University of Delaware Athletics
Baseball
- Title:
- Pitching Coach
- Email:
- dsweeney@udel.edu
Dan Sweeney enters his second season as Delaware’s pitching coach after making an immediate impact in his first year. Under his direction, the Blue Hens lowered their team ERA by 0.88 runs, posted the program’s fifth-lowest opponent batting average against in the past 20 years, and recorded the highest recorded average fastball velocity in school history. Ten pitchers made their Division I debuts in 2025, highlighted by Doug Marose becoming the first Blue Hen since 2022 to earn CAA Pitcher of the Week honors.
Sweeney’s player development success has quickly shown at the professional level as well. Right-hander Nate Knowles was drafted in the 4th round of the 2024 MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays, Carter Lovasz went in the 8th round to the Atlanta Braves in 2025, and Cory Wall posted a 3.46 ERA at the Double-A level with Atlanta in 2025.
Before Delaware, Sweeney served as the pitching coach at William & Mary from 2022–2024, where his staffs were consistently among the best in the CAA and nationally ranked across multiple statistical categories. In his first season, he guided the Tribe to lower their ERA from 5.88 to 4.34 (38th in Division I) while reducing WHIP from 1.65 to 1.43. Freshman right-hander Carter Lovasz earned Freshman All-America honors that season. The 2023 staff dropped the ERA further to 4.17 (9th in Division I, 2nd CAA), held opponents to a .252 batting average, and struck out 470 batters—ranking third in program history in strikeouts per nine innings (8.45). In 2024, William & Mary finished with a 4.75 ERA (34th in Division I), 8.75 hits allowed per nine innings (42nd in Division I), and a CAA-best 564 strikeouts (20th nationally). That year, Nate Knowles was named CAA Pitcher of the Year before being selected in the MLB Draft.
Prior to William & Mary, Sweeney coached at his alma mater, East Tennessee State University, serving as Volunteer Assistant in 2021 and Director of Baseball Operations in 2020. He pitched at ETSU under current Florida State Pitching Coach Micah Posey. As a senior in 2019, Sweeney went 6–3 with a 3.23 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 78 innings, finishing his career with a 4.30 ERA.
Dan and his wife, Erin, have a daughter, Wren.
“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to join the University of Delaware and its baseball program. I am fired up to get to work with Coach Mams and the pitching staff”.
