University of North Georgia Men's Baseball

Nolan Belcher is entering his first year as the head coach of the University of North Georgia baseball program in 2026 after spending the previous five seasons as the head coach of Peach Belt Conference member Georgia College (GCSU).   Compiling a 142-108 (.568) record with the Bobcats, Belcher led the program to four winning seasons and three years with 30 or more victories. His GCSU tenure was highlighted by a 2024 season in which the Bobcats went 37-22 and won the PBC Tournament ahead of a run to the 2024 NCAA Southeast Super Regional as the seventh-seed in the region.    GCSU’s 37 wins in 2024 were the most in a season in program history since 2018 and its appearance in the Super Regional marked the first in school history.  He currently serves as the Peach Belt Conference Baseball Coaches Committee Chair and sits on the NCAA Division II Southeast Baseball Regional Advisory Committee.   Belcher will now lead a UNG program that is on the heels of its third 40-win season in program history after going 41-17 while claiming a share of the PBC Regular-season title and making the first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2017.   A native of Augusta, Ga., Belcher’s prolific career began at Greenbrier and Augusta Christian where he totaled three state championship titles as a player. The left-handed pitcher then went on to suit up for the Gamecocks at South Carolina where he won back-to-back National Championships in 2010 and 2011 and a National Runner-Up finish in 2012.   Belcher was a stellar pitcher for the Gamecocks, tallying over 250 innings in his career with a 3.30 earned run average. In 2013 he led the team in innings pitched, strikeouts, fewest walks per nine innings and tied the team lead with seven victories.    After college, Belcher began his career in the PBC serving as the pitching coach at USC Aiken for a season before spending two more years with the Pacers as the program’s recruiting coordinator.    Upon completing three years in South Carolina, Belcher returned to his home state in 2017 to assume the roles of pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at GCSU. He spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons in the Bobcat dugout, helping the team win the PBC Tournament twice, and the 2018 PBC Regular-Season Championship with 26 conference victories, the most by any program since 1998.   Belcher guided a GCSU pitching staff that set a school-record with 468 strikeouts in 2018. During his two seasons, the Bobcats had four players drafted to Major League teams and five All-American selections. He coached a Region Pitcher of the Year and a PBC Pitcher of the Year as well in that time.   Belcher ascended to the NCAA Division I level after the 2018 season when he took the job as a Volunteer Assistant Coach at the College of Charleston. He spent two seasons with the Cougars before returning to GCSU where he has spent the last five seasons as the head coach of the Bobcats.  Updated: June 2025  

Cantrell is entering his 18th season as Head Coach of the University of North Georgia baseball program. In 2016, Cantrell was inducted into the Georgia Dugout Club's Baseball Hall of Fame after receiving the club's NCAA Division II Coach of the Year honor for guiding the 2015 Nighthawks to the Peach Belt Conference Championship and a NCAA Southeast Region Runner-up finish.    In his 17 years at North Georgia, Cantrell, who relaunched the baseball program from the ground up in 2000, has formed a consistent winner in Dahlonega with a 609-377 (.618) record, with an impressive 14 30-win seasons. During his time at North Georgia, Cantrell has coached eight All-Americans, 22 All-Conference players, and 24 All-region players along with eight Gold Glove Award winners. He has also mentored three Players of the Year, a Freshman of the Year, and a pair of North Georgia Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year. Cantrell has built a program capable of bringing in and developing some of the best talent in the Peach State and surrounding areas, having sent seven players to the professional ranks since 2010. Daniel Petitti and Chris Rearick became the program's first duo to be drafted in the same year in 2010 when the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays selected them in the 37th and 41st rounds respectively. Troy Snitker followed and made his own headlines in 2011, when he became the highest draft pick in North Georgia history, going in the 19th round to the Atlanta Braves. The Anaheim Angles picked up UNG's Eason Spivey in the 24th round of the 2014 MLB Draft and Sam Tidaback became the fourth consecutive Nighthawk catcher to be drafted as the Chicago Cubs selected him in the 21st round in 2016. Longtime ace Brandon Agar signed a free-agent deal with the Chicago White Sox just days after the draft in the same year and reliever Taylor Keinat went on to sign with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim two weeks later.  In 2015, Cantrell led the Nighthawks to their first-ever Peach Belt Conference regular season crown after being picked to finish 10th in the PBC preseason coaches' poll. UNG went on to advance to the NCAA DII Southeast Region Final falling to the ultimate national runner-up, Catawba. The banner year for North Georgia baseball led Cantrell to be named the Peach Belt Conference Coach of the Year and the NCBWA Southeast Region Coach of the Year. The season included several individual accolades for the team including Connor Hoover being named PBC Freshman of the Year and the inclusion of Sam Tidaback, Brandon Agar, Jacob Beauchamp, and Tremayne Toorie on the All-Conference team. In the programs first year of eligibility for postseason play in 2008, Cantrell led North Georgia to the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship. The team won 19 of its last 22 regular season games and went on to compete in the NCAA South Atlantic Regional, the first NCAA Division II Tournament appearance for the program. Cantrell came to North Georgia from DeKalb College - now a part of Georgia State University - where he spent nine years, four as head coach with a record of 177-52 (.773). While at GPC, Cantrell's teams produced three NJCAA All- Americans, five NJCAA Academic All-Americans, 20 GJCAA All-Region, and two GJCAA Players of the Year. Cantrell was also named GJCAA Assistant Coach of the Year in 1995 after a 44-14 season. In his four years at the helm at GPC, Cantrells teams won three conference titles (1997, 1998, and 1999).  In 1998, Cantrell guided DeKalb to its first state championship since 1987. They also won the East Central District Championship and made an appearance at the JUCO World Series, DeKalb's first appearance since 1977. Cantrell's squads were consistently ranked nationally in the Top 20. For his efforts in 1998, he was named GJCAA Coach of the Year, as well as the East Central District Coach of the Year. Over his 21-year career at DeKalb College and North Georgia, he has a 786-429 (.647) overall record. Cantrell also has a sharp eye for spotting major league talent, as 22 of his former players have signed professional contracts. The Habersham, Georgia native was a two-time Georgia All-State shortstop at North Clayton High School. Following his senior season, Cantrell began his collegiate career at DeKalb College. At DeKalb, he hit .332 in his freshman year and .362 in his sophomore year, being named All-Region both seasons. At the conclusion of his second year at DeKalb, Cantrell was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the seventh round of the 1985 MLB Draft. In the summer of 1985, Cantrell reported to the Braves rookie camp in Bradenton, Fla. After batting .214 in Bradenton, Cantrell was sent to Pulaski, Va., for his second season. At Pulaski, Cantrell had a spectacular season, hitting .301 and making the Appalachian League All-Star team. That year, he helped lead the team to the Appalachian League World Series. While with Pulaski, he was coached by former Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers manager Grady Little. Cantrell credits Little and college coach Doug Casey as the main catalyst that led him into the coaching profession. Cantrell retired from professional baseball in 1987 and began coaching American Legion baseball in College Park, Georgia. A highly successful amateur coach, Cantrell's teams finished third in the nation on three separate occasions. Cantrell has continued to shape the lives of young men and inspire others to coach with 45 of his former players now coaching at the high school and college ranks. Cantrell and his wife Shannon reside in Dacula, Georgia. Their daughter, McKenzie, is a 2014 graduate of the University of Georgia.    

KC Brown enters his first season as the Associated Head Coach of the UNG baseball program. Brown joins the coaching staff in Dahlonega after having spent the last three seasons with Belcher as an assistant at Georgia College & State University. Brown spent the 2023 season with the Bobcats as a volunteer assistant before being hired to a full-time position ahead of the 2024 campaign.  During his tenure in the dugout, Brown helped lead GCSU to an 89-71 record over three seasons. That mark includes the 2023 campaign in which the Bobcats went 37-22 en route to winning the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship and making the deepest run in the postseason in program history as the squad finished as NCAA Southeast Super Regional Runner-Ups.  Prior to Brown’s coaching days at GCSU, he suited up on the diamond for the Bobcats as an infielder for three seasons from 2019-2022. In his final year in 2022, Brown hit for a .341 average and ranked in the top 10 in the conference with 12 home runs, 47 RBIs and a .599 slugging percentage. He eventually earned All-Conference Second Team honors. Brown also has prior coaching experience as a strength & conditioning intern with the University of South Carolina football program. He recently spent two seasons with the Lexington County Blowfish in the Coastal Plain League where he was promoted from assistant coach to head coach in 2023. Updated: July 2025  

Palmer is entering his seventh year as an Assistant Coach of the University of North Georgia baseball program. He assists in the everyday operations of the baseball program and works with the catchers on a day-to-day basis. Palmer spent five years as a member of the North Georgia baseball program and was a member of the 2005 NAIA Conference Tournament Championship team, and the 2008 Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship team. He was also a part of the programs first-ever trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2008. The Cleveland, Georgia native is a 2009 graduate of North Georgia with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science. He also holds a Master of Art in Teaching from UNG.

Hayden Craig enters his first year on staff with the UNG Baseball program.  Craig, a native of Ann Arbor, Mich., joins Belcher’s staff as recruiting coordinator after most recently serving under the same role at NCAA Division I member Longwood. Craig arrived at Longwood after working in the fall as the recruiting coordinator at Walters State Community College which was preceded by five successful seasons at NCAA D-III member Piedmont.   At Piedmont, he worked as an assistant coach before being promoted to associate head coach in 2023. Craig had three top-ranked recruiting classes at the D-III level during his tenure with the Lions. He helped guide Piedmont to the Collegiate Conference of the South’s (CCS) inaugural baseball tournament championship in 2023, where the Lions entered as the four-seed before winning four games in five days to take home the title. The team again won 25 games in 2024 and went 12-6 in CCS play.   Over Craig’s five seasons at Piedmont, the Lions had a winning season five times, and they went 29-10 in his first season on staff while finishing an impressive 19-3 in USA South conference play. Updated: July 2025

Ryan Smith enters his first year as the Assistant Baseball Coach/Pitching Coach of the UNG baseball program.  Prior to North Georgia, Smith was on the Georgia College & State University baseball staff where he primarily worked with the program’s pitchers while earning his master's degree in public administration.  Smith graduated with a Bachelor’s in Sociology from the College of Charleston in 2022 where he also pitched for the Cougars for three seasons. Smith had an outstanding year in 2021 in which he made 18 relief appearances for a total of 22.0 innings. In that season he held a 2.45 earned run average and struck out 13 batters. Updated: July 2025