Damon Lessler

Damon Lessler is in his first season on Eddie Smith's Washington staff, serving as UW's director of player development.

Lessler brings a robust resume to Montlake, making various stops around the country with some of the top programs in collegiate baseball.

Lessler has spent the last two seasons at fellow Big Ten member Ohio State as the Buckeyes’ director of operations/recruiting & player development. In his role, Lessler was responsible for a myriad of behind the scenes initiatives for OSU.

Before making the move to Columbus, Lessler was the hitting coach at Charleston Southern for one season in 2022. During his lone season with the Buccaneers, CSU posted a .285 batting average as a club and reached the Big South Championship Game.

Previously, Lessler spent three seasons on the West Coast at Cal, serving as the Golden Bears’ infield, catching and base running coach, also working with the Cal offense. The third base coach for the Golden Bears, Lessler coached 21 MLB Draft picks, including two first rounders.

Before Cal, Lessler had coaching stops at San Jose State, Cal Poly, Southern Miss, Chico State and Oakland (Mich.). He also had a stop in the Evergreen State, serving as associate head coach with the Bellingham Bells of the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League during the summer of 2012.

During his playing career, Lessler played professionally in the Northern League, the American Association and the Frontier League, also playing in five different countries and helping to develop youth programs abroad.

Lessler played shortstop collegiately at Mesa Community College, Sonoma State and Mississippi Valley State.

Lessler holds several academic degrees including a master’s degree in sports administration from Southern Mississippi and a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Mississippi Valley State where he earned valedictorian honors from the university.