Chamblee head baseball coach Brian Ely celebrates his 300th career victory with is 2024 squad following their win over Arabia Mountain in the regular season finale at Chamblee. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Chamblee High School head baseball coach Brian Ely hit a career milestone of 300 wins on Thursday as his Bulldog squad defeated Arabia Mountain 18-0 in the regular season finale at Chamblee.
Ely has compiled a 300-217 (.580) record in his 19 seasons (2006-2024) at the helm of the Bulldog baseball program to move to sixth on the DeKalb County coaching victories list.
“It is extra special milestone when I think of all the players and coaches I’ve worked with over the years,” said Ely. “I was not even thinking about being close to getting the 300th win until some of our booster club parents let me know on Monday.”
Ely is one win behind Jim Levie (Peachtree, Clarkston, Stone Mountain) who is currently fifth in DeKalb coaching victories at 301-186 (.618). The top four are Marvin Pruitt (Lakeside, SW DeKalb, Stephenson, Redan) on top the list at 447-252 (.639), Steve Dennis (Columbia) in second at 401-326 (.552), John Devore (Southwest DeKalb, Shamrock) in third with a 384-247 (.609) record and Don Burgess (Druid Hills, Henderson) at fourth with a 301-186 (.618) mark.
“It is a real honor to be among all these DeKalb coach legends who also crossed that 300-win threshold,” said Ely.
Ely is the only currently active DeKalb County coach with over 300 wins. He would have reached the mark sooner if not for the cancellation during midseason of the 2020 campaign.
Chamblee’s Brian Ely
Under the direction of Ely the Chamblee program has surpassed the 500, 600 and 700-win mark along the way to reach 722 wins, 582 losses and 4 ties for sixth best in DeKalb. It is also the sixth DeKalb program to reach the 700-win plateau (722-582-4) behind Tucker (937-600-7), Redan (920-411-5), Dunwoody (834-542-3) and Lakeside (826-552-8).
Ely’s clubs have been to the state playoffs in 12 of his 19 seasons at the helm and nine consecutive seasons the playoffs (no playoffs in 2020) were held.
DCSD BASEBALL CAREER COACHING WINS
Marvin Pruitt (Lakeside, SW DeKalb, Stephenson, Redan) – 447-252 (.639)
Steve Dennis (Columbia) – 401-326 (.552)
John Devore (Southwest DeKalb, Shamrock) – 384-247 (.609)
Don Burgess (Druid Hills, Henderson) – 364-224 (.619)
Jim Levie (Peachtree, Clarkston, Stone Mountain) – 301-186 (.618)
*Brian Ely (Chamblee) – 300-217 (.580)
David Roman (Tucker) – 287-188 (.604)
Tom Bass (Dunwoody) – 282-156 (.644)
Lee Medwick (Towers) – 279-242 (.536)