Assistant coach Brian Strawn enters his seventh year on the Omaha baseball staff. Strawn previously served as pitching coach in 2017 and was a volunteer assistant coach in 2015.
In 2019, Strawn helped the program achieve its first berth into the NCAA Division I Regional with a Summit League Regular Season and Tournament Championship. The Mavericks more than doubled their wins from the previous season at 31-24-1 and saw eight players garner All-Summit recognition. Omaha also capped off the 2019 campaign with the nation's highest fielding percentage at .984.
A two-year letterwinner for the Mavericks from 2008 to 2009, Strawn earned All-NCC recognition as an infielder in his junior season. That year, Strawn hit .377 with 30 runs scored, 11 doubles, five home runs and 38 RBI. As a pitcher, he went 2-1 on the mound with three saves. Additionally, Strawn was part of the 2008 UNO squad that set a school record with 45 wins, made an NCAA regional appearance and won an NCC championship.
In Strawn's senior campaign in 2009, he hit .308 with 25 runs and 30 RBI, and he went 1-0 with a save on the mound. Strawn put his name in the Maverick record books by tying for the single-season record for games played (61), and his four career saves are the eighth-most in school history.
Strawn served as an undergraduate assistant coach at UNO from 2009 to 2011. After graduating, he spent three years as an elementary school teacher and head coach for the Bellevue West High School baseball program from 2011 to 2014. In 2014, Strawn guided the Thunderbirds to their first state tournament appearance in over 20 years.
Strawn also played professionally overseas in Sweden for the Gothenburg Sharks (2011) and the Sölvesborg Firehawks (2014) with fellow Maverick and current head coach Evan Porter.
A native of Bellevue and a product of Bellevue East High School, Strawn earned his associate's degree from Iowa Central Community College in 2008. He graduated from UNO with his bachelor's degree in elementary education in May 2011.
