In this episode, we’re catching up with one of our favorite return guests, JM Kelly, Head Coach of the Dodge City Community College baseball team. Fresh off a whirlwind summer of recruiting and a new addition to his own family, Coach Kelly pulls back the curtain on building a program in one of JUCO baseball’s most competitive conferences.

We dive into the unique challenges and advantages of coaching in the Kansas Jayhawk Conference, from navigating the relentless wind to leveraging a $1.1 million weight room in recruiting. He opens up about the massive transition from a Division II JUCO to a Division I powerhouse, how he rebuilt a roster in just four weeks, and why the culture in Region 6 demands a special kind of player.

In this episode, we cover:

👶 Life & Recruiting on the Road: How Coach Kelly balances life with a new 8-week-old son and a relentless recruiting schedule that has taken him to “more states in the last two months than the last two years.”

🏜️ The Dodge City Difference: The major adjustments moving from the hills of Missouri to the flat, windy plains of Kansas—and why the town’s Texas-like, agriculturally-driven community is a perfect fit.

🛠️ The Rebuild Blueprint: How he inherited only two returners and built a competitive team in one offseason, bringing key players with him from East Central and learning to spread scholarship dollars at the D1 JUCO level.

💨 Surviving the Jayhawk Conference: Why Region 6 is a “beast” top to bottom, how it compares to other powerhouse regions, and why the offensive numbers can be deceiving when evaluating hitters.

🚀 Year Two Outlook: An exciting preview of the #2 ranked recruiting class in the country (Perfect Game), the influx of velocity on the mound, and the benefit of returning the entire coaching staff—plus adding a new outfield coach.

🤠 Rodeo Toughness: How the mentality of the school’s rodeo program influences his own team’s culture and the kind of “crap in your neck” player he wants in his dugout.

🌞 Sunburn Stories & Dugout Tales: A hilarious detour into the worst sunburns in baseball history and the kind of innocent, college-style mischief that defines the JUCO experience.

Tune in for a deep dive into the grind, culture, and strategy of building a winning program in one of the most unpredictable and exciting levels of college baseball.

Support our sponsors:

🌻 Chinook Seeds — Code BANDITS for 10% off

🥎 44Pro — Code BANDITS10 for 10% off

⚾ Flatground Sports — Tag @Flatgroundapp / @Flatgroundbats on X

📬 JBB Substack Juco Pod Special — thejbb.substack.com/JucoPod

🎨 Conner Darnell Designs — @CD_DZNs or [email protected]

📊 Pro Baseball Radar — Code thejbb2026 for 15% off the Recruiting Bundle

Get full access to The JBB at thejbb.substack.com/subscribe