Florida Tech Promotes Jeff Tam to Panther Head Baseball Coach, Replaces Greg Berkemeier

Greg Berkemeier resigned after 20 years

Tam had a six-year career in the Major Leagues as a relief pitcher between 1998 and 2003 with the New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, and Toronto Blue Jays.

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Florida Tech Athletic Director Jamie Joss has announced the promotion of Jeff Tam to head coach of the Panther baseball program. Tam previously served as an assistant coach since 2019.

“Jeff is a proven head coach as evidenced by the growth and success he led at Eastern Florida State,” said Joss.

“He has been a valuable addition to the Florida Tech baseball program serving as an assistant the past three years. His knowledge of the game, along with his successful collegiate and professional playing experience will help enhance our baseball program under his leadership.”

Tam replaces Greg Berkemeier who resigned after 20 years with the program.

During Tam’s three seasons as an assistant, seven Panthers earned All-SSC honors. Additionally, Boris Villa (2021) and Andrew Marzheuser (2019) received All-South Region Second Team honors from the ABCA and NCBWA, respectively.

Before coming to Florida Tech, Tam was the Head Coach at Eastern Florida State College for seven seasons. He recorded a winning season every year as well as four consecutive 30-win seasons, tallying 216 victories in total. Four of his Titan players went on to be selected in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. He previously served as pitching coach at EFSC before taking over as head coach.

A graduate of Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Tam went on to have a stellar career at Florida State University before signing with the New York Mets as an undrafted free agent in 1993. He later earned a Bachelor’s degree from FSU in 2011.

Tam had a six-year career in the Major Leagues as a relief pitcher between 1998 and 2003 with the New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, and Toronto Blue Jays.

He finished his MLB career with a 3.91 earned run average across 251 appearances. Tam’s best performances came with the Athletics in 2000 and 2001 when he had ERA’s of 2.63 and 3.01, respectively, as the A’s set-up man, leading Oakland to the postseason both years.

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