Brenneman, Fascia Join Coaching Staff at Alexander

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue Baseball head coach Greg Goff has announced the hiring of Jimmy Brenneman and Zac Fascia, completing the Boilermakers’ coaching staff for the upcoming 2025-26 school year with the addition of two of Goff’s former players.

Brenneman joins the program as an assistant coach. He was a two-year starting outfielder for Goff at Campbell from 2011-12. A Purdue alumnus, Fascia returns to campus as the program operations and analytics coordinator. Fascia was a three-year starting catcher for the Boilermakers from 2019-21.

Brenneman comes to West Lafayette after three seasons as the head coach at Dallas College-Richland, leading DCR to a pair of third-place finishes at the NJCAA Division III World Series (2024 and 2025). He will take over as Purdue’s lead instructor for outfield defense while also assisting with hitting and baserunning.

Fascia spent four seasons in the Cleveland Guardians organization from 2021-24, reaching the Triple-A level while suiting up for the Columbus Clippers in 2022 and 2024. He had been serving as a coach with PRP Baseball in Noblesville since his professional career ended.

“I’m thrilled to complete our coaching staff with two of my former players, Jimmy and Zac,” Goff said. “Both are accomplished professionals that played the game with a competitive edge that we work to instill into all our Boilermakers. They know the way I coach, how I run practices and what is expected on gameday. They’re a natural fit to enhance our program – how we compete on the field, excel in the classroom and interact with the community.

“Jimmy stole 30 bases for our first 40-win team at Campbell and led the nation in hit by pitch as a junior. I loved the way he played the game with toughness and passion. Jimmy enjoyed a lot of success coaching at the junior college level, serving as a head coach since the fall of 2020. He certainly earned this opportunity to coach alongside us in the Big Ten. Zac was a leader for us as a three-year starter at catcher and was behind the plate in my first game as head coach at Purdue. He, too, brings toughness, leadership and high baseball IQ, which has been reinforced through his recent experiences in professional baseball with the Cleveland Guardians organization.”

Brenneman and Fascia complete a coaching staff that also includes returning assistant coaches Josh Newman and Barrett Serrato along with director of player development John Madia and strength & conditioning coach Tony Webb.

MORE ABOUT JIMMY BRENNEMAN
Brenneman was a two-time ABCA/ATEC NJCAA DIII South Central Region Coach of the Year honoree, winning the award in 2024 and 2025 as the leader of the NJCAA World Series teams at Dallas-Richland. The Thunderducks won the NJCAA DIII South Central District Tournament both years and went on to win multiple games at the NJCAA World Series in Auburn, New York.

Brenneman was also the head coach at Frontier Community College in Fairfield, Illinois, in 2021 and 2022. He compiled a 176-120 record over his five seasons as a head coach. Dallas-Richland was 117-66 under Brenneman, headlined by a 42-win season in which DCR earned the No. 2 seed at the NJCAA World Series. The Thunderducks won 20 conference games all three years and were also ranked as high as No. 8 nationally during his first season in 2023.

During his six seasons at Frontier, Brenneman helped turn around an NJCAA Division I program that had posted a 3-35 record the season before he arrived. After four years as an assistant and recruiting coordinator, he was elevated to head coach at Frontier in the fall of 2020. That spring, he led Frontier to a school-record 36 victories, punctuating the biggest turnaround in all of NJCAA DI Baseball over that span.

Brenneman’s coaching career began with two seasons (2015-16) as an assistant at Clarendon College in Texas. As the hitting, outfield and baserunning coach, he mentored a lineup that batted .362 (9th nationally in NJCAA DI) and stole 126 bases (13th nationally) in 2016.

At Dallas Richland, Brenneman’s teams were annually top 10 nationally in eight or more offensive categories.

Brenneman transferred to Campbell in the fall of 2010 after batting .446 as an All-Region 24 performer during his sophomore season at Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Illinois. As a two-year starter for Goff at Campbell, he compiled a .480 on-base percentage across 366 at-bats. He posted a .323/.493/.456 slash line in 2011 and had more walks than strikeouts while stealing 30 bases in 2012. Over his two years at Campbell, the on-base machine registered 126 free passes (68 walks, 58 HBP) vs. 68 strikeouts.

Campbell’s 2012 team won a program-record 41 games and finished second to Costal Carolina in its inaugural season in the Big South Conference. It was the first of three consecutive 40-win seasons.

Brenneman played professionally in the Pecos League in 2013. He also won an Ohio Division I state championship as a junior at Lakota West High School in the Cincinnati area.

Brenneman and his wife, Diana, are the parents of two children – Evelynn and Braxton.

MORE ABOUT ZAC FASCIA
In his return to Purdue, Fascia will take the lead on organizing team activities, travel arrangements and meals while also assisting at practices and youth camps. He will also spearhead the program’s use of analytics and data analysis for the benefit of the players and staff. The operations lead serves as the liaison between the baseball program and support staff throughout the department as well.

Fascia was selected in the 2018 MLB Draft by the New York Mets after two years as a starter at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa. He opted not to sign and enroll at Purdue, playing in 107 games for the Boilermakers from 2019-21. He made 79 of his 102 starts behind the plate and threw out 33 base stealers. He also played first base.

Fascia went on to play in 128 games during his time in Minor League Baseball, catching 570 innings. As well as the Columbus Clippers (International League), he also played for the Lake County Captains (Midwest League) and Lynchburg Hillcats (Carolina League) in the Guardians system.

Fascia graduated from Purdue in 2021 and married fellow Purdue alum Chloe Dobson in 2024. With PRP Baseball in Noblesville, he worked under former Toronto Blue Jays rehab pitching coach Greg Vogt and served as the PRP Mambas 15U head coach.

Fascia was on the Buster Posey Award watch list (nation’s top catcher) all three seasons at Purdue. He was the team’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2019 and Mr. Boilermaker Award (positive attitude) recipient in 2021. Fascia was the Boilermakers’ opening day catcher all three seasons, with Goff transitioning from assistant coach (2019) to head coach (2020-present) during his Purdue career.

At the plate as a Boilermaker, Fascia racked up 20 doubles and 30 extra-base hits in 388 at-bats, seeing action in 97% of Purdue’s games. He was the only Boilermaker to play in every game of both the 2019 and 2020 campaigns. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were both abbreviated (56 games combined) by the coronavirus pandemic.