Paul Benim arrived at Penn State Behrend in 1989 to continue his successful baseball and basketball career he had at Iroquois High School in Erie, Pennsylvania. He played three seasons with the baseball program, before putting on his coaching hat and spending his final year as an assistant with the women’s basketball team. That year, the basketball squad posted its best-season ever with a 23-4 record and won the ECAC South Region Championship. 

Little did Benim know, that would not be the last ECAC title of his career. 

One year after graduation, he returned to the Behrend campus as an ambitious 23-year old. Benim became one of the youngest Division III coaches in the nation as the leader of the softball team while assuming the roles of Sports Information Director and Admissions Counselor. In three seasons, he led the softball team to 82 wins, three straight postseason appearances, a national ranking and the 1993 ECAC crown.

In 1996, Benim transitioned from softball to the head baseball coach. The five-time AMCC Coach of the Year has built the Behrend baseball into a highly respected and regional powerhouse. Benim just completed his 26th season with the Lions and has accumulated 664 out of the baseball program’s 923 wins; more than half of the wins in a third of the time since the inception of the team in 1961. 

He has led Behrend to six AMCC Championships, five NCAA Tournament appearances and five ECAC titles. While these accomplishments are impressive, what is more impressive is Benim has a 63.2 winning percentage in all 26 years of coaching and every single four-year player has earned a degree from Behrend. In addition, he has coached 188 AMCC All-Academic players and 148 All-Conference players.

The Then and Now Series is part of the AMCC's 25th anniversary where the conference will be recognizing current AMCC coaches and/or athletic administrators who are former AMCC student-athletes. The Then and Series will run every Tuesday throughout the academic year.