Nick Derba is the head baseball coach at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine, and will enter his ninth season leading the program in 2026. Through eight seasons, he has compiled a 174-242 overall record and a 108-94 mark in America East play. Maine named Derba its 25th head baseball coach on June 23, 2017, after he had served as interim head coach beginning December 17, 2016.
In his first season as interim head coach in 2017, Derba led Maine to 25 wins, the program's highest total in four years, and guided the Black Bears to the America East championship game with four straight conference tournament victories. Maine returned to the third day of the America East tournament in 2018, and two players from that team, Jeremy Pena and Christopher Bec, were selected in the Major League Baseball draft. In 2019, three more Black Bears moved into professional baseball: Cody Laweryson and Nick Silva were drafted, and Danny Casals signed as a free agent. The pandemic-shortened 2020 season ended after 13 games. In 2021, Maine qualified for the America East playoffs for the 11th straight season and upset top-seeded Stony Brook in its tournament opener, its first advance through the winner's bracket since 2013. After that season, Nicholas Sinacola was drafted by the San Francisco Giants and Alex McKenney signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.
