Open Announce
University of New Mexico Lobos athletics
Ray Birmingham - Baseball - University of New Mexico Lobos Athletics

Ray Birmingham

position

Head Coach

Phone

925-5720

Ray Birmingham Career Record

School

Year

Record

Win Pct.

College of SW 1988 20-40 .333
College of SW 1989 33-33 .500
CSW 2 yrs 53-73 .421
NMJC 1990 22-30 .423
NMJC 1991 42-18 .700
NMJC 1992 40-15 .727
NMJC 1993 48-13 .787
NMJC 1994 42-12 .778
NMJC 1995 48-9 .842
NMJC 1996 34-17 .667
NMJC 1997 38-14 .731
NMJC 1998 40-18 .690
NMJC 1999 33-21 .611
NMJC 2000 41-14 .745
NMJC 2001 44-14 .759
NMJC 2002 43-10 .811
NMJC 2003 43-14 .754
NMJC 2004 47-10 .825
NMJC 2005 55-10 .846
NMJC 2006 49-8-1 .853
NMJC 2007 56-8-1 .856
NMJC 18 yrs 765-255-2 .750
UNM 2008 34-25 .576
UNM 2009 37-20 .649
UNM 2010 38-22 .633
UNM 2011 20-41 .328
UNM 2012 37-24 .607
UNM 2013 37-22 .627
UNM 2014 37-20-1 .647
UNM 2015 32-27 .559
UNM 2016 39-23 .629
UNM 2017 30-27-1 .526
UNM 2018 20-33-1 .380
UNM 2019 23-28-1 .411
UNM 2020 14-4 .778
UNM 13 yrs 398-316-4 .557
Career 32 yrs 1,216-644-6 .653

RAY BIRMINGHAM FEATURE

Ray Birmingham enters his 14th year as head coach of the UNM baseball team and into his 34th year as a head coach at the collegiate level. At UNM, Birmingham has the second-most wins in program history with 402 to his credit as the Lobo skipper, earning his 400th DI Career win on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021 versus Air Force. He also initiated and had led the ongoing development and execution of the $3.65 million expansion of Santa Ana Star Field as well as UNM’s first privately-funded building on campus – the R.D. and Joan Dale Hubbard Clubhouse that was completed in December of 2016.

27632

For his overall career, Birmingham is in exclusive company having won over 1,000 games. Entering the 2021 season, Birmingham will have coached in parts of six decades dating back to the late 1970s. Birmingham is also the winningest coach in the state’s history as all 1,220 of his victories have come coaching for teams in his home state of New Mexico (College of the Southwest, New Mexico Junior College and UNM).

In 2015, Birmingham was inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame and was also inducted into the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2011. He also currently serves on the College Baseball Hall of Fame Selection Committee.

Birmingham has also coached or spoken at numerous clinics throughout the United States and South America. He has been published in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Journal and worked professionally for the Cleveland Indians, Oakland A’s and Kansas City Royals.

In 2004, Birmingham led the NJCAA all-star team to four wins in five games over the Chinese All-Stars in Beijing, China. In 2007, Birmingham was selected as the head coach of the NJCAA all-star team when China returned to the United States to play the U.S. team. Birmingham also coached the NJCAA West All-Stars to a three-game sweep over the East All-Stars in the summer of 2009.

Birmingham

In the summer of 2014, Birmingham served as the hitting coach for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team, which was made up of the top collegiate players from around the country. Team USA played games across North Carolina before traveling to the Netherlands to participate in Honkbal-Haarlem Baseball Week. The CNT won the international tournament by outscoring its opponents 34-6 over its final seven games. Birmingham helped guide Tennessee’s Christin Stewart to “Best Hitter” honors at the tournament and Albuquerque’s own Alex Bregman of LSU was named Honkbal Baseball Week MVP. Team USA concluded its summer with five games in Cuba, finishing with an overall record of 18-8-2.

In his 43rd year of coaching, Birmingham has been a part of 22 championships. All the college baseball programs Birmingham has coached have reached the top 25 in the national rankings at some point. Between University of the Southwest, New Mexico Junior College and New Mexico, 167 athletes have gone on to play professional baseball with 39 coming while the head coach at UNM. Additionally, under Birmingham at UNM, 40 athletes have earned All-America honors and 10 have been freshman All-Americans as well. Birmingham was also the coach of NMJC’s first basketball conference championship team – a team that was ranked No. 1 in the country.