Brad Bass

Brad Bass has been at the helm of the Wayland Baptist baseball program since 1996, making the 2021 campaign his 26th with the Pioneers.

He has led the Pioneers to 17 Sooner Athletic Conference tournaments, including the program’s first appearance in his second season in 1997. The Pioneers also have been to five regional tournaments, finishing third in 2006, and two NAIA opening round tournaments, where they were one win away from the NAIA World Series in 2009. The team's most recent trip to the NAIA opening round was in 2016.

Through the 2020 season, his 25th at Wayland after coaching nine seasons at Texas Wesleyan, Bass sports an overall coaching record of 995-820-4 with a 737-638-3 record at WBU and 258-182-1 mark at TWU. Going into the 2021 season, he ranked ninth among active NAIA coaches in wins and 23rd all-time.

Bass has enjoyed six 40-win seasons, four at Wayland, with his best season coming in 2016 when the team finished 45-17 and ranked the equivalent of 28th in the final NAIA poll. HIs 2009 team ranked in the top-5 in the NAIA in hits (661), slugging percentage (.616), runs scored (561) and RBI (513), and finished in the top-3 in home runs (119) and batters struck out (509). In 2020, before COVID-19 shut down the season, the Pioneers were 23-7 and ranked first in the NAIA with 308 runs scored and second in total RBI (281), homers per game (2.167), total hits (321) and slugging percentage (1.184). Luis Vargas led the NAIA in numerous categories, including home runs.

While at Wayland, Bass has coached 38 NAIA Scholar-Athletes, 15 NAIA All-Americans, three Major League Baseball draft picks, and one Capitol One Academic All-American.

A member of the 1978 Junior College World Series Championship team at Ranger Junior College, Bass continued his playing career at Hardin-Simmons University. After graduating from HSU in 1984 and serving as an assistant coach for five years, Bass took over the reins at Texas Wesleyan University where his teams posted a 258-182-1 record.