Jimmy Brenneman

Two-time ABCA/ATEC NJCAA DIII South Central Region Coach of the Year Jimmy Brenneman joined Purdue Baseball as an assistant coach in July 2025.

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.

Brenneman was a two-year starting outfielder for Greg Goff at Campbell from 2011-12.

"Jimmy is an accomplished professional that played the game with a competitive edge that we work to instill into all our Boilermakers," Goff said. "He knows the way I coach, how I run practices and what is expected on gameday. 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."

Brenneman was the 2024 and 2025 ABCA/ATEC NJCAA DIII South Central Region Coach of the Year honoree, winning the award 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, he helped turn around an NJCAA Division I program that had posted a 3-35 record in 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 coach 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).

At Dallas Richland, Brenneman’s teams were annual 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 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.