Achilles spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach for the Bears before taking over the head coaching duties midway through the 2014 season. Achilles becomes Brown's 17th head coach since 1900, while the program was founded in 1863.
"We're excited to have Grant Achilles lead our baseball program," Hayes said. "Grant has been an important part of the program since coming to Brown and has earned the respect of the team members over the past two seasons. He brings both passion and knowledge to the position and will be an excellent leader for the program."
As an assistant with the Bears, Achilles managed the hitters and directed the development of infield defense, as well as team defense. Under his tutelage, the Bears improved in several offensive categories down the stretch of the 2014 campaign, including batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and runs per game. Achilles developed outfielders Will Marcal and Daniel Massey to earn All-Ivy honors in 2013 and '14, respectively. Additionally, Achilles helped develop infielder J.J. Franco, who was recently selected by the Atlanta Braves in the annual Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
Before Brown, Achilles spent a year as an assistant coach at Georgetown, where he worked primarily with the hitters. While coaching with the Hoyas, Achilles helped develop an offense that had a team batting average of .274 in Big East play, an improvement of .033 from the previous year. He also guided two players to the All-Big East team for the 2012 season, as infielder Mike Garza earned first team honors and outfielder Justin Leeson was named to the third team.
A member of the team at Wake Forest from 2002 to '06, Achilles was a four-year letterwinner for the Demon Deacons. He appeared in 56 games, making 19 starts, while playing a variety of positions, including first base, second base, right field and catcher.
