Kirk Kelley became the first head football coach at Lyon College since 1951 when he was named to the position in July 2013 after the Institution re-instated the sport.
Kelley, a member of the 2010 Lyon Athletics Hall of Fame Class, made a return to the institution where he built its baseball team into a NAIA championship contender and will attempt to do the same with the Scots' new football program, which is scheduled to begin intercollegiate play in 2015.
Kelley's recruiting territories for the Scots football team includes Florida, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Wyoming and western Texas.
The 48-year old Kelley is originally from the Oklahoma City area, but graduated from Sarasota Riverview High School in Florida. He played quarterback at the school, before moving on to St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City, Kansas. He also played football at the NAIA institution, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in 1988. He earned his Master's Degree in Education from Northwest Missouri State University in 1993.
Kelley has 17 years of collegiate head coaching experience under his belt. His longest tenure was at Lyon College, where he served as athletics director and head baseball coach from 1992-2009.
He faced the task of starting the Scots' first baseball program in the 1993 season, eventually leading the squad to the school's highest ranking of any team sport, earning a No. 4 ranking in 2005.
Kelley, who recorded 595 wins as a collegiate baseball coach, led three Lyon teams to appearances in the NAIA Regionals, finishing runner-up in 2002. He also coached over 50 all-conference players, five All-Americans and a Rawlings National Gold Glove winner.
His most recent coaching tenure was at University of Central Arkansas (Division I), where he served as associate head coach of the baseball program for three years (2011-13), leading the team to the 2013 Southland Conference Tournament championship. The team posted a school record 42-22 record this past season and finished in the NCAA Top 25 for the first time in the school's history.
He also served as athletic director and head baseball coach at Oklahoma Wesleyan University (NAIA) from 2009-11, winning the 2011 NCCAA National Championship and being named National Coach of the Year.
Kelley and his wife Marcia have seven children: Kristen, 24; Katherine, 24; Kraig, 21; Kendra, 15; Kortney, 13; Kade, 10; and Kyle, 6.
