Lee Today

Barry University Athletics issued the following announcement on Sept. 7.

The Barry baseball program has two new staff members for the 2022 season, director of athletics Michael L. Covone announced today.

DJ Price has been promoted from volunteer to full-time head coach of the junior varsity baseball program and will also assist with the varsity team. Brett Young has been hired as the assistant coach, replacing Eric Hutting.

Price, who joined the baseball staff as a volunteer assistant coach in the spring of 2021, now will lead the JV Bucs. Originally from Bronx, N.Y., he graduated and played baseball for Fordham Preparatory School and Iona College. After college, he traveled across the world, playing professionally and coaching in the Greater Brisbane Baseball League in Australia for the Toowoomba Rangers.

Price most recently spent five years as an assistant coach at Lehman College in the Bronx, where he was the outfield/hitting coach and third base coach. In his first year of coaching the Lightning, they led the country in NCAA Division III baseball in home runs per game (1.14). For the past two summers, he has served as the head coach in the Collegiate League of the Palm Beaches with the Palm Beach Snowbirds. He also put together several tournament-winning teams while producing hundreds of college-bound student-athletes at the Highlander Training Academy in New York. As the head of baseball/softball training at the HTA, he created many drills and exercises to address speed, agility, and quickness as well as strength and endurance specifically for baseball and softball.

Price has been in and around the strength and conditioning industry for almost 20 years as a master trainer for the National Sports Performance Association and holds certifications as a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT), Performance Enhancement Specialist (PES) and Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES) with the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He is also a certified USA Weightlifting Coach and uses several other modes, including TRX and kettlebell training, to keep his athletes in shape.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Iona in marketing in 2008.

Young comes from Rowan after serving as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator last season. Previously he spent five years as the head coach at Paul VI High School, guiding a squad that was ranked in the Top 5 in South Jersey and Top 20 in the state.

He began his coaching career in 2006 at his alma mater, Haddon Township High School, where he had two stints for a total of three years (2006-08, 2010). During his time at both schools, he saw 28 of his players move on to play collegiate baseball and had one player ­– Will Gambino of Paul VI (Mariners – 35th round) – chosen in the MLB Draft.

He started his collegiate career coaching at as an assistant coach Oklahoma Panhandle State University in 2012 and then recently held the same position for one season at Widener University.

Young, a first baseman and outfielder, played at James Madison University, Gloucester County College (RCSJ-Gloucester) and the University of Delaware. He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 2002 before an injury cut short his professional playing career.

In 2017, he was inducted into the Haddon Township Athletic Hall of Fame for his playing career in both basketball and baseball.

He graduated from Oklahoma Panhandle State in 2013 with a degree in physical education and received his master's in secondary education from the University of Phoenix in 2020.

Original source can be found here.