Bio

Brett McBride is in his 10th season as a full-time assistant as the former Cougar primarily handles the Barton pitching staff and spends countless hours on the recruiting trail bringing top talent to Great Bend.

In his ninth season as the pitching coach in 2023, McBride’s hurlers held an important role guiding the 6th ranked Cougars to a program best single season record of 51-10 while clinching the clubs second straight and 11th Jayhawk West Championship at 26-6.

McBride’s staff, finished the 2023 campaign ranked atop the Jayhawk West and second in the Region with a 4.22 ERA over 459.0 innings worked.

Division I signees, David Stuart (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) and Tegan Cain (University of Kansas) headlined two of the three All-KJCCC West selections picking up second-team honors while closer Hunter Jones (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) signee concluded the postseason awards with an honorable mention nod.

Three of McBride’s starters climbed into the top-9 single season wins leaders led by Oral Roberts University commit Owen Reynolds 9-1 mark tied for fifth most with Cain and Stuart landing a spot back tied for 9th most each posting 8-3 records.

Nothing was different for McBride and his pitchers in 2022, as the staff helped the Cougars to their 10th Jayhawk West title with a league best 24-8 record and overall finish of 41-18.

Posting the fifth best ERA of 4.97 over the 59 games, McBride was led by a pair of First Team All-KJCCC West arms in 2023 fifth round MLB draft pick Zach Thornton and closer Carson Cornelius.

Thornton an All-Region first team selection steered the pitching staff making 15 starts, posting the program’s highest unblemished single season record of 9-0 while logging the fourth most innings in the program’s single season history with 78 2/3 and fanning 91 batters to finish with the fifth most punch outs in the single season record book.

Behind the second-best Region VI team ERA of 4.55 in 2021, McBride and the Cougar hurlers helped Barton to a 34-18 overall record while producing a second-best mark of 20-12 in the KJCCC West standings.

Three Cougars earned post-season honors led by sophomore ace Graham Brunner earning both first team All-Conference and All-Region VI selections. Brunner led all starters with the lowest ERA of 3.84 while tying for the most wins (7). Two other pitchers recorded post-season awards in freshman Zach Thornton and Payton Tinkler both named onto the All-Conference honorable mention teams.

Once again McBride’s pitching staff was resilient through twenty-two contests in 2020, posting a Region VI leading 3.52 ERA helping the 18^th ranked Cougars to a 19-3 record including a KJCCC West leading 5-1 record.  The staff was led by sophomore starters Easton Young, Clay Wesbrooks, and Graham Brunner, combining for an unblemished mark of 13-0 and posting sub 2.50 ERA’s.

In 2019 McBride’s hurlers were pivotal in the Cougars’ run to the final four of the Central District Tournament as Barton earned a pair of first round road victories to knock off the East’s third seeded Kansas City Kansas Community College before continuing the run in Wichita going 2-2 which included defeats over the West champion Butler Grizzlies and ending No. 13 ranked Johnson County’s season.  

Completing the year at 37-22 overall, the Cougar pitching staff ranked second in Region VI with a 3.41 ERA led by first team All-KJCCC and All-Region sophomore Zach Curry’s 2.25 ERA and was the top ranked staff in limiting free passes to the opponents.  Two other pitchers earned post-season accolades in freshman Joe Richter named to the All-Conference honorable mention squad while Easton Smith concluded his Barton career with a complete game victory to end 13^th ranked Johnson County’s season helping the Cougars reach the final four of the Central District Tournament in landing on the All-Tournament Team.

Behind the Region VI’s top pitching staff of a 4.03 ERA and 498 strikeouts, Coach McBride’s hurlers helped lead the Cougars to a historic 47-15 season producing its first Jayhawk title since 1994 with a 23-10 record and its first Central District championship earning its first ever berth in the JUCO World Series.

Three members of the Cougar pitching staff earned post-season honors led by sophomore Josh Hendrickson’s second team selection after a year on the hill matching the program’s most wins (11) and resetting the top mark in innings pitched (96.1) with a program second best 125 total strikeouts.  Freshman Zach Curry also landed on the second team following a perfect 7-0 season while sophomore utility player Dawson Pomeroy earned honorable mention honors in part to his 14.70 strikeouts per nine innings.

For the fourth straight year under the former teammate duo of Biggs and McBride, the Cougars achieved a cumulative 3.20 GPA or better in the classroom to continue the long standing excellence in the classroom in concluding the 2017-18 academic year with a 3.23 GPA.

Coach McBride and his pitching staff help lead the Cougars to a second place 2016-17 conference finish and a 42-18 season, concluding in the elite eight of Region VI.  Three members of McBride’s staff earned post-season honors, including two on the All-Region VI team.

Headlining the pitching staff was the KJCCC pitcher of the year, freshman standout Jarrett Seaton, with sophomore No. 1 pitcher Mason Hiser also landing on the first team while sophomore closer and multi-dimensional player Taylor Langston closing out games to earn a second team honor.

McBride and his band of arms concluded the 2016-17 season as the second best staff in Region VI, finishing runner-up in runs allowed, earned runs allowed, walks allowed, and a 4.09 ERA,.

Stressing excellence on the mound and in the classroom, the Cougars surpassed the 3.20 GPA mark for the third consecutive year as Barton placed third nationally with a Region VI best 3.42 GPA to go along with the College’s top graduation honor as Corrigan Bartlett was selected as one of two outstanding graduates as selected by Barton faculty and staff. 

In McBride’s second season, the Cougars finished 29-27 on the season and 15-17 in the rugged Jayhawk Conference boasting an 18-10 record at home.  The 2016 version of the McBride pitching staff again ranked top-six in not allowing free passes nor the long ball while coming in seventh for fewest earned runs allowed and ninth best ERA among the twenty-one team region.

For the second consecutive season in the Biggs-McBride era, four Cougars landed on the All-Conference team while also accumulating a 3.24 GPA for the second straight year of a 3.20 GPA or better.

The Cougars went 26-27 and 16-16 in McBride’s first year with pitcher Jordan Plank earning All-Conference team honors and grabbing a Gold Glove Award.   The Cougar staff finished the twenty-one team region ranked fifth in walks allowed, seventh in lowest earned runs allowed, and tenth in both ERA and least home runs allowed.

A Lawrence, Kansas, native, McBride played for the Cougars during the 2005 and 2006 seasons, returning to Barton for his second stint as assistant coach.  McBride began his collegiate coaching career under former skipper Mike Warren for the 2011 and 2012 seasons with a one season stint at Northeast Texas Community College occurring before returning to Barton in 2014.