Cooper Belyea ’15 returned to Ithaca as the program’s first-ever full-time assistant coach in 2020. Belyea, who spent three seasons at Washington College (Md.), began his appointment on September 16, 2019.
Over the three seasons at Washington, Belyea has served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, and has helped guide the Shoremen to an overall record of 67-51 in the daunting Centennial Conference. In Belyea’s first season at Washington, the Shoremen went 15-23 and then improved to 24-16 in 2018. This past spring, Washington matched a school record for victories with a 28-12 mark, which included a 14-0 start to the year.
Prior to his arrival in Chestertown, Md., Belyea spent the 2015-16 season as an assistant coach and junior varsity head coach at IC. He worked with catchers on their positional development, assisted with daily coaching duties, and aided in recruiting. As junior varsity head coach, he ran all aspects of the Bombers' JV program.
During the summer of 2016, Belyea served as an assistant coach with the Newark Pilots of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, again with an emphasis on the development of the team's catchers.
Belyea played three years of varsity baseball for the Bombers from 2013-15, starting at catcher and earning All-Empire 8 honors as a junior. He finished his career with a .275 average of 42 hits with 31 runs scored and 28 runs batted in. Defensively, Belyea was a sure-handed catcher as he committed just five errors in 334 total chance for a career fielding percentage of .985. In two of the three seasons in which he played, Belyea did not commit and error behind the plate. Ithaca won three Empire 8 Conference titles from 2013-15 and finished third in the country in 2013 with a school record mark of 41-8.
Off the field, Belyea helped raise $34,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention as a team leader and was a volunteer for the annual Walk-a-Thon conducted by the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes.
Belyea earned his B.S. in sport management from Ithaca in December 2015.
