Bio

Coaching veteran Brett Kimbrel is in his sixth season as head baseball coach and eighth year overall at East Mississippi Community College.

After two seasons as EMCC’s assistant baseball coach, Kimbrel was promoted to the head position following the Lions’ 2018 season.

Along with their recently improved baseball facilities, including a fully turfed playing field, the Lions have put together a post-COVID, three-year composite record of 70-63 with postseason tournament appearances each of the past two seasons. Two years ago, the Lions enjoyed a breakout campaign by posting records of 28-19 overall and 20-8 in conference play for their best marks since the 2015 season. After finishing third in the MACCC regular-season standings, the 2022 EMCC club secured a No. 2 regional seeding in making the program’s first NJCAA Region 23 Tournament appearance in seven years.     

Since Kimbrel’s arrival on the Scooba campus in 2016, the Lions have had nearly 50 players move on to continue their baseball careers at the four-year collegiate level or professionally, including current Boston Red Sox minor league prospect Tyler Miller (Auburn) as well as 2017 Major League Baseball Draft selections Vijay Miller (Padres) and Marcus Ragan (Red Sox). From EMCC’s successful 2022 squad, the Lions had 10 players advance to the university level, including All-MACCC two-way standout Blayze Berry (UAB).  

Off the field, the Lions have shown consistent success within the classroom under Kimbrel’s guidance by posting team grade point averages of 3.43 or better during each of the past three seasons to rank among the top 15 academic team leaders in NJCAA Division II baseball. Having established a new academic standard for EMCC’s baseball program with a conference-best and No. 7-nationally ranked 3.53 team grade point average in 2021-22, the Lions have also posted team GPA marks of 3.45 this past year and 3.43 in 2020-21.

Having brought his vast baseball knowledge and dedicated experience within the Alabama community college system to EMCC, Kimbrel previously spent 12 successful seasons as an assistant coach on Bobby Sprowl’s Shelton State Community College baseball staff. In addition to working with six NJCAA All-Americans at the Tuscaloosa-based school, Kimbrel helped tutor 22 players who signed with SEC schools as well as 13 MLB Draft selections.

Kimbrel also helped Shelton State win at a 65-percent clip with four NJCAA Division I College World Series appearances as a result of an impressive run that also earned four Alabama Community College Conference state championships within a six-year span.

Kimbrel’s association with Sprowl began when Shelton State’s veteran head coach and retired Troy (Ala.) University head baseball coach Bobby Pierce were assistant coaches on Barry Shollenberger’s University of Alabama staff in the early 1990s. Kimbrel had previously received his first coaching job on Pierce’s Chipola (Fla.) Junior College staff a decade earlier and was invited to continue his education as a student assistant for the Crimson Tide during the 1991 and 1992 seasons.

Having had the proud distinction of coaching with two Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famers and University of Alabama All-Century Team members in Sprowl and Pierce, Kimbrel was recognized as the 2008 ALABCA Assistant Coach of the Year when Shelton State went 49-19 and finished as NJCAA Division I national runners-up.

At the prep level, Kimbrel had successful assistant coaching stints at Holt High School and Tuscaloosa Academy along with having gained valuable head coaching experience in his home state of Florida by guiding the 1988 Grand Ridge High School team to a school-first appearance in the state playoffs.

Kimbrel is the father of two sons, Brett and Blake. He has two granddaughters, Brighton and Vivian, and two grandsons, Ben and Forrest.