“I’m going to need him by my side” - Aggies HC Michael Earley announces Jason Kelly’s addition to Texas A&M baseball coaching staff

Texas A&M coach Michael Earley announced the arrival of Jason Kelly to his coaching staff on Thursday. Kelly will join the Aggies as their pitching coach and associate head coach, after working two seasons as the head coach at Washington.

Earley spoke to reporters on Thursday and said that he was excited to have Kelly in his backroom staff.

“A ton of experience, and I’m going to need him by my side,” Earley said. “He was a gigantic piece of the puzzle for me, and I’m super excited for you guys to get to meet him and his family. He’s just a baseball guy.”

Kelly joins the Aggies after compiling a 54-51-1 record as head coach of the Washington Huskies. He led the team to the regionals in his first season in 2023.

Before taking up his first head coaching gig at Washington, Kelly spent 11 seasons as a pitching coach at Washington, Arizona State and LSU.

In 2018, Kelly was with Washington when the team made its first appearance in the College World Series. Now, it will be interesting to see how he works with Earley at Texas A&M.

Michael Earley welcomes Caleb Longley as new Texas A&M assistant coach

Along with Kelly, Michael Earley also announced the arrival of Caleb Longley to his backroom staff. Longley will serve as an assistant to him, and will also be the new recruiting and hitting coach for Texas A&M.

“He (Longley) is one of the best hitting guys I’ve ever been around in my life,” said Earley. “We used to work together a few years ago and he went off on his way, and he’s really just trailblazing college baseball.

"He’s widely known and respected. We don’t talk about who’s better, but we always compete against each other. And I love that. I love working with him more. He’s a big piece to my puzzle because I understand as a head coach, my responsibilities are going to be a lot different.”

Earley was appointed as the new Texas A&M coach on Tuesday, a week after Jim Schlossnagle left the program to take up the head coaching job at Texas.

Schlossnagle departed to the Aggies' in-state rivals only a few days after finishing as a College World Series runner-up.