JT Weisberg, left, and Jack Briese grew up together playing baseball in Birmingham, Ala.
When Jan Weisberg was the head baseball coach at Transylvania University in 2006, he hired Drew Briese as an assistant coach.
Fast forward 20 years and Weisberg is now the head coach at Eastern Kentucky University where Briese’s son, Jack, is a pitcher. Briese is the head coach at Centre College where Weisberg’s son, JT, is an infielder.
“No way could either one of us ever imagined something like this,” said Briese, who became Centre’s all-time winningest coach this season and has 227 wins going into tonight’s Southern Athletic Conference game with Trinity (Texas). “Having JT the last couple of years has been a blessing. I have known him since he was 3 years old. Our families lived five houses apart for 10 years (in Birmingham, Ala.). Our sons grew up together through eighth grade before we moved to Kentucky.”
Weisberg got the head job at Birmingham-Southern in 2006 and Briese went with him as an assistant coach. He left in 2016 to become the head coach at Centre College. Weisberg had a 544-209-1 record in 17 seasons at Birmingham-Southern and took his team to the NCAA Division III World Series semifinals in 2024 after Birmingham-Southern announced it was closing.
JT considered playing his college basketball for Briese at Centre but opted to stay home to play for his dad.
“Jan called when the school was closing down and it was a no-brainer for me to take JT because he’s a great player, knows how to play and was family,” the Centre coach said.
Jack Briese played at Boyle County High School and went to Trinity but decided to use his extra year playing for Weisberg at EKU.
“Jack was shopping around when Jan called and asked him to come meet with him. They had a great meeting and it was fabulous that Jack was back with Jan this year,” Briese said.
It still has not been easy for the fathers to see their sons play because of conflicting schedules. The Centre coach has seen his son pitch one game for Eastern this season and one other time during the fall exhibition season.
“Jan has been here a few more times because on Saturdays when we have a doubleheader and he has a single game he can get here before our second game ends,” Briese said.
The two head coaches talk two to three times per week — and not just about their sons.
“It’s never more than a couple of days when we don’t check in to see how the boys are doing or talk about game planning. Sometimes we just might be in a bit of a rut and I need his advice,” Briese said.
Jack Briese is 1-2 on the mound in 14 games with four starts at Eastern but “loves” playing for Weisberg.
“He grew up going to camps at Birmingham Southern. Jan was the first coach that Jack really knew and it has been a real pleasure to get to play for him,” the Centre coach said. “Jan is a great baseball mind and a great person who cares about his players.”
JT Weisberg has played in 17 games with 10 starts for Centre this season.
“I don’t really ask him how he likes playing for me but I love having him on the team,” Drew Briese said. “This all has been like a dream. Even a couple of years ago when I knew JT was coming here, I would never have envisioned Jack playing for Jan. That just kind of came out of nowhere but it has worked out great.”
Rachel Briese and Alyssa Weisberg have been able to watch their sons play more than their husbands and even revived a family tradition this year.
“When we all lived in Birmingham neither of us had other family close by. We did Easter together every year. We started that tradition again this year. We went to Eastern and spent Easter with the Weisbergs. I guarantee you I had never thought about that maybe happening again,” the Centre coach said.
Today he’s hoping his Colonels can play their way back into the Division III NCAA Tournament. The Colonels went 32-11, including 12-6 in conference play, last season and won two games in the NCAA Tournament. Today Centre is 25-12 overall, 9-9 in league play going into the three-game weekend series and SAA Tournament play starts May 7 in Rome, Ga.
“It has been a topsy turvy year for us with injuries. We are far from what we thought we would be in terms of our pitching staff and who would be in particular roles,” Briese said. “We had a few hiccups in conference play and did not perform well. We have kind of turned that around the last week or so and hope to keep it going against Trinity.
“We’ve had a couple of weird breaks not go our way. We’ve had some one-run losses we didn’t have last year. Flip a couple of those four one-run losses and it’s a completely different season for us. Hopefully our best baseball is still ahead of us.”
Centre takes a four-game win streak into today’s game against Trinity, the conference co-leader with Rhodes at 13-5.
Wins over Trinity would help Centre’s chances of making the NCAA Tournament again but Briese knows the Colonels likely need to win the SAA Tournament to make the NCAA.
“In tournament play you need pitching depth and I like our depth as much as anybody in the conference. You have got to have an offense that can produce and we have veteran hitters. You have to take care of the baseball and we have a veteran defense that has performed well,” Briese said. “But we probably need to win the tournament to get in (the NCAA). We understand that and our guys will be ready to do what it takes to get that done.”
