All-Time Baseball Coaching Records

Sonny Maynard
1973-86 (12 Seasons)
504-176 (.741)

Few men have had as great an impact on amateur baseball as Sonny Maynard, who directed the Cavaliers baseball program to the forefront of collegiate baseball in not only the Jayhawk Conference, but nationwide.  The first coach in JCCC baseball history, Maynard logged 504 victories in 14 years as the Cavaliers skipper, an average of 36 wins per season.  Five of his 14 seasons he led JCCC to 40 or more wins, including a school record 48 in 1985.  He finished with a career winning percentage of .741, and never finished with a percentage below .600.  Maynard also piled up championships, amassing seven East Jayhawk Conference titles, four Eastern Sub-region titles, three Region VI titles and five national rankings.  Nineteen of his players were drafted by professional baseball teams, and he tutored five All-Americans and 36 All-Region VI performers.  In the summer of 1980, Maynard was selected by the United States Baseball Federation as one of the coaches for the Japan-USA All-Star Series.  The USA team lost the first game, but won six straight for the championship.

Carl Heinrich
1999 (1 Season)
28-19 (.596)

Carl Heinrich became just the third coach in the program history in 1999, serving a pinch hitter for Kent Shelley.  Former JCCC athletic director Lori Mallory’s choice for an interim successor seem natural.  Heinrich, who has served as Shelley’s top assistant, had been an instrumental part of building JCCC baseball into one of the most competitive and highly regarded programs in the NJCAA. Who else could assume the leadership and keep the Cavaliers tradition going strong?  Heinrich led his team to a 28-19 mark, the most wins by a first year coach in JCCC baseball history.  Heinrich also led his club to two wins in the Eastern sub-region tournament, including a 5-2 victory over defending national champion Cowley County.  Individually, Heinrich coached eight all-conference players, tying only the 1992 season for most honored players, and the JCCC Male Athlete of the Year. Heinrich also saw nine sophomore sign letters of intent.

Kent Shelley
1987-98 / 2000-20 (33 Seasons)
1075-603-1 (.641)

Kent Shelley retired following the 2020 season after 33 seasons as skipper of the Cavaliers baseball program. He ammassed an impressive 1075-603-1 mark, led four teams to Eastern Sub-Regional championships, four squads won NJCAA Region VI titles, three East Jayhawk Conference titles and two NJCAA World Series appearances.  Highly regarded by his coaching peers and his success at JCCC earned him national recogntion. In 2007 he was inducted into the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, just the second from the Kansas Jayhawk Conference. In January 2013, Shelley earned baseball’s highest honor when he was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Fame. That same year he joined the JCCC Athletics Hall of Fame, and in December 2015, he was inducted into the Ban Johnson League Hall of Fame. In his 33 seasons at Johnson County, Shelley produced nine teams that surpassed 40 wins, 20 that surpassed 30 wins and 32 of 33 teams topped 20 or more wins, including the most recent season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cavaliers were 20-3, stood in first place in the conference and were ranked among the top-10 in the NJCAA. Shelley’s players also saw unbelievable success. He coached 11 NJCAA All-Americans, two preseason All-Americans, one World Series All-Tournament selection, six USA Junior College All-Stars, 34 All-Region VI performers, 176 All-East Jayhawk Conference selections, two conference MVPs, two conference freshmen of the year, one conference pitcher of the year, one Rawlings Gold Glove recipient and two Rawlings Big Stick award winners. Additionally, 44 of his former players were drafted or signed as free agents by Major League Baseball since he took over as head coach in 1987. 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. While developing professional talent is impressive, Shelley also had a significant number of players continue their playing careers at four-year universities and colleges. A total of 316 student-athletes under his direction transferred to play at four-year institutions, and that number is sure to increase with athletes from the 2020 team still actively being recruited. Off the field, Shelley’s players have been honored by the NJCAA for academic excellence 63 times, and in 2019, pitcher Dylan Bierman became the first JCCC male athlete to earn Academic All-America® College Division At-Large as named by College Sports Communicators (CSC) formerly CoSIDA.

Eric Horner
2021-Present (3 Seasons)
145-37 (.797)

Eric Horner completed season as head coach of the Johnson County Community College baseball team, and his 20th with the program. He is just the fourth head coach in the 49-year history of the program. He replaced NJCAA and ABCA Hall of Fame coach Kent Shelley who retried at the end of the 2020 season.

Three seasons into his tenure, Horner has topped 40 wins all three years highlighted by a program record 56-10 mark in2023, bringing his overallmark to 145-37 (.797). All three of his teams have opened as a top-20 program, in 2023 ended the year rank No. 2 nationally. He also has produced 32 Kansas Jayhawk Conference performers, one KJCCC Pitcher of the Year, one KJCCC Freshman of the Year,  nine All-Region VI selections and produced 17 players who earned NJCAA All-Academic recognition. He also has three players earn All-Acdemic District College Division At-Large as named by College Sports Communicators (CSC) formerly CoSIDA. Horner also has helped place 41 players in four-year programs, including 24 at the NCAA D-I level.

In 2023, Johnson County opened as the No. 16 ranked team in the country  and continued to move up the charts all season landing at the No. 2 spot in the final NJCAA Poll. The Cavaliers set team records for regular season with win with 49 and oveerall victories with 56, finishing with a 56-10 mark. Horner also guided the team to a Kansas Jayhawk East Division title and a Region 6/Plains District championship, earning a spot in the Alpine Bank JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colo.