W. Joseph Blood Head Coach of baseball John Yurkow announced the addition of Assistant Coach Will Kaufman to the coaching staff in September of 2016. Kaufman took over the first-base coaching duties while also working primarily with the Quaker outfielders and hitters, completing his third season with the Quakers in 2019.
Â
Under Kaufman’s guidance, the Quakers emerged as one of the nation’s top offensive powerhouses in 2019. Bolstered by a bevy of returning starters as well as a talented incoming class, Penn finished the season ranked within the top five of all Division I programs in many offensive categories. After the conclusion of the College World Series, Penn held the nation’s second-best batting average (.334), ranked second in doubles per game (2.66), and third in triples per game (.54). Practicing increased plate discipline and utilizing increased opportunities in the batting cages, Kaufman and fellow coach, Mike Santello, led Penn to rank third in on-base percentage (.422) and scoring (8.6 runs per game).
Â
Along with his work with the Quakers’ offense, Kaufman solidified Penn’s outfield as one of the most secure in the Ivy League. Starting right fielder Peter Matt was a first-team All-Ivy selection in 2019 after posting a perfect fielding percentage and prevented runners from tagging by providing seven assists—and even turning one double play. Starting center fielder Tommy Courtney also posted a perfect fielding percentage and frequently flashed leather in his 140 putouts.
Following his first season with Penn, Kaufman's efforts working with the outfielders and the batting order have already begun to show dividends, as two of the Quakers' All-Ivy selections hailed from his position group -- Eduardo Malinowski and Peter Matt. The former, a freshman from Spring, Texas, paced the entire conference in both batting average (.347) and total hits (59), earning Ivy League Rookie of the Year and first-team All-Ivy honors for his efforts. Meanwhile, Matt stepped into a starting role in the outfield midway through the season and proceeded to dominate during Ivy play, batting 81 points higher than his general batting average to secure a place on the All-Ivy second-team.
Kaufman joined the Penn baseball program after serving as the hitting and catching coach for the last two seasons at NCAA Division III Arcadia University, during which the Knights compiled a 55-27-1 overall record. He also took over as the assistant recruiting coordinator during his time in Glenside, which included all off-campus recruiting and evaluation of prospective student-athletes.
Arcadia put together arguably its best season in program history in 2017, as the Knights captured their first-ever MAC Commonwealth title with a school-record 33 wins. In addition to setting program records in six offensive categories - including runs per game, hits, batting average and doubles - Arcadia's catching corps also saw a 12% rise in catcher throw-out percentage under Kaufman.
Prior to his time with Arcadia, Kaufman spent the 2015 season as an assistant coach with Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Ala. Kaufman worked with the Panther hitters and catchers, while also assisting with all aspects of recruiting.
Kaufman enters his third season of coaching following a four-year playing career at NCAA Division II California University of Pennsylvania. In addition to serving as team captain for the Vulcans, Kaufman was also a three-time Pennsylvania State Athletics Conference All-Academic selection and holds the school record for career throw-out percentage and caught stealing.
Kaufman earned his bachelor's degree in sport management in 2013 before completing his Master's of Science in sport management from California in 2015. Following the completion of his undergraduate degree, he spent two seasons with the Class-A Advanced Salem the Red Sox of the Carolina League as the assistant groundskeeper and operations assistant.
