Bio

Jack Byerley brought nearly 1,000 wins as a head coach and a .773 winning percentage to Gulf Coast when he joined the staff as an assistant coach in 2023, and he’s helped lead a pair of 30-win season at Perk.

Byerley passed the 300-win mark as an assistant coach last year. Altogether, his teams have won 10 conference or state championships.

The 2024 squad went 34-22 and finished sixth in the rugged MACCC. The team was led by outfielder Jorja Roberson, who earned NJCAA All-American honors. She was also named to the CSC Academic All-American team. She will continue her collegiate playing career at NCAA Division I North Alabama, as will catcher/first baseman Natalie Shaw. Shaw was named to the All-Region 23 team.

Jett Harrell, an All-MACCC outfielder/pitcher, will play at NCAA Division I UTSA. Freshmen Aleah Beaugez and Savannah Wilbanks also earned All-Conference honors and return for 2025.

The 2023 team went 39-20, including a memorable run in the Region 23 Tournament. The Bulldogs tied for fifth in the MACCC then claimed three dramatic walk-off wins in the regional to finish fifth.

Byerley was head coach at Northwest Florida State College from 2009-2018. The Raiders went 380-158, were Panhandle Conference champs three times and runners-up twice. More than 90 percent of his players moved on to four-year schools, and he coached 57 NJCAA All-Academic players.

He was also head coach at Francis Marion University from 2003-2004, where his teams went 73-26. Both those teams batted .328.

From 1997-2000, Byerley was head coach at Central Alabama Community College. He started the fast-pitch program there, compiling a 205-47 record while winning four straight conference titles. He was Coach of the Year three times, and his teams made three trips to the national tournament.

His first head coaching job was at Robertsdale High School in Alabama. His slow-pitch teams went 211-46 in five years, and he fought to bring fast-pitch to the state. When it did, his two teams went 107-9 and won back-to-back state championships.

Byerley also spent time as an assistant at two SEC schools. At Florida, he helped the Gators reach the 2001 NCAA Tournament, while his Auburn teams made three regional appearances and went 150-92.

He was an assistant at Spring Hill College in Mobile in 2019, where the team won the SIAC championship and made the NCAA regional for the first time. In 2000 and 2001, he was an assistant at Southeastern Louisiana University. The Lions went 29-18 in those years, including the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and beat an SEC team each season.

Byerley has a bachelor’s in health and physical education from South Alabama. He is married to April, also a Gulf Coast assistant coach.