Bio

Ty Reese was named the seventh head coach in Butler baseball history on September 13th, 2023. The 2025 season will be his second at the helm of the program.

Reese's first season as head coach in 2024 saw the Grizzlies finish 33-27 and 19-13 in KJCCC West action. The Grizzlies finished in fifth place in the West and hosted Neosho in the opening round of the Region 6 Tournament, defeating the Panthers in two games to make it six straight seasons the Grizzlies have advanced past the opening round of the Region 6/Plains District Playoffs. Butler went on to play at Eck Stadium in Wichita, falling to 1-seed Johnson County in the first round before coming back to defeat Cloud County the next day. The Grizzlies eventually bowed out to the Cowley Tigers in a wild 17-16 loss. Reese saw six players earn All-KJCCC West honors following the season and his pitching staff finished with a 7.33 team ERA.                                                                                                                                    

Prior to being named head coach, Reese spent 15 seasons as an assistant coach at Butler serving mainly as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. He is the first head baseball coach at Butler to have also played for the program as he was a two-time All-KJCCC pitcher for the Grizzlies, posting an 8-4 record on the mound in 2005. Reese has been a part of three KJCCC titles at Butler. He won it in 2005 as a player and again as a coach in 2010 and 2019.

Reese's pitching staff had an excellent year in 2023. The staff held a 5.76 ERA and struck out 473 compared to allowing just 252 walks. The top two pitchers in terms of innings pitched were Izack Tiger and Caden Kickhaefer. Tiger went on to be drafted in the 2023 MLB Draft with the 201st overall pick in the seventh round by the Texas Rangers and Kickhaefer was named as a Rawlings & ABCA Gold Glove award winner. Tiger was a Region VI All-Region First team honoree and Kickhaefer won the Region VI Gold Glove award while both student-athletes received All-KJCCC honors.

Butler advanced past the first round of the Region VI playoffs for the fourth consecutive season in 2023. It was also the programs fifth consecutive season winning at least 35 overall games and 20 KJCCC games.

Reese and the rest of the Butler staff helped the Grizzlies to the Region VI Final Four in 2021, where the Grizzlies finished as region runners-up. That year the squad posted a 37-16 overall record to go with 20-12 in the KJCCC. Reese had a pair of pitchers earn All-KJCCC honors that season. Starting pitcher Braden Meek was named second team All-KJCCC after becoming the Grizzlies most consistent starter throughout the season. Meek finished the season with a 7-3 record, 5.71 ERA and 58 strikeouts to 16 walks. He had 12 starts and 64.2 innings pitched on the year. Meek pitched a no hitter this season against Labette and had two shutouts on the year. Relief pitcher Zach Nagel was also named second team All-KJCCC. He was the Grizzlies closer, appearing in 21 gamed and finishing with seven saves. He pitched a total of 28.0 innings with an ERA of 3.86.

2019 was a big season for Butler as the Grizzlies won a share of the KJCCC West, their first conference championship since the 2010 season. Reese's pitching staff that year posted a 4.78 ERA with each of the top three pitchers in innings pitched holding an under 4.50 ERA. That year relief pitcher Bennett Scherer tossed 38.1 innings, striking out 33 and walking just 13 while posting a 4.46 ERA. Starting pitcher Zach Bravo finished with 97 strikeouts to 33 walks, a 10.91 strikeout per nine innings clip. Starting pitcher Dillan Janak struck out 46 to 18 walks. Scherer was named to the first team All-KJCCC team, Bravo to the second and Janak was named as an honorable mention with reese helping mentor all three.

In the 2018 season Reese helped LHP Drake Norton to first team All-KJCCC honors as he finished with a 10-2 record, 3.69 ERA and finished with 59 strikeouts. He finished second in the Jayhawk Conference in wins and was fourth in earned run average.

One of Reese's former pitchers, Kyle Kinman, was selected in the 25th round of the 2014 MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves. Kinman played at Butler from 2010-11 and in 2010 he went 8-2 with a 2.22 ERA and struck out 65 batters in 81 innings. He was named the KJCCC Freshman of the Year.

Plenty of pitching records at Butler have been set with Reese as the pitching coach. A career team pitching record that was set under Reese's watch is team strikeouts in 2022 with 499. The 2023 team sits second all-time with 473. The 2013 staff sits fourth all-time in Butler history allowing the fourth fewest walks with 145. As far as single season individual records at Butler during Reese's tenure, Tiger is first all-time in wins with 21, strikeouts with 243 and innings pitched with 192. Meek is tied-first in single season pitching wins with 12 in 2021. Four of the top five single season strikeout leaders came under Reese's watch in Tiger (121 in 2023 and 94 in 2022), Hyde (98 in 2022) and Bravo (97 in 2019). Trevor Ezell is second all-time in single season saves with 15 in 2014.

Reese was an assistant coach on the El Dorado Broncos, a collegiate summer team, helping guide the team to the Jayhawk League title and an NBC World Series in 2009. Prior to to Butler, he coached the Emporia High School Legion baseball team. 

Reese began his playing career at Butler and in 2005, he helped the Grizzlies team win the Jayhawk Conference championship. He had an 8-4 record for the Grizzlies on the mound that year. Reese is in the Grizzly record book as he has pitched the third most innings in program history (158.0), holds the sixth most pitching wins (15) and fourth most innings pitched in a single season (86.0 in 2005).

Following Butler, Reese attended Emporia State University where he was a member of the 2006 World Series team. ESU qualified for the NCAA Division II regionals all three years that Reese played with the Hornets.

Originally from McPherson, Kan., Reese now lives in El Dorado with his wife, Audrey and children, Charlee and Bonnie.