Assistant Coach Eric Degre joins the Newport Gulls coaching staff in 2016 as the team's Defensive and First Base Coach.

An assistant principal and athletic director at Lake Region Union High School in Vermont, Degre is in his seventh season as head coach of the school's varsity baseball team. In 2015, he coached against the Gulls as an assistant coach with the NECBL Northern Division's North Adams SteepleCats.

A resident of Orleans, Vermont, Degre was head coach at North County Union High School in - coincidentally - Newport, Vermont, for 16 years.

"Being able to coach in the league in North Adams last year was great," Degre said, "but being able to come down to Newport this summer is a dream come true."

A retired fire chief, Degre is also a motivational speaker, and has spent numerous summers working baseball camps across the country, including at Vanderbilt, Clemson, and Tennessee.