Cairn University alumnus Brett Marks completed his fourth season at the helm of the Highlanders in 2025.
During Marks' third season at Cairn, he led the team to break his own single-season wins record, setting a new benchmark at 26 wins also surpassing the program record for career wins as a Head Coach (64) and taking the Highlanders back to their first championship series appearance since 2019. Marks was voted United East Skye Division Coach of the Year along with seven All-Conference players, including the Skye Division Player of the Year and Skye Division Rookie of the Year, three d3baseball.com All-Region selections, and two players named ABCA All-Region.
In his second season coaching the Highlanders in 2023, Marks led the team to another conference semifinal game, collecting 22 wins on the season. Eight of Marks' players were selected to All-Conference teams, including two first team selections in Tyler Warr and Ronaldinho Alcin. This marked the fourth straight conference postseason appearance for the Highlanders (not including the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign).
In his first season in 2022, Marks commanded the Highlanders to their most successful season in program history, winning a school-record 25 games, including a 13-game win streak through the midway point of their campaign, the longest win streak in the history of the program. Under Marks, five players earned All-Conference recognition, and Cairn qualified for the conference semifinals in his first year at the helm.
Prior to being hired as the Head Coach, Marks served as both a graduate assistant and an assistant coach for Cairn baseball since the fall of 2019. He was promoted to the primary hitting coach, as well as overseeing the infield, in the fall of 2020 upon the departure of former head coach Phill Shallenberger and served in that capacity during the 2020-21 season. During Marks' stint as an assistant coach in 2021, the Highlanders went 11-9 and 8-4 in conference, securing their second consecutive conference postseason appearance. Under Marks' tutelage, several Highlanders produced stellar seasons at the plate. Joshua Melchior, Brian Amantia Jr., Quinton Pertkiewicz, Caleb Edman, and Samuel Spadea were all named All-Conference for their hitting performances, and Edman's .442 season average, just shy of the Cairn all-time individual season record, earned him an appearance on both the Philadelphia Baseball Review's DIII Team of the Year and the D3Baseball.com All Mid-Atlantic team.
Prior to joining the coaching staff at Cairn, Marks was a four-year member of the baseball program from 2016-19 and was a key player in the development of Cairn baseball into an annual conference contender. Over his career, Marks set nearly every defensive record for catchers in Cairn baseball history, including throwing out 49 runners, 19 more than the next closest catcher. Marks also hit .316 over his career and had a career-high .357 BA his senior year to lead Cairn to their first-ever conference postseason appearance. Because of his stellar career, Marks was named first-team catcher on Cairn Baseball's All-Decade team for the 2010s.
Marks also has prior coaching and playing experience with the Miami Marlins Foundation in their RBI program. As a player, Marks advanced to the RBI World Series Championship in both 2014 and 15, winning it all in 2015. During his college playing career, Marks returned to the Marlins RBI program as a coach, leading the Juniors team to the World Series in 2019.
