Bio

Amarillo College head baseball coach Brandon Rains emerged as one of the most prominent skippers in the junior college ranks during his tenure at Dallas College Brookhaven (2010-2020).

The West Texas A&M University alum led the Bears to two NJCAA World Series appearances (2013 and 2019) and a 308-190 record over 10 seasons.

Rains earned American Baseball Coaches Association NJCAA Division III Regional Coach of the Year honors in 2013 and 2019, as well as the Metro Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2018.

The Rotan, Texas native is now forging a championship culture in Amarillo as Rains became the Badgers first head coach since the reboot of athletics in 2021.

The second-year coach at AC explained his decision to return to the Amarillo area and build a program from scratch.

“It was an easy decision to come back to the Texas Panhandle. I loved Amarillo when I was here during my time at WT. Amarillo is known for amazing people and it still holds true to this day,” Rains said. “Starting a program, playing at Hodgetown, that certainly was a major factor but being able to raise my kids in Amarillo, it was a no-brainer.”

After a year of recruiting his first-year roster, Rains led Amarillo College to a 28-28 record and a fifth-place finish in Western Junior College Athletic Conference at the NJCAA Division I level.

“In the grand scheme of things, with the perspective of not having uniforms or a roster the year prior, we were able to compete very well in one of the toughest NJCAA conferences in America,” Rains explained. “From that standpoint, it was a successful season.”

With a handful of impactful starters returning and a talented 2023 recruiting class in the fold, a conference championship is where the bar is now set, and will be every year moving forward.

“Those seeds that we planted are starting to grow and blossom. We’re starting to see the results of all of our players hard work and recruiting. In our second year, we definitely feel like we’ll be able to compete with anybody in the country. And we will be from this point forward,” Rains said. “Our talent level will help us win a whole lot of baseball games but in order for us to win championships, we have to stay together, work together and everybody has jobs they need to do and buy into the culture, which they’ve done a great job of doing so far.”

Amarillo College Head Coach

The Badgers start to their inaugural season was one for the record books.

And one that Rains will never forget.

Amarillo College tallied a 10-2 record to begin their 2023 campaign, outscoring opponents 149-80 during the 12-game span.

“The first game and first weekend are something I’ll never forget. It was very special and getting to play at Hodgetown was one of the coolest experiences of my life and coaching,” he said.

The Badgers offense proved to be one of the most explosive in the WJCAC as Rains’ unit averaged over seven runs per game and hit 73 home runs – 28 more than their opponents.

Freshman outfielder Sydney Ward claimed first-team all-conference honors with the eighth-highest home run total (21) in NJCAA Division I.

Freshman pitcher Braylen Timmins also was nabbed as a first-team all-conference selection. Timmins recorded a team-best 82 strikeouts compared to 42 walks in 53.1 innings pitched – a 13.84 strikeouts per nine innings rate.

Five additional Badgers received all-conference honorable-mention accolades including pitcher Reese Frantom, infielder Grant Watkins, catcher RJ Garcia, infielder Dayton Farrar, and infielder Jan Avila.

Three of the eight sophomores on the 2022-23 team signed with four-year programs: Julius Carpio (West Texas A&M), Hudson Stark (West Texas A&M), Ryan Ruff (East Texas Baptist University).

This past fall, Rains had two returning sophomores commit to play for NCAA Division I programs. Avila signed with Rutgers University while Gabe Watson committed to Purdue University.

Rains’ career record as a head coach is 336-218 heading into the 2024 season.

East Central College Head Coach

While Rains’ coaching stop in Union, Missouri was less than a year and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the recruiting class he attained during his seven-month tenure went on to find a great deal of success.

Similar to Amarillo College, Rains recruited a team from scratch as part of a program that had been halted for two decades.

Rains’ recruiting class went on to a conference title in their first season under the direction of his former assistant Jonathan Mills.

Brookhaven College Head Coach

Rains had one of the most successful runs as a head coach in program history during his decade-long tenure with the Bears.

His time in Dallas was highlighted by a pair of NJCAA World Series appearances (2013 and 2019) and a school-record 42 wins during the 2019 campaign.

Brookhaven had seven consecutive 30-win seasons under the direction of Rains, two of which he was named the Metro Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (2017-2018).

The Bears were ranked No. 2 in 2014 and No. 3 to begin the 2020 season.

Rains coached six NJCAA All-Americans and 60 athletes who earned all-conference honors. Ruben Alcala won NJCAA DIII National Player of the Year in 2019. One of the program’s most notable success stories was Mac James, a sixth-round pick in the 2014 MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays and an All- Big 12 performer at the University of Oklahoma.

University of Texas at Dallas Assistant Coach

In 2003, UTD head coach Shane Shewmake named Brandon Rains the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator of the Comets.

The opportunity with the NCAA Division III program proved to be instrumental in Rains’ coaching trajectory.

“If it hadn’t been for coach Shewmake, there never would have been a coach Rains. I owe him a lot,” Rains said. “At UTD, I got to see how a high-level coach operates. It exposed me to the way you do things, how you treat people, and run a quality program.”

Rains never had a losing season during his eight years with the Comets (2003-2010) and had an NCAA Division III Championship Tournament Appearance in 2007.

During the eight-year period, Rains recruited 59 all-conference players and four athletes who were nabbed as NCAA DIII All Americans.

Sixteen baseball players who played for UTD between 2003-2010 went on to play professionally.

University of Saint Mary Assistant Coach & Head Coach

Rains started his coaching career at the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas during the turn of the century.

Over the course of his two-year tenure (2000-2002) at the NAIA level, Rains was the assistant baseball and assistant football coach before becoming the head coach of the baseball program in 2002.

The Spires advanced to the postseason in both 2021 and 2022.

Personal

A native of Rotan, Texas, Rains and his wife, Ashley, have been married for five years. They have two sons, Jase and Cal, and one daughter, Josey.

Rains graduated with a bachelor’s degree from West Texas A&M University in 1999 before attaining his master’s degree in athletic administration from Nova Southeastern University in 2005.