COACHES

RYAN SHOTZBERGER

Ryan Shotzberger was named the Cardinals Head Coach on June 24, 2019. Although the 2020 season was cut short due to Covid-19, Shotzberger led the Cardinals to a 9-6 record leading up to conference play. In 2021, UIW made Sports Center's Top 10 with Jordan McFarland's over the wall grab to prevent a home run against at the time #3 Texas.  The Cardinals had 2 sweeps on the year including a 4 game sweep against conference opponent HBU.

Shotzberger has made a strong impact throughout his coaching career. He has been a part of seven 40+ win seasons, 11 Conference Championships, nine NCAA Regionals, three NCAA Super Regionals, and one College World Series berth while at Houston and TCU. With 60 players drafted with eight players appearing on MLB active rosters, Shotzberger's goal is to help prepare athletes for the next level.

At UH, the Delaware native was responsible for offensive development. Under his direction, Houston hit .266 in 2017 with 37 home runs, 101 doubles and 11 triples. The Cougars ranked second in the league and notched a .976 fielding percentage for second-best all-time in program history. Shotzberger worked with record breaking first baseman, Joe Davis who closed his career with 53 home runs, 107 extra-base hits, 223 RBI and 503 total bases. Davis was named to Midseason Perfect Game/Rawlings All-America Second Team, and later to the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I Central All-Region Second Team.

During his time at TCU, on top of being a part of multiple conference championships, regional appearances and a trip to the College World Series, Shotzberger tutored three All-Conference catchers in Andrew Walker, Josh Elander and Bryan Holaday, the 2010 Johnny Bench Award recipient.

Prior to his time in Fort Worth, Shotzberger coached at Duke University and Cecil Community College. During his playing career, he was a record setting shortstop at Western Maryland, now known as McDaniel College, where he led the team in stolen bases, hits and homeruns.

Shotzberger can be reached by email at shotzber@uiwtx.edu. 

GREG EVANS

ASSISTANT COACH

Coach Evans was announced as the Assistant Coach on August 26, 2019. He joins the staff after 30 years of coaching experience at all levels of baseball.

Evans spent his past two seasons as the Assistant Coach at Grayson College. Prior to Grayson, he spent a season each as an assistant at Abilene Christian and Houston. He was also an assistant coach for the Houston softball team.

Arguably one of the top infield coaches in the country, Evans was an Assistant Baseball Coach for nine seasons at Texas Tech under longtime skipper Larry Hays before moving to Oklahoma State where he most recently served nine seasons as Associate Head Coach under Frank Anderson.

Evans began his career at Texas Tech in 1993 with the first of two stints as a Red Raider Coach. He coached three seasons with the Red Raiders prior to being named the Head Coach at Grayson County College.

After spending a season as an area scout for the Montreal Expos, Evans made his return to Lubbock a year later where he would remain for the next six years until departing to join Frank Anderson's staff at Oklahoma State for the 2004 season.

In 20 baseball seasons as a Division I Assistant Coach, Evans has been part of 12 teams that advanced to the postseason as Oklahoma State was selected to an NCAA Regional six times during his tenure. The Cowboys also advanced to its first Super Regional since 1999 during the 2007 season as the Cowboys fell a win shy of advancing to the College World Series.

During his time at both Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, Evans helped produce several of the top defenses in the country as the Red Raiders ranked among the top five teams nationally in 1999 with a .971 fielding percentage.

His Cowboy defenses had similar success with seven seasons of a .970 fielding percentage or higher, including an impressive .980 average from 2012 that ranked third nationally and set the single-season OSU record. Oklahoma State posted only two seasons below a.970 fielding percentage.

In addition to his work as infield coach, Evans is known as a top-flight recruiter as he helped sign a 2004 class at Oklahoma State that ranked fourth nationally by Collegiate Baseball and seventh by Baseball America. The Cowboys secured another top-10 ranking by both publications again in 2006 before pulling in the No. 15 rated class in 2010.

Evans began his career as an Assistant Coach at Lubbock Christian University, where he spent three seasons before being named Head Coach at Frank Phillips College. Evans went 64-46 in two seasons with the Plainsmen while breaking the school record with 39 wins.

The Boyle, Miss., native joined the coaching profession after a four-year playing career at Ole Miss where he spent time at second and third base as well as in the outfield.

Evans can be reached by email at gsevans@uiwtx.edu.

KYLE SIMONDS

ASSISTANT COACH
@KyleSimonds14

Kyle Simonds enters his first season as the UIW Pitching Coach. The Nebraska native comes to San Antonio serving on the coaching staff for his alma mater, Texas A&M Baseball for 3 years. Simonds scouting reports helped the 2019 Aggie pitching staff lead the nation in K-to-BB ratio (3.33), earn a second-place ranking in strikeouts per nine innings (10.9) and third in ERA (3.21). His impact in developing pitchers, led to 8 of his players getting drafted in the past 3 MLB drafts.

"I am very excited to add Kyle Simonds and his wife, Hannah, into our program," coach Shotzberger said. "Kyle had an outstanding playing career at Texas A&M and returned to help lead the pitching staff with Rob Childress. His passion, knowledge, competitiveness and dedication for the game will help our pitchers and student-athletes throughout their time at UIW. His track record of developing players on the field speaks for itself. Our pitchers are excited to get to work with him, and I am glad he is a Cardinal."

Simonds himself was selected in 14th round by the Washington Nationals in the 2016 MLB Draft. He spent 2 years in the minors with an in-season promotion during his rookie season. After 57 strikeouts, a 5-0 record in 30 relief appearances in 2017, Simonds chose to return to his alma mater to earn his masters and join the coaching staff.

As a player at A&M, Simonds pitched an impressive no-hitter against the then-No. 2 Vanderbilt Commodores on May 7, 2016. He closed out his career adding his name to the Aggie's Career ERA list in the 11th slot with a 2.53 mark. In 39 games, he garnered 112 strikeouts in 152.2 innings and a 14-5 record with two saves.

As a senior, Simonds as named to the Perfect Game/Rawlings All-America Honorable Mention list. That season, Simonds registered an 11-3 record with a 2.61 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 80 strikeouts in 17 starts. In 2015, he notched a 3-2 record with two saves, a 2.39 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 52.2 innings. 

Coach Kyle Simonds is the kind of coach who will help develop and lead the Cardinals' pitching staff to maximize their potential. 

Coach Simonds can be reached at simonds@uiwtx.edu. 

QUITIN CRANDALL

ASSISTANT COACH
@QCrand11

Bio coming soon...