Brad Bohannon, Auburn Tigers

Brad Bohannon is in his second year as an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator of the Auburn Tigers. Named the 2015 Baseball America and American Baseball Coaches Association National Assistant Coach of the Year, Bohannon spent 12 seasons at the University of Kentucky, from 2004-15, where he assisted in overseeing the best 11-year run in program history. He served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator while working with the outfielders and serving as third-base coach during his stint at Kentucky.

A native of Rome, Ga., Bohannon moved to UK before the 2004 season after two seasons at Wake Forest. With the Wildcats he was an assistant coach on John Cohen’s staff from 2004-08 and as the recruiting coordinator/infield coordinator for Gary Henderson from 2009-15.

Bohannon helped guide the Wildcats to their first SEC Championship in program history, the first NCAA Regional held in Lexington and three record-breaking win seasons including 2012’s 45-win mark, a program record.

A total of 69 Kentucky players were selected in the MLB Draft or signed as a free agent, a program best, from Bohannon’s time as UK’s recruiting coordinator. In 2012, nine of his recruits were picked in the MLB Draft, a new school record, marking the second-most in the NCAA.

One of Bohannon’s most prized recruits was former Kentucky star AJ Reed, the 2014 Golden Spikes Award winner and consensus national player of the year. Bohannon spotted Reed as a projectable youth talent and brought him to Kentucky for a freshman All-America season in 2012. A two-way star, Reed then led the NCAA in homers and slugging percentage as a junior, also leading the Southeastern Conference in pitching wins, a first in the storied history of the league.

Bohannon welcomed the top recruiting classes in the 117-year history of the Kentucky program, as the 2008 group was ranked No. 4 in the nation by Baseball America and his 2009 class was tabbed No. 6 by Collegiate Baseball. Bohannon’s Kentucky classes were annually ranked among the NCAA’s best, with top groups in 2006 (No. 21), 2007 (No. 31), 2010 (No. 16), 2012 (No. 25), 2013 (No. 11), 2014 (No. 25) and 2015 (No. 14).

Bohannon had a big hand in turning around a Kentucky program that was the first SEC team ever to go from “worst-to-first” in one year, claiming the school’s first SEC title in 2006. The 2006 campaign saw the Wildcats win a school-record 44 games and host the school’s first NCAA Regional Tournament.