Ray Birmingham

Raymond Joseph Birmingham Jr. (born November 14, 1955) is an American college baseball coach who has been the head coach of New Mexico since the start of the 2008 season. Under him, New Mexico has reached five NCAA Tournaments and won seven Mountain West Championships. Previously, he was the head coach at the College of the Southwest and New Mexico Junior College. His coaching career began at Las Cruces (N.M.) Mayfield High School where the Trojans won the Class AAAA state championship in 1981 and had three No. 1 rankings through 1983. Birmingham went to NMJC in the fall of 1983, serving as the public relations officer and assistant to legendary basketball coach Ron Black. The Thunderbird basketball team posted three consecutive 20-win seasons, including the school's first conference championship in 1987, a year in which they were ranked No. 1 in the country for the majority of the season.[1] He has had nearly 150 players go on to play professionally during his coaching career.[1]

Ray Birmingham
Birmingham in 2015.
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamNew Mexico
ConferenceMountain West
Record386–314–4 (.551)
Biographical details
Born (1955-11-14) November 14, 1955
Hobbs, New Mexico
Alma materNew Mexico State University
College of the Southwest
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1981–1983Mayfield HS
1988–1989Southwest
1990–2007NMJC
2008–presentNew Mexico
Head coaching record
Overall386–314–4 (.551) (NCAA)
53–73 (.421) (NAIA)
765–255–2 (.750) (NJCAA)
TournamentsNCAA: 3–10
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
  • NJCAA (2005)
  • 2× NJCAA Region 5 (2005, 2007)
  • 4× MW regular season (2012–2014, 2017)
  • 3× MW Tournament (2011, 2012, 2016)
Awards
  • 7× WJCAC Coach of the Year (1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2005–2007)
  • NJCAA Division I Coach of the Year (2005)
  • 3× MW Coach of the Year (2012, 2013, 2017)

Coaching career

College of the Southwest

Birmingham's college baseball coaching career began in the late 1980s, when he was the head coach at NAIA school College of the Southwest and its new baseball program from 1988 to 1989. There, he had a 53–73 overall record.[1] In 1989, the Mustangs reached No. 23 in the NAIA national rankings, won 33 games and advanced to the regional finals before losing to Dallas Baptist.

New Mexico JC

From 1990 to 2007, Birmingham was the first head baseball coach at New Mexico Junior College (NMJC). He had an overall record of 765–255–2. The program reached two NJCAA World Series during his tenure, winning a national championship in 2005 and finishing second in 2007. He won several Coach of the Year awards: NJCAA Division I in 2005, NJCAA Division I Region 5 in 2005 and 2007, and WJCAC in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007.[1]

Birmingham led NMJC to 17 straight winning seasons, and the Thunderbirds were a gaudy 378–88–2 (.805) from 2000–07. So successful was Birmingham at NMJC that the school held ceremonies on Feb. 2, 2008, to dedicate the newly renovated baseball field that bears his name. Under his leadership, New Mexico Junior College became known for its hitting prowess with six former players leading the country in batting and six teams hitting over .400. The Thunderbirds hit .416 as a team in 2007. The 2005 NMJC national championship team hit .411 during the regular season and .400 in postseason play. In 2001, the Thunderbirds displayed one of the most impressive offensive machines in college baseball history, batting .438 as a team. NMJC led the country in home runs (122) in 1998.[1]

Several of Birmingham's later played in Major League Baseball, including Brendan Donnelly, Armando Almanza, Mike Vento, and David Carpenter.

New Mexico

Ahead of the 2008 season, Birmingham got his first Division I job when he replaced Rich Alday at New Mexico.[2][3][4]

New Mexico had 30-win seasons in 2008 and 2009 and reached its first NCAA Tournament under Birmingham in 2010, when the team went 38–22 and finished second in the Mountain West. The Lobos defeated Stanford in the opening game of the Fullerton Regional, then lost consecutive games to Minnesota and Cal State Fullerton. New Mexico returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016, winning the MWC Tournament in 2011, 2012 and 2016. Birmingham was named the Mountain West Coach of the Year three times (2012, 2013, 2017). During the 2013 season Birmingham earned the 1,000th win of his career when the Lobos defeated the Air Force Falcons 19–5.[5][6][7][8][9]

Known as one of the top hitting coaches in the nation, Birmingham has led the Lobos to seven top-10 national finishes in batting average in 10 seasons at UNM, including an NCAA-best .334 in 2013 and .363 in 2009. He also coached Justin Howard to an NCAA-leading .456 average in 2010 and D.J. Peterson to a .520 on-base percentage in 2012. In 2013 in addition to leading the nation in batting, UNM also ranked first in scoring (8.3 runs per game), on-base percentage (.422), hits (724), slugging (.504) and doubles per game (2.53).[1] In 2016 the Lobos finished 12th in the nation in hitting (.316) and led the country in doubles (150) while also finishing in the top 10 in slugging (.492 – fifth) and on-base percentage (.410 – sixth).

Birmingham worked as the hitting coach for the 2014 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team that won the Honkbal-Haarlem Baseball Week Tournament. He helped guide Albuquerque native and LSU star Alex Bregman to Tournament MVP honors.[1][10]

Between 2008 and 2017, New Mexico has had 32 MLB Draft selections, including future major leaguer Bobby LaFromboise in 2008. The program's highest selection was D. J. Peterson, the 12th overall pick of the first round in 2013. In all, seven Lobos were chosen in the 2013 draft.[11][12]

Hall of Fame

Birmingham has been elected to three Hall of Fames in his career. First, in January, 2011 he was elected to the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame. Then on Nov. 13, 2012, he was elected into the Lea County (N.M.) Hall of Fame not only for his work at both NMJC and College of the Southwest. Most recently Birmingham was inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame on April 3, 2016. He also serves on the College Baseball Hall of Fame selection committee.[1]

Head coaching record

Junior college

Below is a table of Birmingham's head coaching record at the junior college level.[13]

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
NMJC Thunderbirds (Western Junior College Athletic Conference) (1990–2007)
1990 NMJC 22–30
1991 NMJC 42–18
1992 NMJC 40–15
1993 NMJC 48–13
1994 NMJC 42–12
1995 NMJC 48–9
1996 NMJC 34–17
1997 NMJC 38–14
1998 NMJC 40–18
1999 NMJC 33–21
2000 NMJC 41–14
2001 NMJC 44–14
2002 NMJC 43–10
2003 NMJC 43–14
2004 NMJC 47–10
2005 NMJC 55–10NJCAA World Series Champions
2006 NMJC 49–8–1
2007 NMJC 56–8–1NJCAA World Series
NMJC: 765–255–2 (.750)
Total:765–255–2 (.750)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

College

Below is a table of Birmingham's head coaching record at the four-year college level.[1][5][6][14][15]

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Southwest Mustangs (1988–1989)
1988 Southwest 20–40
1989 Southwest 33–33
Southwest: 53–73 (.421)
New Mexico Lobos (Mountain West Conference) (2008–present)
2008 New Mexico 34–2516–8T-2nd
2009 New Mexico 37–2015–82nd
2010 New Mexico 38–2214–82ndNCAA Regional
2011 New Mexico 20–4110–146thNCAA Regional
2012 New Mexico 37–2418–6T–1stNCAA Regional
2013 New Mexico 37–2225–51stNCAA Regional
2014 New Mexico 37–20–120–10T–1st
2015 New Mexico 32–2717–134th
2016 New Mexico 39–2320–102ndNCAA Regional
2017 New Mexico 30–27–119–9–11st
2018 New Mexico 20–33–111–197th
2019 New Mexico 23–28–111–16–17th
2020 New Mexico 14–40–0Season canceled due to COVID-19
New Mexico: 398–316–4 (.557)196–125–2 (.610)
Total:451–389–4 (.537)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References
  1. "Ray Birmingham". GoLobos.com. New Mexico Athletics Communications. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  2. Simpson, Corky (June 9, 2007). "Former Tucson High Star Steps Down as Baseball Coach at UNM". TucsonCitizen.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  3. Korte, Tim (April 11, 2008). "New Mexico Coach Ray Birmingham Has Big Ambitions for Off-the-Radar Program". USAToday.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  4. "How Much Is Birmingham Worth?". Albuquerque Journal. June 15, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  5. "NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Record Book" (PDF). NCAA.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 5, 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  6. "2014 Mountain West Baseball Record Book". Mountain West Conference. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  7. Muench, Matthew (December 10, 2010). "No Matter Position, All Offensive Players Should Strive to Hit for Average". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  8. Rosales, Glen (February 12, 2013). "New Mexico Has Eyes on Omaha". BaseballAmerica.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  9. D'Hippolito, Joseph (May 31, 2013). "ASU Baseball Opens Its NCAA Regional with a Win Over New Mexico". AZCentral.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  10. Wright, Rick (January 4, 2014). "Lobo Coach Honored to Be on USA Staff". ABQJournal.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  11. "MLB Amateur Draft Picks Who Came from University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM)". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  12. Johns, Greg (June 7, 2013). "Mariners Thrilled with Top Pick Peterson's Bat". MLB.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  13. "NJCAA Baseball History and Records" (PDF). NJCAA.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  14. "Honors & Records". Go-Thunderbirds.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  15. "2014 Mountain West Baseball Standings". D1Baseball.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
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