EVANSTON, Ill. – Sidney and Mildred LaPidus Head Baseball Coach Ben Greenspan announced the addition of Jason Kelly to his coaching staff. Kelly will serve as the pitching coach.
“Jason Kelly is universally regarded as one of the preeminent pitching coaches in the country,” Greenspan said. “He has many years of high-level experience as an assistant and head coach, which will benefit our pitchers, position players and staff. JK has an incredible wealth of knowledge but more importantly, he is an exceptional teacher. I look forward to working with him and our program benefiting from his wisdom and experience.”
Welcome to Northwestern, Jason Kelly 🤝 pic.twitter.com/fpIVAxVs0C
— Northwestern Baseball (@NUCatsBaseball) July 14, 2026
The 2018 D1Baseball Assistant Coach of the Year, Kelly boasts over 20 years of experience in college baseball, including head coaching experience at Washington. Over his career, Kelly has coached 48 pitchers selected in the MLB Draft and 22 all-conference arms. Kelly arrives in Evanston after stops at Texas A&M, Washington, LSU, Arizona State and Cal Poly.
“My family and I are incredibly thankful and excited to be part of the Northwestern family!” said Kelly. “Coach Greenspan and his staff have proven that Northwestern baseball is on the rise. I can’t wait to be part of it!”
In 2025, Kelly’s Texas A&M pitching staff ranked second nationally in walks per nine (2.89), third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.31), 11th in WHIP (1.27) and 20th in ERA (4.30).
As head coach at Washington, Kelly led the Huskies to an NCAA Regional berth with a 35-20 record in 2023, finishing third in the Pac-12 after being projected to finish seventh in the preseason poll. His 35 wins in his debut season are second-most by a first-year head coach in UW history.
As an assistant coach at UW, Kelly’s Huskies were ranked as high as fifth nationally in 2014 by Baseball America, Perfect Game and Collegiate Baseball, the highest ranking in program history. UW’s 2014 team ERA of 3.11 ranked third in the Pac-12 and was the lowest by the Huskies since 1985. Under Kelly’s tutelage on Montlake, Troy Rallings was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year and was a 2016 unanimous First Team All-American.