Blake Bean was hired on as an assistant coach prior to the 2026 season. This promotion followed a year a volunteer assistant in 2025. He coaches outfield and assists in hitting instruction and recruiting.
In Bean's lone year as a volunteer assistant coach the Bears made program history, advancing to the NCAA DII Championship series for the first time ever, coming up one game shy of a national championship game appearance. He was a part of coaching the most potent offense in Division II history, as they were top-ten in the country in 11 different categories. The Bears hit an NCAA DII record 137 home runs and Mackenzie Wainwright broke the NCAA DII record with 121 hits.
Bean played professionally, following his collegiate career, in the United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL) for the Birmingham Bloomfield Beavers in 2024. He earned All-Star honors and contributed to the team’s championship-winning season.
An accomplished collegiate player in his own right, Bean played two seasons at Lenoir-Rhyne following an impressive four-year career at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. While with the Bears he was a two-time All-SAC performer and sits in Lenoir-Rhyne's career top-ten in four different categories. At Kalamazoo, Bean was a 2022 D2Baseball.com All-American Third-Team honoree, setting multiple single-season school records, including runs (59) and doubles (18). He led the Hornets to their first NCAA Tournament victory during that same 2022 season.
Bean is originally from Farmington Hills, Michigan, and now resides in Hickory.
