Coaching Staff 2013 Big 12 Champions
Ryan Gaines Coordinator of Baseball Operations Ninth Season Oklahoma ‘95
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Ryan Connolly Volunteer Assistant Coach Recruiting Coordinator First Season Notre Dame ‘09
Ryan Gaines enters his ninth season as OU baseball’s coordinator of baseball operations in 2014. Gaines completed his first season on the staff in 2006 after returning to OU on August 1, 2005.
Ryan Connolly was introduced as the volunteer assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Pete Hughes’ staff on August 2, 2013. Connolly spent the 2013 season as an assistant coach at Radford University in Virginia.
Gaines is responsible for the day-to-day operations off the field, including team travel, serving as a liaison with the training room, equipment room, media relations, strength and conditioning, athletics administration and Home Run Club. He is also the camp director for the Oklahoma Baseball Camp.
“We could not be more excited about the hiring of Ryan Connolly,” stated Hughes. “With Ryan’s skillset and experience, we have essentially hired another full time coach in our volunteer slot.”
The Harrah, Okla., native worked as a student trainer for the University of Oklahoma baseball and football teams from the fall of 1991 to spring of 1995. In addition, he was the team trainer for the Peninsula Oilers baseball team in Kenai, Alaska, for three years, including the 1993 and 1994 seasons when the Oilers won back-to-back NBC World Series championships. In 1996, he landed at Oral Roberts University where he served as the baseball team’s administrative assistant in 1996 and 1997. Prior to his stint in Norman, he worked in the sporting goods industry as a successful team salesman from August of 1997 to July of 2005. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Gaines received his bachelor’s degree in health and sports science in 1996. Gaines and his wife, Kate, who also works for the athletics department as an administrative assistant for women’s basketball, have two children, Hannah (13) and Gabe (9).
46 | 2014 University of Oklahoma Baseball • SoonerSports.com
In Connolly’s one season with Radford, the Spiders went 30-26 and finished fourth in the Big South with a 14-10 record. Prior to last season, Connolly spent 2011 and 2012 as a volunteer assistant under Hughes at Virginia Tech. There his duties included assisting with all day-to-day aspects of the program as well as coaching the hitters and handling recruiting. “His organizational skills and his ability to recruit made it an easy decision for me to name him our recruiting coordinator, as well as our catching coach. I have no doubt that Ryan will soon be one of the most well respected recruiting coordinators in college baseball. We are very grateful to be adding this top notch person to our Sooner baseball family.” A 2009 graduate of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and pre-professional studies, Connolly was a standout for the Fighting Irish from 2006-10. He led the team with a .335 batting average as a senior to go with 11 home runs and 38 runs batted in. Connolly earned four letters and was twice selected as a team captain. Connolly and his mother, Penny, are co-chairs of the Michael E. Connolly Endowment for Lung Cancer Research, named in honor of his late father.