Will MacLean stepped into the batters box for his first at bat of the 2025 NCAA Fayetteville Regional Tournament. He was playing in the most important series of his career. MacLean’s Creighton Blue Jays were facing the Kansas Jayhawks. If his Blue Jays could advance, they’d be one step closer to playing in the heralded College World Series — the biggest college stage with the most MLB eyes on it.

MacLean’s mom, dad, and two brothers watched in awe as Will blasted a 455-foot homer to right field over everything. It was the longest of his college career.

“My dad was crying, he was so overwhelmed with emotion,” MacLean said. “Being able to see that while rounding second, I was thinking ‘everything has led up to this moment.’ I felt like I’d truly made my family proud and I’d made myself proud too.”

MacLean is a man of many sports — a man who’s successfully navigated a nexus of life-changing decisions. From the South Pacific to New England, MacLean and his family have bounced around but always stuck together. Constantly contending with two older brothers raised Will with an undying competitiveness. As a three-sport varsity athlete, college baseball player, budding coach, brother, and boyfriend, MacLean is a team player in all aspects of life.

MacLean the Coach

At 24, MacLean isn’t much older than most of the Orleans Firebirds players under his tutelage. Before games, you can catch him throwing left-handed batting practice if the Birds are due to face a lefty starter. If not, he’ll be behind the “turtle” (a mobile batting cage) watching every player hit. After that’s done, he works his trusty fungo bat to hit infield practice just before games. Otherwise, you can spot him in the dugout — talking with the players, coaching staff, or athletic trainers. During games, he’s standing top-step, directing players around the diamond to match the correct defensive alignment for each situation.

“Sometimes I still feel like a player,” MacLean said. “Some of the other players still think I’m a player, just because I’m a younger coach. I can really relate to them in that sense. Baseball has consumed my life since I started playing it, and I want the opportunity to give young players the career I never had. I fell short of playing professionally, but as a coach, I may be able to offer that extra help that it takes to get them to that next level.”

As an Assistant Coach, he wears whatever hat Manager Kelly Nicholson needs him to. Working in the Cape Cod Baseball League, MacLean has gained invaluable coaching experience.

“The Cape League is pretty much the All-Star team for college baseball,” he said. “The players come from all different walks of life and parts of the country. Growing up watching Cape League baseball, I always wanted to play here. I wasn’t good enough to get here as a player, but I was as a coach.”

Orleans’ star-studded coaching staff has lots of advice to offer a young coach, especially when the group includes ex-MLB catching mainstay Ryan Hanigan. For MacLean, like many other local Boston Red Sox fans, it’s been a pleasure to get to know the man behind the catcher’s mask in person.

“It’s an unbelievable group of guys. They make it easy to want to come to the field everyday,” MacLean said. “Hanigan is a special character. As a 10-year veteran, he’s walked the walk as a catcher. When you’re around a guy like that, you don’t know what to expect, but he’s very down to earth and willing to help — whether you’re a player or a coach. He loves the game. He’s one of the first guys to the field, and he’s a great role model for these players.”

With players coming in from all over the country under different coaching styles, MacLean said that the coaching staff for Orleans has a unique job.

“We’re not trying to re-invent these players. There’s a reason they’re in the CCBL in the first place,” he said. “We’re just looking to add or take away something small from their games that’s going to help them in the long run. With Hanigan’s background, he tells all these different stories. ‘When I played with the Rays, this is what Evan Longoria would do. With the Rockies, this is what Charlie Blackmon would do. David Ortiz taught me this. Dustin Pedroia taught me that.’”

Though it’s MacLean’s first time coaching on the Cape, he's no stranger to coaching baseball. After capping off an accomplished college career at Creighton, MacLean could have taken a contract to play Independent Baseball, but he knew the grind wasn’t worth it for him. A difficult decision forced him to hang up the spikes for good.

“My associate head coach at Creighton, Mark Kingston, has many connections in the baseball world,” he said. “I was sitting in his office at the end of the season, thinking about what I was going to do. For me, it was draft or bust. He told me that he could connect me with Indy ball teams, but I knew that playing was no longer the right path for me. When I didn’t get drafted, I took it as a message from the baseball gods to put my time towards molding good young players.”

With that decision made, he turned to his most important connection: Head Coach Steve Trimper at Stetson University. From 2017 to 2026, the Stetson Hatters made multiple deep playoff runs under Trimper’s tenure. Luckily for MacLean, Trimper is a longtime family friend.

“I called Coach Trimper, and at first he said, ‘are you sure you want to get into coaching baseball?’ And I said ‘yes, absolutely, I want to stay around the game,’” MacLean recounted. “He gave me a couple contacts to reach out to. One was Scott Heath, who was a player under Trimper when he coached at the University of Maine. Heath is now the Head Coach at Southern Maine. I called him, explained who I am and what I wanted to do, and he said, ‘no doubt, let’s do it.’”

Last spring at University of Southern Maine, Will had to get used to a new style of baseball. In his first and only year there as Assistant Coach, the Huskies went 32-12 and won the Little East Division tournament.

“At a Division III school, the level of baseball isn’t quite as high as what I was used to,” he said. “But I was surrounded by players that love the game of baseball. Those players reminded me of myself — they all just wanted to get better. At Division III, you don’t have to worry about scholarship, NIL, or any of the external stuff that Division I players get involved in. That affirmed my decision to keep coaching. I ended up loving it.”

After a successful first season, MacLean went back to Trimper asking what to do next. He received another important vote of confidence during a single phone call to Firebirds Manager Kelly Nicholson.

“I think I sent out emails with my résumé attached to every team in the NECBL, Futures League, and Cape League. None of them had a spot for me,” he recalled. “Trimper let me know about Kelly Nicholson with Orleans. We had one phone call, and it just worked out. Nicholson said that Trimper was a good friend of his, and that if he recommends you, I think you’ll be a great fit.”

New England Roots

MacLean was born in Guam in 2001. His father was a Navy doctor on base. When Craig was done serving, the family moved to the quiet beach town of York, Maine when Will was only four. The decision to move was spearheaded by his mother, Amy, who wanted the family to settle down somewhere. When Will was in seventh grade, his father took a job as an emergency physician at a hospital in Exeter, New Hampshire, where the family still resides.

“My whole family is from Maine, both my mom and my dad’s side,” he said. “My brothers and I grew up around our grandparents. We were young enough to be able to adjust easily to the move.”

Growing up with older brothers Matt and Ben, Craig was always looking to keep the boys entertained. First, he built a wiffle ball field in the front yard. Then a basketball court. Then, they started throwing a football.

“Whatever Matt and Ben were doing, I followed in their shoes,” he said. “If they were playing sports, I wanted to play too. It was always fun and competitive in the house. Whether we were in Guam, Maine, or New Hampshire, my brothers and I were always spending time together. We were always actively and constantly spending time outside.”

Though MacLean learned to be competitive through long hours with his brothers in the backyard, it was his parents who started the trend.

“My mom was a two-sport athlete at Bowdoin — volleyball and softball,” MacLean said. “That’s where she met my dad, who was playing football there. He started dealing with some injury, and shifted his focus to academics.”

As the trio got older, Ben was playing basketball, football, and baseball. Matt and Will stuck to hockey, football and baseball. When high school rolled around, Will attended St. Thomas Aquinas in Dover, NH, a small Catholic school of only 400 kids.

Will’s 2020 graduation class had only 96 students. The classroom was never for him, but after school, it was time to shine.

“It was a small community, but tight-knit,” he remembered. “Football was my first real love. The reason I chose St. Thomas was partly because Matt went there, but mostly because of their football program. I played four years of varsity football, four years of varsity hockey, and four years of varsity baseball. Being a 12-year varsity athlete was something I was very proud of. All my fondest memories came from sports and from hanging out with my best friends, Henry and Stone.”

Between worrying about the safety of her boys banging their heads together playing hockey or football and shuttling them around to every single practice, MacLean recalled the hard work Amy put in keeping the family together, and how his Dad practiced modeling leadership.

“My mom was there for everything. I can’t remember her missing a single game of mine through high school, and that even translated to college,” he said. “She didn’t miss a single college baseball game of mine. It makes me emotional, because I understand the sacrifice that she put in. It definitely doesn’t go under the radar. My dad was busy working but he was equally supportive, just from afar. He’s always been my number one role model. I’ve learned a lot from him, whether it’s with relationships, athletics, or family. I’m motivated to keep working so I can be at least half the man he is.”

When it came time for the college search, MacLean still thought football to be his ticket to success.

“I was looking at a bunch of Division III schools in New England,” he said. “Then I got in touch with an Assistant Coach at Brown University, and they brought me to campus to watch a practice and tour the facilities. I thought it was a sure thing that I would go there, then my parents reminded me, ‘you still have summer ball coming up,’ so I decided to do one more season with my best friends from my travel team.”

To Team Nike New England (now the New England Mariners) MacLean went. He traveled down south to Florida and Georgia to compete in tournaments. According to him, he went "unconscious that whole summer” on the baseball field.

“I don’t think my average dropped below .390. I was just on fire,” he recalled. “That’s when college baseball teams started to talk to me. Coaches were coming up to me and offering me a spot, but I didn't want to hear it because I was still set on playing football.”

That’s when Matt Reynolds, Head Coach of UMass Amherst baseball reached out. Not to MacLean, but to his mom. Sometimes, a mother does know best.

“He reached out to my mom trying to get in contact with me,” Will said. “She told him I still wasn’t interested, and had my mind set on football, but she still gave him my number.”

MacLean the Ballplayer

MacLean soon got a phone call from Reynolds. Standing at the crossroads between football and baseball, MacLean chose the bat over the pads.

“I found out after some research that UMass was a Division I school,” he said. “Some friends told me I had to come check it out. I did an overnight trip with my buddy, got a feel for the campus and met the guys on the team, and decided I wanted to play baseball there.”

At the University of Massachusetts Amherst for his freshman and sophomore seasons, MacLean batted over .300 in 90 total games played for the Minutemen, popping an even 12 blasts. Though it was a success on the field, MacLean felt out of place. He needed a change of scenery. Still, Will expressed his gratitude to UMass for giving him a chance to play ball when other schools didn't.

“I felt like there was a disconnect between players and coaches,” he said. “It has the nickname ‘ZooMass’ for a reason. I was content my freshman year seeing what college had to offer, but my sophomore year, I knew it was time to focus on what I wanted to do. I wanted the chance to advance my career professionally and play some winning baseball. I loved all my friends there, but I had to do what was best for myself.”

When Will entered the transfer portal in 2024, he was instantly competing with over 1,200 other college ballplayers looking for new homes. Though it’s not the monied chaos that it is now, MacLean still needed some expert advice to make his choice.

“My oldest brother Ben has been a scout for the Baltimore Orioles for six or seven years now,” he said. “When I was in the portal, I was talking to him about all the schools that were reaching out. When he heard Creighton had offered a scholarship, he said to take it immediately. He told me, ‘the guys in pro ball know exactly what they’re getting from a Creighton player, because they know the standard there.’ When I got there, I knew exactly what he meant.”

All told, MacLean still recounts the scholarship he received to play at Creighton as his most meaningful accomplishment as a player.

“Being able to have my school paid for because of something I did, without having my parents need to work extra hours or stress about it was an amazing feeling,” he said. “I look at all the sacrifices that my parents made, not just for me but for my brothers, to make sure we had everything we asked for growing up. For me to be able to somewhat repay them was my greatest achievement.”

MacLean played his junior and senior seasons with Creighton. Both years, the team was firing on all cylinders with MacLean playing a mix of first base and outfield. When MacLean was a senior having his dream season, they went 43-16, though they fell to a loaded Arkansas Razorback team in the Regional Final.

MacLean knew he always had an outside chance to get drafted and maintain his pro-ball dreams. He was in contact with scouts during his junior year, but a devastating thumb injury derailed everything.

“That was when the professional teams that were in contact with me stopped talking with me,” he said. “Having a season-ending surgery isn’t very appealing to scouts. Personally, I was distraught because I thought my career was over. I felt helpless watching from the sidelines as we slowly declined as a team. I was begging my trainer to put me back in the lineup, even though I could barely hold a bat.”

While he posted solid numbers on return his senior season, the call from the MLB never came. Still, MacLean put intense pressure on himself to improve his draft stock each day.

“I knew I didn’t have any more eligibility after my senior year. I wanted to go out on top. I knew that if I played well, I still had a chance to be drafted,” he recalled. “Thinking back, that was a lot of extra pressure that I didn’t need. I should have focused more on being in the moment and enjoying myself. I was pushing really hard to have a pro future. I would have cherished more of the memories with my teammates instead of worrying about my batting average falling from one bad game.”

To be a truly great athlete, it takes a certain mindset to rise above the rest.

“I can say this now, because my mom won’t get mad, but I used to skip class to get extra time in the batting cage,” MacLean said. “If we had a Friday game, I’d skip class for a pregame workout and get to the stadium early to put more work in. Everything revolved around baseball for me. That was my best attribute — because my mindset was to be the best. I may not have been as talented, but I’m going to do everything I can.”

During his two years at Creighton, MacLean remembered occasionally butting heads with longtime Head Coach Ed Servais. Not everyone was a fan of his old-school style. Now, with some coaching experience under his belt, Will understands more of the methods to Servais’s madness.

“[Servais] was very old-fashioned, very hard-nosed. It was his way or the highway, and some guys didn’t like that,” he said. “Now I know that he was right about most of his drills and sayings. I take his lessons and try and rephrase them for the [Firebirds] guys now. His best stuff was about making guys better human beings. He would talk about the little things that present major leaguers did, and how that would take you down a good path later in life. There were some drills that I thought were eyewash, but now I’m starting to use them myself.”

Extra Innings

These days, if you can’t find MacLean at a Birds game, on the golf course, or spending time with friends and family, he’s likely with his girlfriend Morgan Trimper.

“She’s the most important person in my life right now. She’s on the Cape right now to spend time with me,” MacLean said. “We’re lifelong family friends. She’s Steve Trimper’s daughter. Our families have known each other forever, and we were always around each other growing up. We started as friends, and we’ve been together about a year now.”

Morgan is working to be a registered dietician. She currently works for New Balance Warrior in Boston, where she teaches youth sports teams about nutrition and provides one-on-one sessions for older patrons. The two share a huge love for baseball.

“She knows just as much as I do, so it’s always fun to get together after games and discuss,” he said. “It’s a blessing and a curse. When we have a bad game, I want to just forget about it, but Morgan will ask ‘how come you tried to steal a base in this inning? How come that error was made?’ Sometimes it’s like she knows too much, but it’s so important to have something in common. I can help her with her work too, with her interests in lifestyle and wellness. She’s someone I want to keep working with, whether it’s in our jobs or outside of them.”

With the Cape League season coming to an end, MacLean has his sights set on moving up in the coaching world. After spending free time this summer sending out another round of résumés, he’s accepted a Graduate Assistant coaching position at Florida State University. Changing locations once again, Will is excited to take what he’s learned from the Firebirds to the Sunshine State.

“I learned to be a sponge, taking everything in with my eyes and ears,” MacLean said. “From a coaching perspective, you see a whole new part of the game than you do as a player. I learned new techniques for coaching and managing from Kelly [Nicholson], CC [Assistant Coach Chris Constantine] and Hanigan that I’d never thought of before.”

MacLean won’t soon forget his time with the 2026 Firebirds.

“Being around these players was an amazing experience,” he said. “Learning about their backgrounds, playing careers, and families was staggering. I hope I gave them all something helpful that they can take into their personal lives or playing careers. I just wanted to make a positive impact on these players.”