KEARNEY, Neb. — A familiar face will be taking over as the next Kearney High baseball coach.

The school announced Friday that Matt Connot will lead the Bearcats baseball program. He takes over for Brad Archer, who is retiring after serving as head coach since the high school team started in 2019.

"We are thrilled to have Matt joining the head coaching ranks at Kearney High School," Activities Director Ryan Hogue said in a news release.
"His passion for the game of baseball and future commitment to developing a program that will focus on player development and competing at a high level will only lead to the overall success for our spring baseball program."

Connot brings familiarity to the role. He has worked as assistant coach since 2019 and has been the head coach of the Post 52 Junior Legion team since 2011. Connot’s teams have had great success, with two of the three high school squads making the state tournament and two of his junior legion teams winning state titles.

"I look forward to continuing the tradition of excellence that has been established at Kearney High School," Connot said. "We have a talented group of players, a community that supports Kearney baseball and I am confident that we can achieve great things together."

Connot holds a master’s degree in educational administration and works as a science teacher at Kearney High. Before coming to Buffalo County, he was head JV baseball coach at Lincoln Pius X and was head coach of the Sandhills Publishing Junior Legion team.

Archer says he's happy his assistant coach is taking over.

“Matt will do a great job," Archer said over the phone. "He has a great rapport with the kids and he’s certainly put in his time both as a coach in Lincoln and then being in Kearney here for 10 or 11 years.”