Vassar College Director of Athletics and Physical Education Michelle Walsh has announced the hiring of Tad Skelley as the new Head Baseball Coach in July 2024. Skelley will join the Brewers following a two-year stint as the Head Coach at Gordon College.
Vassar finished the 2026 campaign with a 13-20 overall record, including a strong 7-7 record against conference foes, as Skelley led a young Brewers squad to a strong close to the season with four series victories in its final five of the season. The Brewers returned to the Liberty League Crossover Series for the fourth consecutive campaign while Skelley saw three Brewers earn All-Liberty League selections. Senior Jensen Bergman rewrote the record book for triples in a season with 18 and set multiple new single season records on his way to earning All-Conference First Team honors. Skelley also helped mentor All-Liberty League Second Team selection Will Darrell and All-Liberty League Third Team selection Addison Lee as both pitchers crossed the 100 career strikeout milestone during the 2026 season, becoming the first duo to accomplish that since 2017.Â
In Skelley's first season at the helm of the Brewers, Skelley guided Vassar back to the Liberty League Crossover Series for the third straight season and earned 14 wins on the season, including five Liberty League wins. Skelley also mentored All-Liberty League Third Team selection Jensen Bergman and saw 22 student-athletes earn Liberty League All-Academic team honors and seniors Daniel Laderman, Bradley Markind, Marc Milano and Ricardo Reyna earn College Sports Communicators Academic All-District accolades.
"We're very excited that Tad accepted our offer to serve as the next head coach for our baseball program", said Walsh. "Throughout the interview process, Tad demonstrated a clear commitment to taking our program to the next level competitively while also working to build upon a strong and inclusive team culture aligned with team, department, and college values. Tad's focus on player development along with his emphasis on serving as a positive role model for our student-athletes both on and off the field distinguished him among a deep pool of candidates and I'm looking forward to the future of the program under his leadership.
Skelley was hired as the Gordon Head Coach in June of 2022 and led the Scots to an appearance in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament in his first season. During his tenure, Skelley mentored two All-CCC First Team recipients along with two All-Region honorees. He also saw three College Sport Communicators Academic All-District selections and 13 named to the CCC All-Academic team.
"I am honored to be entrusted with the Vassar Baseball program; I want to thank Michelle Walsh, Matt Brennie, the search committee and the entire leadership team in the Vassar Athletics Department", said Skelley. "Vassar is undoubtedly one of the premier academic institutions in the country, and I am beyond excited to build a championship culture both on and off the field."
Prior to his time at Gordon, Skelley was the lead assistant at Colby from 2018-22 where he helped transform the Mules from a 7-25 regular season squad to a 24-13 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Tournament post-season contender for the first time in program history. At the conclusion of the 2022 regular season, Colby set a program record for overall wins and most conference wins in program history.
Over the course of his tenure at Colby, seven student-athletes were named to the NESCAC All-Conference Team. Skelley also oversaw an offense that set program records for slugging percentage, on base percentage, on base plus slugging (OPS), runs per game, extra base hits per game, and home runs per game amongst others.
Skelley was also an amateur scout and Southeast video coordinator for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2018 where he assisted the director of scouting as well as the front office with preparation for the Major League Baseball draft. Skelley was tasked with creating scouting reports on amateur, professional, and international players.
In the summer of 2017, Skelley was the head coach for the Brockton Rox, supervising all aspects of managing a competitive summer collegiate baseball organization. Skelley was responsible for selecting and signing all players to the active roster.
Skelley spent three years from 2015-18 as the assistant coach and camp coordinator at Northwestern University where he developed two MLB draft picks. In 2013, he was appointed as the Director of Baseball Operations at the University of Notre Dame where he coordinated all team travel, assisted with on-campus recruiting, and oversaw and directed all team video operations.
A 2011 graduate of Wheaton College (Mass.) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, Skelley captained his team during his senior season and helped Wheaton to a 130-44 record in his four years. During his career, Wheaton won three conference and tournament championships. In 2017, Skelley also earned a Wildcat Initiative for Leadership Development certificate from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and is currently completing his master's degree in business administration from Thomas College.
