COACHING STAFF

Roland Fanning, an Oklahoma State baseball staff member for the past three seasons, has been named Austin Peay State University's 12th head baseball coach, Vice President and Director of Athletics Gerald Harrison announced May 30, 2022.

Fanning brings 15 seasons as an assistant coach, including eight combined seasons at Oklahoma State and Kentucky, to Austin Peay. While he was on the Cowboys and Wildcats staffs those programs posted three 40-plus win campaigns, with this season's OSU squad a win away from another 40-win season.

He also has developed top-caliber athletes, with two conference player of the year award winners and 21 All-American Selections. He has seen 56 athletes selected in the MLB Draft, with three chosen in the first round and seven reaching the major leagues.

And yet, the athletes Fanning has coached also have excelled off the field. Over 300 athletes have earned academic honors during Fanning's coaching career.

The Coalgate, Oklahoma native is completing his third season in his second turn as an Oklahoma State baseball staff member. In his current tenure, he is the Cowboys' Director of Player Development. In 2021, the Cowboys posted 36 wins and appeared in the NCAA Baseball Tournament at the Tuscon Regional. OSU has 39 wins this season and is positioned to receive an at-large bid in this season's NCAA Tournament.

Oklahoma State is led by starting pitcher Justin Campbell, who was named a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, Tuesday. Campbell was one of five Cowboys to earn First Team All-Big 12 honors, Tuesday. Last season, three Oklahoma State baseball student-athletes were named to All-American squads and two were named Freshman All-America.

Off the field, Oklahoma State received the American Baseball Coaches Association's Team Academic Excellence award in both 2021 and 2022.

Before rejoining the Oklahoma State staff, Fanning was an assistant coach at Kentucky for three seasons (2017-19) and served as the Wildcats recruiting coordinator. He helped lead UK to its first NCAA Super Regional appearance in 2017 to cap a 43-win season in Lexington. In his three seasons in Lexington, Fanning was on a staff that amassed a program-record 103 wins over three years.

Fanning also was responsible for the Wildcats' Top 20 recruiting classes in both 2017 and 2018. He also helped develop a program-record 13 players selected in the 2018 MLB Draft and saw two UK athletes selected in the First Round of the MLB Draft in 2017 (Evan White) and 2019 (Zack Thompson).

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Austin Peay State University head baseball coach Roland Fanning's coaching staff will have a Governors alumnus as a member with Keirce Kimbel joining the staff as an assistant coach in July 2022. He will serve as the program's hitting coach and recruiting coordinator.

Kimbel, a Franklin, Tennessee native, returns to Clarksville after completing his third season at Evansville. He was the Purple Aces pitching coach in 2022 and helped lead the team to a 32-24 record – the program's first 30-win season since 2014 – and a second-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season race. Kimbel helped coach Nick Smith to MVC Pitcher of the Year accolades and the Purple Aces, who hit a program-record 77 home runs, saw seven players selected to the 2022 All-MVC teams.

The previous season Kimbel was Evansville's hitting coach in a 28-27 campaign after beginning his Evansville career as the volunteer assistant coach in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season.

Kimbel began his coaching career at Kentucky where he was a graduate assistant for the 2018 and 2019 seasons where served alongside Fanning, who was a Wildcats assistant coach for three seasons (2017-19).

Governors fans will remember Kimbel for his two seasons as a pitcher during the 2015 and 2016 seasons and returning to serve as the operations assistant in 2017. He made 30 career appearances in the red and white. He joined the Governors after beginning his career at Columbia State Community College where he made 39 appearances over two seasons. Kimbel earned his bachelor's degree in agriculture business in 2016 at Austin Peay. He completed his master's degree in sports leadership in 2019 at Kentucky.

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Austin Peay State University head baseball coach Roland Fanning continued to build his coaching staff, bringing aboard Heath Holliday as Special Assistant to the Head Coach and Director of Scouting and Development in July 2022.

Holliday, a Bixby, Oklahoma native, comes to Clarksville after four seasons as an area scouting supervisor with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization (2017-21). He was responsible for the Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas region and aided the Dodgers organization in the evaluation of prospects and assigning draft value while also determining the prospect's potential for success.

Prior to his time within the Dodgers organization, Holliday was the Director of Operations at Oklahoma State for two seasons (2015-17). He coordinated and planned the Cowboys' on-campus recruiting strategy, organized and led donor functions, and planned advanced scouting reports to assist the head coach with in-game strategy. In that role, he helped OSU reach the 2016 NCAA College World Series and claim the 2017 Big 12 Championship with 17 OSU players ultimately drafted from his time in Stillwater.

Holliday's baseball career began as the video coordinator at Auburn during the 2015 season. He implemented video analysis for player development and aided in both on-campus and off-campus recruiting while with the Tigers.

A 2014 graduate of Oklahoma State, Holliday was a member of the Cowboys baseball program for two seasons as a catcher. He is no stranger to Tennessee, playing 25 games as a catcher during the 2012 season at Cumberland. Holliday began his collegiate career at Connors State College in Oklahoma. He was drafted in the 45th round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies prior to attending Connors State.

Under Smith's guidance in 2021, Rutgers held opponents to 52-for-162 on third down (32.1 percent), the 10th-best percentage nationally. That mark included nine games allowing five or less conversions with a season-best 1-for-14 at Indiana. The Scarlett Knights also finished the season holding their opponent to under 300 yards of total offense on six different occasions and allowed just 31 points in the fourth quarter all year.

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Austin Peay State University head baseball coach Roland Fanning brings a piece of Oklahoma State's baseball program with him as Jon Littell, a Cowboys graduate manager last season, joins the Governors' staff as a volunteer assistant coach and camp director in June 2022.

In his two seasons on the Oklahoma State staff, Littell worked with Major League Baseball veteran Robin Ventura. He also assisted with film reviews, scouting reports, and team travel. His stint in Stillwater followed a COVID-shortened season as a volunteer assistant at Division II Central Oklahoma where the Bronchos posted a 17-3 record prior to the season's stoppage.

A Stillwater native, Littell played four seasons as an outfielder at Oklahoma State. He batted .257 with 13 home runs and 108 RBI over 193 games for the Cowboys. He was a Second Team All-Big 12 pick as a senior, finishing the season with a .266 batting average, seven home runs, and 42 RBI. Littell also was a three-time Academic All-Big 12 selection during his career.

OSU made four NCAA Tournament appearances during Littell's career, reaching the College World Series during the 2016 season. Littell was named to the Clemson All Region Team during that 2016 run after going 8-for-13 (.615) at the plate with a double and three RBI.

Following his OSU playing career, Littell was drafted in 37th round of the 2018 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played two seasons in the Dodgers organization and was selected to the Pioneer League All-Star Team in 2019, where he hit the go-ahead three-run home run in a Pioneer League victory against the Northwest League. Prior to joining Oklahoma State, he was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 39th round of the 2014 MLB Draft.

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