When the Marcus Marauders baseball team hits the diamond next season, the head coach’s name will change, but the face will be familiar.
Marcus High School officially named pitching coach Danny Kelley as the new head coach of The Pack in a post to social media Wednesday.
Kelley was thrown into the role of interim head coach and led Marcus on a deep playoff run following the mid-season resignation of head coach Jeff Sherman.
The Marauders fell to Tomball High School in game three of the state semifinals, but it created a buzz around the program that proved Kelley was the right choice to fill the vacancy.
“Coach Kelley has been an integral part of the past two baseball seasons at Marcus, serving primarily as the pitching coach,” said Marcus High Principal Cody Koontz. “During the last two weeks of the regular season and the playoffs, Coach Kelley served as the interim head coach and guided Marcus to its second consecutive berth in the state semifinals. [He] has a proven track record of servant leadership, character development and exceptional game strategy.”
Kelley has 10 years of coaching experience in the sport, previously serving as an assistant varsity coach at Hebron High School and Colleyville Heritage High School, a powerhouse program that produced MLB All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
Academically, Kelley has worked as a science teacher and a special education inclusion teacher, where he supported students across math and science coursework.
Kelley holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Tennessee-Martin, where he played baseball and began his coaching career as a student assistant coach.
He later earned his Master of Education at the same university.
“We are incredibly excited about the future of Marcus Baseball under the leadership of Coach Kelley and deeply appreciate your continued support of our players, program and school,” said Koontz.
Sherman took over as the head coach at Marcus in 2013. During his tenure, he was named District 6-6A Coach of the Year four times, including in 2025, and led the Marauders to six district titles.
The Flower Mound native and Marcus graduate, class of ’99, also taught physical education during his time at Marcus.
Both high schools in Flower Mound have made changes to their baseball staffs over the last year.
Kelley was named the new Marcus coach Wednesday, but Flower Mound High School also promoted assistant baseball coach Ben Sartor to head coach in July 2025.
He took over for Danny Wallace, who left to coach at Westlake High School in Austin.
By the time the Marauders face the Jags on the diamond again, both will have new head coaches making the calls.
