Kent Shelley 
Head Coach
University of Kansas '82
642-418-1 (.606)
23rd season at JCCC

The chapters highlighting Kent Shelley’s storied baseball coaching career continue to grow increasingly larger.  And even as the wins, awards, and honors keep mounting, each milestone becomes more and more memorable for the Johnson County Community College coach.

In May 2007, Shelley was inducted to the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, joining 77 other community college coaching greets.  He is just the second coach from Region VI and the Kansas Jayhawk Conference to earn this prestigious honor.

Shelley is in his 23rd season at the helm of the highly successful Johnson County baseball program.  The winningest coach in JCCC history, and on of the all-time leaders in the KJCCC, Shelley Shelley has amassed an impressive 642-418-1 mark (.606), leading four teams to Eastern Sub-regional championships and three squads to NJCAA Region VI titles.  In 2005, Shelley won his 500th game as JCCC’s head coach, and became JCCC’s all-time wins leader, surpassing JCCC Hall of Famer Sonny Maynard. Win number 599 might just be his most rewarding.  That victory gave JCCC its fist berth to the NJCAA JUCO World Series.  He got win number 600 in his first game of the 2009 campaign.

In 1987, Kent Shelley accepted the challenge to build on Johnson County’s rich baseball tradition established by legendary coach Sonny Maynard.  Shelley has not disappointed the Cavalier faithful, directing the JCCC baseball program to the forefront of junior college baseball in not only the East Jayhawk Conference and Region VI, but nationwide.

In his career at Johnson County, Shelley has earned a reputation for consistently fielding teams that play good fundamental baseball.  His teams bat with strict mechanics, play stingy defense, move runners station-to-station and consistently make the smart decision essential to the game of baseball.  His teams over his career have been noted for its overall speed.

Testament to that philosophy is apparent in the fact that JCCC has been one of the country’s top-hitting clubs six times in his tenure. Nine times he has produced one of the nation’s leaders in stolen bases.  In 2002, Ben Duval led the country wit 50, and two years later Vince Rodden was the NJCAA’s leader with 64.  Two other top five seasons were posted by Jamie Borel in 1992 (3rd-63 steals), Rodden in 2003 (5th-41) and Jeremy Francis in 2008.

Successful seasons have never been unusual for Kent Shelley.  In his 22 seasons as a college head coach, he has produced 12 teams that have surpassed at least 30 wins and his teams have racked up at least 20 wins in 21 of his 22 years at the helm.  The past two seasons, Shelley has racked up over 40 wins each year, winning 41 in 2009 and a personal-best 43 in 2009.

Shelley’s players have also seen unbelievable success.  He has coached five NJCAA All-Americans, two preseason NJCAA All-Americans, one NJCAA World Series All-Tournament selection, five USA Junior College All-Stars, 14 All-Region VI performers, 81 All-East Jayhawk Conference recipients and 15 NJCAA Academic All-Americans, including six in the last four seasons.  In 2008, Doug Otto was a unanimous selection as the conference MVP, the first in the program’s history. He also became the first player to be awarded a Rawlings Gold Glove award.  Shelley also has had two players receive a Rawlings Big Stick Award for posting the top batting average JCCC’s NJCAA District.

To date, 24 of his former Cavalier players have been drafted or signed as free agents by the major leagues since he took over the reigns in 1987.  Pitcher Travis Buckley became the first player put on the 40-man roster of the 1993 expansion Colorado Rockies.  In August of 2002, power hitter Kit Pellow became the first former Johnson County player to make it to the major league level, playing for the Kansas City Royals.  Two years later, Pellow was the opening day starter in left field for the Colorado Rockies.  The most recent draftees, Chris Nash and Brett Kinning were was selected in the 2006 Major League draft by the Cleveland Indians, and signed to a contract, and two years ago, Justin Miller became the highest draft choice in team when the Dodgers selected him in the sixth round with the 206th overall selection.

While developing professional talent is impressive, Shelley is quick to point out the number of former players who have continued their playing and education at four-year universities and college.  A total of 191 student-athletes under his direction have transferred  to four-year institutions, 152 at the NCAA Division I or II level.

Shelley is also highly regarded by his coaching peers and his success at JCCC has earned him national recognition.  In the summer of 1994, Shelley served as head coach for Team USA, a select NJCAA team from the United States that played host to a select team from Japan.  The five-game series was played in Grand Junction, Colo., which is also the host site of the NJCAA World Series.  In 1990, Shelley served as an assistant coach on the first NJCAA team to participate in international competition.  The USA All-Stars from the NJCAA competed in the Friendship Games in Las Tunas, Cuba.  He also has been selected as head coach of the Kansas Region VI Eastern Division All-Stars three times.  Shelley also has the distinction of earning the first Louisville Slugger/Region VI coach of the year honor, after his team captured the Region VI title in 1993.

But Shelley’s influence on junior college baseball is much greater than the many successes his teams have enjoyed on the field.  Shelley has been active on both the national and international levels of junior college baseball.  In January 1997, at the American Baseball Coaches Association annual meeting, he was selected as president of the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association.  As president, Shelley represented the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association on the ABCA Executive Committee.  Before that appointment, Shelley had just concluded a three-year stint as vice-president of the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association.  In addition, he served on the International Baseball Committee for that organization.  He has also represented the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association on the NCAA Division I baseball rules committee.

In 2002 Shelley was selected to serve on the Executive Committee of the American Baseball Coaches Association, becoming just the second coach from the community college ranks to earn such an honor.  He has continued to move up the ranks, and recently completed the role of President of the ABCA, becoming just the second junior college coach to serve as president.  He will continue to serve on the ABCA Board of Directors for life.  The ABCA is the largest coaching organization with nearly 13,000 members around the world.

A solid background in baseball has helped set the stage for Shelley’s success at Johnson County Community College.  He was a collegiate standout catcher at Pratt Community College and the University of Kansas.  At Pratt, he was co-captain and most valuable player in 1980.  At the University of Kansas, Shelley was elected co-captain in 1982.  Following his senior year, he served as graduate assistant for the Jayhawks.  Before taking the helm at JCCC, Shelley served one season at JCCC as assistant coach under Cavalier Hall of Famer Sonny Maynard.

In addition to his coaching duties at JCCC, Shelley also serves an associate scout for the Kansas City Royals. 

Shelley earned his bachelor’s degree in personnel administration at KU and completed his master’s degree in student/personnel administration at Emporia State University. 

Shelley, and his wife, MargE, have two daughters:  Mandi, 21, and Madison, 15.