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Head Coach Jay Messina
Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. '77
First season

Jay Messina takes over as head coach of the Cougar baseball program after serving five seasons as an assistant coach at Caldwell College. An excellent teacher of the game, Messina has played a major role in the Cougars’ success, especially at the plate. Since his arrival, the Cougars have batted over .300 as a team in three out of five years while leading the CACC in batting twice, in 2005 and 2007. Also, under Messina’s tutelage, Hasani Whitfield was named the CACC Player of the Year in 2005 and Adric Saxon led the nation in runs batted in per game in 2007. The Cougars' success at the plate has led to a pair of CACC titles and three appearances in the NCAA Northeast Region Tournament during Messina tenure as an assistant.

Messina joined the Cougars in 2004 after serving as head baseball coach at Essex Catholic High School for seven years until the school closed in 2003. He also has been involved in coaching Little League and American Legion baseball for 22 years. Last year, Messina opened Ron’s Baseball Academy in Passaic, N.J., where he provides instruction for youth baseball players.

Messina graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1977 with a degree in accounting. In addition to his coaching responsibilities with the Cougars, Messina works as a certified public accountant in Bloomfield, N.J. He currently lives in Belleville, N.J.