Coach Pete Varney, Brandeis University and the postseason are
synonymous in New England baseball. Overall in his 30 previous
seasons at the Judges’ helm, Varney has led the Judges to the
post-season 21 times. During his tenure as the Brandeis head coach,
his teams have had an impressive list of accomplishments. Those
achievements include an NCAA Division III College World Series
appearance, 12 NCAA Regional invitations, two ECAC Division III New
England Championships, 10 ECAC tournament selections, six
University Athletic Association titles and five Greater Boston
League crowns.
Varney has guided the Judges to postseason appearances in 12 of
the last 17 years. He has earned great respect on the national
level because of his wealth of coaching and playing experience on
both the collegiate and professional levels. That respect, coupled
with major league playing experience, is given to the man whose
name has become synonymous with Brandeis baseball. In addition, he
has overseen and helped raise money for the improvement of
facilities, including the new dugouts installed in 1999.
The Brandeis baseball program is renowned for the number of
former players who have gone into the professional ranks. Twelve
former Judges coached by Varney have been signed by major league
baseball clubs, including the University's only major-leaguer.
Right-handed pitcher Nelson Figueroa became the first former
Brandeis player to appear in the major leagues when he started
three games for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the summer of 2000.
After pitching professionally abroad for several years, he returned
to the majors in 2010 and in 2011 started the season on the Houston
Astros' major league roster. More recently, Bryan Lambert '05 was
signed as a free agent and spent two years in the Washington
Nationals system.
Varney has run a class program that emphasizes academic success
and personal responsibility on and off the field. Thirty-one years
ago, Varney took over the reins of a highly successful
program from former coach Tom O’Connell, the recently retired
coach of baseball at Princeton University and 2003 inductee into
the Brandeis Hall of Fame. Varney’s impact was evident
immediately as his first team won 23 games, the Greater Boston
League championship and qualified for the NCAA Division III
tournament.
Recruiting, the lifeblood of any successful collegiate program,
has received a great deal of attention from Varney and his
assistants. The staff’s efforts in that regard have not gone
unnoticed.
Varney’s formula for success on the diamond is based on
solid pitching and defense, along with a wide open offensive style
of play. He has been named as New England Division III Coach of the
Year three times (1984, 87, 99) and was named Greater Boston League
Coach of the Year five times. Varney spent three summers (1988-90)
as the head baseball coach of the Cotuit Kettleers in the
nationally known Cape Cod League.
In high school, Varney was a three sport standout at North
Quincy High School and is a member of its Hall of Fame. He was
honored this past fall by the Everett High School’s E Club as
its top opposing player. After a year of prep school at Deerfield
Academy, Varney chose to stay in the Boston area, attending Harvard
University.
As a collegian, Varney lettered in both baseball and football.
He is best remembered in this area for catching the two point
conversion in The Game, a 29-29 tie with Yale University in 1968.
Varney's name still peppers the Harvard baseball record book in
several categories. He has the third best career batting average
.370 (1969-71), second-most home runs in a season (10 in 1970), and
most RBI's in a game, (9) vs Washington and Lee in 1970. As a
senior, he led Harvard to the 1971 NCAA Division I College World
Series where the Crimson finished fifth in the nation. For his
efforts that year, he was named first team All-American.
He was drafted seven times by major league teams between the
years 1966 and 1971. Three times he was the number one pick
overall. Finally, after graduating from Harvard in 1971, Varney
signed with the Chicago White Sox, who drafted him with the first
choice in the June secondary phase. He went on to play seven years
of professional baseball and spent parts of four years in the big
leagues with the White Sox and the Atlanta Braves.
When he retired from baseball, he began his coaching career at
Narragansett High School in Templeton, Mass. After three years, he
was named baseball coach at Brandeis. In addition to his coaching
duties, Varney is the coordinator of student-athlete recruitment
and is a lecturer in the Physical Education Department.
A former standout for the Gerry McCarthy Club in the Boston Park
League, he was inducted into the League's Hall of Fame in November,
1985. Varney serves as the chairman of the New England Division III
College Baseball Coaches Poll and a member of the NEIBA Executive
Committee.
