From one NOC campus to the other. NOC Enid has their new baseball coach as it was announced yesterday afternoon that NOC Tonkawa’s Ryan Bay has accepted the head coaching role for the Jets. The move comes just days after former NOC Enid head coach Scott Mansfield was hired to be the new athletic director at Enid High School. Mansfield is taking over for Billy Tipps who left for Bentonville, Arkansas.
Bay is coming into the role as no stranger to the NOC Enid program. As a matter of fact, Bay got his start in coach at NOC Enid as an assistant under Raydon Leaton. Since then, Bay has worked his way into becoming a very successful JUCO head coach. Bay has been a head coach for 20 seasons and has spent the last 9 seasons at NOC Tonkawa and has led the Mavericks to 317-177 record (.641 winning percentage). On top of that, Bay has coached 5 All-Americans and has had 4 players selected in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft during his time at NOC Tonkawa. During his entire 20 year head coaching career, Bay has amassed a 671-474 record (.586 winning percentage) from his time at NOC Tonkawa, NWOSU, Bacone College, William Woods (Fulton, Missouri) University.
In a press release from NOC, Bay noted that the move is “bittersweet” and also added that “Not many coaches get the opportunity to finish their career where it all started. That is pretty exciting for me. I’m very proud of what the players and assistant coaches have helped build here at Tonkawa. I hope our alumni, community, and Tonkawa campus are as proud of those accomplishments as I am. NOC Tonkawa will always have a special place in my heart, I wish the program nothing but success moving forward.”
NOC Athletic Director Alan Foster commented on the hiring saying, “I have known coach Bay for 20 years and worked with him on two different occasions. I think he is one the best baseball coaches I know. My job as athletic director is to try and hire the best people to lead our programs,” he added. “I am confident that he can continue the great tradition of success that is associated with Jet baseball and am excited to have him continue to work for NOC.”
