AUBURN, Ala. – Head coach Butch Thompson completed his coaching staff with the addition of former Tiger Dan Gamache, who will serve as the team's student assistant this season.
"Auburn Family, join me in welcoming former infielder Dan Gamache and his wife, Laura Beth, back to the Plains," Thompson said. "To be reunited after his professional career is pretty neat. When you can come back after you were not only a great player, but also a great person, I just think it's a win-win. To be a part of another guy who's going to finish off his Auburn degree and invest in our program is a benefit of Auburn baseball."
Gamache, who was a three-year letterwinner for the Tigers from 2009-11, will assist both Gabe Gross with the Auburn hitters and Karl Nonemaker with the Auburn infielders.
"It's always been a goal of mine to come back and finish my degree when my playing career was over," Gamache said. "I'm grateful to be able to work towards that at Auburn, and I'm excited for the opportunity to join this staff and help these players achieve their goals."
A native of Exeter, Rhode Island, Gamache played in 134 games and made 120 starts in his Auburn career, including 105 starts in his final two seasons on the Plains. He was a .337 career hitter and totaled 31 doubles, three triples, 16 home runs and 77 RBI.
Gamache went on to be selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the sixth round of the 2011 MLB Draft and spent nine years in professional baseball, including six with the Pirates organization. Gamache was a career .270 hitter and, after hitting a career-best .335 in 74 games with the Double-A Altoona Curve in 2015, was promoted to Triple-A for the first time in his career. He spent the 2016 in Triple-A before finishing out the last three years of his career in the Washington, Minnesota and Oakland organizations.