Cloud County athletics announces staff additions for 5 sports

CONCORDIA - Cloud County Community College Athletic Director Matt Bechard has announced the addition of six new hires to the T-Bird athletic department coaching staff highlighted by new head softball coach John Kelly following the approval of hires at the Board of Trustees meeting.

In addition to Kelly, CCCC men's basketball head coach Devin Kastrup has added Kyle Pugh as assistant men's basketball coach, Erica Brand has been hired as an assistant men's and women's track and field coach, and Cloud County head baseball coach Eric Gilliland has added Michael Parr, Zach Gerch, and Parker Smejkal to the T-Bird baseball coaching staff.

"I'm extremely excited for the future of Thunderbird Athletics with our new hires" said Cloud County Athletic Director Matt Bechard. "Each one of these coaches possesses tremendous talent and work ethic that will undoubtedly blend well with our mission at Cloud County Community College."

John Kelly - Head Softball Coach
Kelly brings an extensive softball coaching background including five years at the collegiate level with his most recent coaching experience coming at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida. Spending four years at the helm of the Gyrenes, Kelly would lead Ave Maria to 81 total victories while setting numerous program records during his tenure. Coaching nine All-Sun Conference selections and six National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region selections, Kelly would also coach the 2021 NFCA Golden Shoe Award Recipient (given to the most outstanding base stealer from an NFCA member institution) in Kalie Romig who stole 54 bases to lead all players at the four-year level in stolen bases (NAIA and NCAA).

In addition to his duties as head coach at Ave Maria, Kelly would serve as the Sun Conference softball "rater", an elected position by his fellow conference coaches that was responsible for bi-weekly conference ratings and NAIA National Coaches Poll voting. Kelly would also chair a 2019 NAIA Softball Committee to revise the national rating and national tournament selection process.

Other coaching experience for Kelly includes spending the 2016-17 season as an assistant coach at Georgia Tech University where he was responsible for hitting, outfield, base running and mental game instruction as well as in-game defensive positioning. Kelly has also spent seven years coaching with national travel softball powerhouse the Next Level (TNL) in San Diego, California and two seasons as head coach at Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego.

A well-known mental game expert, Kelly has authored several books and audio programs on the mental game of sports, including "How She Thinks is How She Plays", and has worked with numerous athletes and teams at all levels from coast to coast on improving performance through mental game mastery.

Kyle Pugh - Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Kyle Pugh will join the Thunderbird family as assistant men's basketball coach after spending the past three seasons working on the men's basketball staff at the University of Jacksonville with former T-Bird head coach Chad Eshbaugh. Spending two years as a graduate assistant for the Dolphins and the 2020-21 season as Director of Basketball Operations, Pugh would capture practice and game footage, assemble pre-game scouting reports, develop content for the JU men's basketball social media channels, assist with practice operations and travel logistics while working under a staff that had nearly 50 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level.

In addition to his experience at Jacksonville University, Pugh was a student manager at the University of Illinois working on the staffs of John Groce and Brad Underwood where he was responsible for assisting with individual workouts and tracking statistics in practice and games.

Erica Brand - Assistant Men's and Women's Track and Field Coach
A former track and field standout at Duke University, Erica Brand joins the Cloud County track and field coaching staff and will emphasize in throwing events for the T-Birds. Most recently a Special Education Co-Teacher and Assistant Track and Field Coach at Broken Arrow Public Schools in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Brand would develop a varsity throwing program for the shot put and discus while also focusing on strength training and conditioning of track and field athletes.

During her time at Duke University, Brand would be an All-ACC athlete in both indoor and outdoor track and field while qualifying for the NCAA Division National Championships multiple times. During her senior season in 2014-15, Brand would place 21st overall at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the discus and earn Honorable-Mention All-America honors while setting the Duke University school record (54.94 meters, 180 ft. - 3 in.). All three events that Brand would compete in while with the Blue Devils (weight throw, discus, shot put) would see the Shawnee, Kansas native record marks that would finish in the top-five all-time at Duke University in their respective event.

Michael Parr - Assistant Baseball Coach
Michael Parr joins the T-Bird baseball coaching staff after spending the past 12 seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio. While serving as pitching coach, Parr was responsible for structuring daily practice plans for the pitching staff as well as developing in-season and off-season development plans for all pitchers. Parr would also assist with the development of the strength and conditioning program for Sinclair CC and helped the Tartan Pride to a pair of NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series appearances including a third-place finish in 2016. During his 12-year tenure as pitching coach, Sinclair would win nine Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) titles and finish as NJCAA Region 12 Runner-up on three occasions in addition to the two World Series appearances.

A total of 44 pitchers would commit to NCAA Division I scholarship offers under the guidance of Parr, with eight different pitchers being named OCCAC Pitcher of the Year. Parr would also develop one NJCAA Division II All-American pitcher and have seven pitchers that were either drafted by Major League Baseball teams or signed to professional contracts.

Zach Gerch - Assistant Baseball Coach
Zach Gerch has spent the past four seasons as Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Frontier Community College in Fairfield, Illinois where he has helped with a turnaround of a Bobcats program from 3-35 prior to his arrival to a 36-23 record this past season. Responsible for overseeing the offensive, catching, strength and conditioning, and recruiting aspects of the program, Gerch has helped bring in players from 14 different states and Puerto Rico in addition to eight different countries. Bringing in a recruiting class that saw a 24-win improvement from one year to the next, Gerch helped lead the Bobcats to their first postseason appearance in program history in 2021 in addition to helping recruit top-50 recruiting classes at the two year level according to Perfect Game, one of the world's largest baseball scouting services.

Prior to coaching at Frontier Community College, Gerch spent four years as a volunteer/graduate assistant coach at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas where he managed the day to day responsibilities of the pitching, catching, and strength and conditioning aspects of the program. Responsible for the recruitment of over 75 athletes annually, Gerch would create individual plans for players that would lead to multiple school record being set while helping the Braves lead the NAIA in multiple categories.

Parker Smejkal - Assistant Baseball Coach
Parker Smejkal is a recent graduate of the University of Nebraska-Omaha where he was a member of the Maverick baseball team for the past five seasons. While at UNO, Smejkal was a member of a Maverick team that led NCAA Division I baseball for team fielding percentage in 2019 (.984) and was second in NCAA Division I in 2020 (.988). Smejkal was part of Nebraska-Omaha's 2019 Summit League Regular Season and Tournament Championship teams as the Mavericks would earn the program's first berth in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Tournament. During his career with the Mavericks, Smejkal started 150 games and collected 137 total hits including 31 doubles, six triples, and 14 home runs while driving in 92 runs.

Prior to UNO, Smejkal spent one year at Coffeyville Community College where he started 55 games and batted .309 with nine doubles, two triples, five home runs, and 40 RBI. While with the Red Ravens, Coffeyville would qualify for the NJCAA Region VI Playoffs and advanced to the NJCAA Plains District Tournament in Wichita.