From November 15-17 Babe Ruth Calgary will be hosting a College Recruitment Weekend with JM Kelly,  Head Coach of the Dodge City CC baseball program.

The weekend includes workouts Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday, with a parent session on Saturday afternoon.

To register please CLICK HERE

About JM Kelly:

JM Kelly enters his first season as Head Coach of the Dodge City CC baseball program taking over for the Conquistadors in July 2024.

Kelly comes to Dodge City after serving as Head Coach at East Central College an NJCAA school in Union, Missouri. He led the Falcons to the Region 16 NJCAA Division II title as the team finished 37-21 (school record for wins) as the team went to the Super Regional (District Tournament) and Kelly earned Region 16 Coach of the Year. He also earned Coach of the Year in the Missouri Community College Athletic Conference with four of his players earning all-conference honors during the 2024, and eight players earned all-region. In his first season at ECC, he guided the Falcons to a 20-22 record and the team had the Region 16 Player of the Year, Shane Kearbey with nine all-region players overall and one MCCAC all-conference honoree.

Before taking over at ECC, Coach Kelly was an assistant coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville (NCAA DII) who competed in the Lone Star Conference. During the 2022 season, he helped the Javelinas to a Top 25 ranking to finish the season and a regional runner-up; the season would also see the program have a third-team All-American and Lone Star Conference Newcomer of the Year.

He spent the 2021 season as the catching coach and assistant hitting coach at NCAA DI, Charleston Southern University. The Buccaneer catchers threw out runners 10% more often than the previous season as well as averaging fewer passed balls per nine innings. The Charleston Southern hitters finished in the Top 3 in the Conference in almost every major offensive category. While in Charleston he also worked with the Tampa Bay Rays Low-A affiliate, Charleston River Dogs. This was his second experience working around professional baseball as he also spent two years as an associate scout with the Houston Astros.

Kelly spent a year and a half as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for his junior college alma mater, Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa. In his only full season assisting with the NOC hitters, they ranked in the top 10 nationally in almost every offensive category. The catchers also saw success throwing out over 35% of would-be base stealers. In his time at Tonkawa, he saw 10 players move on to the DI level and eight more move on to the DII level. He also coached five All-Americans in his time with the Mavericks.

He spent his first season at the collegiate level as the Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Carl Albert State College. Kelly coached a pair of Gold Glove Honorees and one All-Conference performer at CASC while seeing multiple players go on to DI and DII levels.

Before stepping into the collegiate ranks, he spent a year at Tomball High School, a 6A program in the state of Texas with a very rich tradition of success. Kelly coached nine players who went on to play at the DI level while 11 others went on the play across various levels of college baseball. During this time in Tomball, he also served as an associate scout for Toby Bicknell and the Prep Baseball Report team in Texas.

Kelly has spent six summers coaching at the Collegiate Summer League level. The 2024 and 2023 seasons saw him serve as the Head Coach for the Thunder Bay Border Cats in the Northwoods League. The 2024 was one of the best in years for the Thunder Bay Border Cats finishing with 35 wins and a winning season for the first time since 2008. The team was Superior Cup Champions and had a mid-season draft pick during the 2024 season. In the team’s first season back in the NWL he led them to 27 wins in 2023.

In 2022 he was the Head Coach for the North Platte Plainsmen of the Independence League and in their inaugural year would post a 32-21 record one of the best records in the league. He spent the summer of 2021 as the Pitching Coach for the Brazos Valley Bombers of the Texas Collegiate League where he helped guide a pitching staff that finished at the top of the league in ERA while one of his pitchers was the League’s Pitcher of the Year. He spent the summer of 2020 as the Hastings Sodbusters (Expedition League) skipper and oversaw a team that finished second in the Expedition League at 29-21. That season was the first, and only, in Sodbusters history in which they finished with a winning record. His first year as a manager was spent with the El Dorado Broncos (Sunflower League). In his lone season with the club, he helped guide them to a 22-13 record narrowly missing out on the NBC World Series.

Kelly played college baseball starting his career at the junior college level competing at Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa for his freshman season. He would transfer to Lamar University where he would be part of the Top 25 ranked team in 2016 before transitioning into a student manager role while finishing out his bachelor’s degree.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Lamar and his master’s degree in sports administration from East Central University (Ada, OK). Kelly is married to his wife Emily Kelly (Neuman).