coach - Xavier University Athletics

Brian Furlong

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
furlongb@xavier.edu
Phone:
513.745.2891

Brian Furlong was named the Musketeers' pitching coach in July of 2018. He joined the Xavier staff as an assistant coach after two years as head coach at Heartland Community College.

During his first four season as part of the Musketeers' staff, Furlong helped improve the staff's ERA by nearly two runs against the overall schedule, and by over three runs in BIG EAST play. In 2022, Xavier set a new program record with 482 strikeouts. In 2021, the Musketeers set a program record for strikeouts per nine innings (8.4). Following the season, Nick Zwack was named First Team All-BIG EAST and was drafted in the 17th round by the Mets.

Following an abbreviated 2020 season where the Musketeers finished in the top 25 of the RPI after playing one of the five toughest strengths of schedule in the nation, five Musketeer pitchers were named to the D1 Baseball Top 100 List. Among those included were three freshman, tied for most in country, including Jack Lynch who was named a Freshman All-American.

During his first season with the Xavier program in 2019, Furlong coached a pair of Musketeer pitchers to All-Conference honors, with Conor Grammes being a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team, and Lane Flamm earning All-BIG EAST Second Team honors. Grammes was selected in the fifth round of the 2019 MLB Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

During his two seasons as head coach at Heartland Community College, the Hawks went 85-26 and advanced to the 2018 Region 24 championship game after winning the MWAC Conference Championship. Furlong was named the MWAC Coach of the Year as the 2018 squad recorded the second-best grade point average in program history and finished the season ranked No. 3 in the country.

The Hawks set a program record for fielding percentage in 2018 and had nine players named to the NJCAA All-Academic Team. Heartland also boasted the 2018 National Defensive Player of the Year, MWAC Freshman of the Year and Pitcher of the Year.

In addition, a total of 31 players under Furlong continued to play after completing their Heartland career – with 18 of those moving on to Division I universities.

In 2018, Heartland saw 14 players go to Division I schools – a program record.

Prior to his stint at Heartland, Furlong spent three years at Creighton University where he helped the Bluejays set a program record with a team ERA of 3.15 in the 2016 season. CU led the BIG EAST in team ERA in both 2015 and 2016, while Furlong also tutored five of the top seven ERA leaders in school history.

Overall, Furlong developed some of the top pitchers in CU history, including 10 future professionals and the top four career leaders in winning percentage at the school.

Prior to Creighton, he was the director of baseball operations for the University of Iowa and a managing partner of a Diamond Dreams Sports Academy.

As a pitcher, Furlong played for Iowa State in 2001, Creighton in 2003 and the University of Iowa for the 2004-05 seasons. He was recognized as a Big 12 Conference Scholar Athlete and was named to the academic all-conference team for the Missouri Valley and the Big Ten.

Furlong earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Iowa in 2007 and holds a Masters of Education in Coaching Education and Athlete Development from Xavier.