Chris Bessey

Bio:

Chris Bessey has been the University of Maine at Farmington’s Head Baseball Coach since 2008.

Under Bessy, the UMF Beavers have shown steady improvement. In 2016 UMF won 23 games overall and 15 conference games both all-time school records. In 2015 the Beavers won 17 games, the second-most wins in program history. In 2014, UMF earned five All-NAC awards, which is the most conference awards all-time in one season. The 2013 campaign also produced the first North Atlantic Conference Freshman of the Year in program history in rookie Ben Keene. Bessey was voted NAC Coach of the Year in 2014.

Numerous UMF baseball players under Bessey’s tutelage earned All-NAC awards, including 12 First Team All-NAC selections. First baseman Josh Garneau, a First Team All-NAC honoree in 2011, was UMF baseball’s first First Team selection since 2004 and paved the way for two more First Team award winners in 2012. In 2017, Sean Cabaniss won the NAC Man of the Year award. From 2015-2017, the UMF Baseball program also had three players receive the Senior Scholar-Athlete of the year for UMF Athletics. The award is voted on by head coaches of all sports and given to one player. UMF’s Joe Sullivan, Sean Cabaniss and Jordan Croteau were the award recipients. From 2019-2021, five players received All-NAC honors, including four First Team selections and one Sportsmanship Team selection.

Prior to his position at UMF, Bessey was a 14-year head varsity baseball coach at Jay High School where he amassed 141 wins and his Tigers won the State Class C Championship in 2002 and reached at least the regional semifinals in six seasons. Additionally, he guided the Jay girls basketball team for eight seasons, claiming a State Class C title in 2009. He previously led the Jay boys basketball team for three years (1999-2001). Following the consolidation of Jay and Livermore Falls high schools, Bessey was named head boys basketball coach of the new Spruce Mountain High School and has held that post since the start of the 2011-12 season.

Bessey was a standout student-athlete at UMF in both Baseball and Men’s Basketball. He was inducted into the UMF Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010 for his performance as a two-sport student-athlete. In Baseball, he held the program’s career record in triples and is second in stolen bases. In Men’s Basketball, he is third on the career scoring list at 1,641 points and maintains the standard for career steals.

Degree

• B.S., University of Maine at Farmington