Briand finds a new home after Anna Maria's closing

It was a somber scene on May 7 when the Anna Maria baseball team played the final athletics contest in the college’s history, but amidst the emotion, the AmCats, as they did all season, stuck together even as they charted separate futures. Dan Briand, who coached AMC for nine years, supported his underclassmen as they sought new schools and he began a job search. On Aug. 10, Briand, who is from Northbridge, started his new position as baseball coach and assistant athletic director at Northern Essex Community College, a top National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) program. “It’s awesome,” Briand said in a phone interview from NECC’s campus in Haverhill. “Everyone here is awesome and everyone is in alignment. The expectation is to win. It’s been a great first week.” This season, Briand became just the fourth coach in Anna Maria history (all sports) to reach 150 career victories, and he finished as the baseball program’s all-time wins (163) leader. In 2018, Briand took over as AMC’s coach. Prior to his arrival, the AmCats had not won more than nine games in any of the four previous seasons and hadn’t finished above .500 since 2012. With rosters that featured Central Mass. talent, Briand guided AMC to GNAC championship appearances in 2021 and 2023, and this year, Anna Maria’s first in the MASCAC, the AmCats set a regular-season record for wins with 25. AMC lost to Westfield State in the first round of the MASCAC tournament. In April, Anna Maria announced it was closing at the end of the semester due to declining enrollment and financial struggles. Briand, who interviewed for positions in Florida and other out-of-area locations, was hoping to remain in New England. The Northern Essex CC position opened earlier this summer when longtime coach Jeffrey Mejia was hired at Merrimack. “I thought this would be great opportunity,” Briand said. Briand takes over a highly successful program. During Mejia’s tenure, the Knights were nationally ranked 13 times, made 11 regional championship appearances, and advanced to the NJCAA World Series 10 times. “There are a lot of expectations here,” Briand said. “We expect to win the conference and regional and be in World Series, and we’re going to try to go win a national championship.” Briand was previously an assistant at Becker (his alma mater), Roger Williams and Fitchburg State. “We had a highly competitive applicant pool and Dan quickly rose to the top,” Northern Essex director of athletics Dan Blair said. “He brings great experience with him as a collegiate head coach, and I have no doubt he will continue our tradition of success. He came highly recommended and everyone I spoke to raved about how much his players enjoy playing for him.” In his role as assistant AD, Briand will oversee work study and help with administration in the athletic department. At Anna Maria, Briand served as equipment manager, student employee supervisor and event manager for football and hockey games. –Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @JenTolandTG. This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Briand finds a new home after Anna Maria's closing