COACHING STAFF

Bobby Gilliam | Head Coach

Bobby Gilliam just completed his sixth season as the head coach of the Bossier Parish Community College Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers finished the 2022 season with a 35-18 overall record and a 23-13 record in Region play. Under Gilliam, the BPCC baseball facilities have seen significant improvements including the building of a new locker room facility, which houses both the baseball and softball teams. He's overseen the building of a new batting cage equipped with artificial turf and lighting, a new press box and turf halo around the batters circle and a new aluminum outfield fence was added to the baseball field as well as state of the art LED lights. Under a coach Gilliam the Cavaliers have had over 25 D1 signees and over 50 players move on to 4 year universities.

A homegrown talent with NCAA Division I and professional playing experience, Gilliam played collegiately at Centenary College, where he was the career leader in runs, walks, and stolen bases, and was second in career hits. In 2003, he played professionally for the Shreveport Sports, and in 2004-2005, he played for the Gateway Grizzlies.

Gilliam's coaching career includes being the head coach at two local high schools, Southwood and his alma mater Loyola College Prep. The head coach of the Southwood Cowboys from 2013 through 2016, Gilliam was the District 1-5A Coach of the Year in 2014. Prior to Southwood, Gilliam coached the Loyola Flyers from 2008 through 2013. He was the 2010 LHSAA Class 3A All-State Coach of the Year and the 2012 Times All-City Coach of the Year.

"Competing against the best is what competing is all about," said Gilliam.  "This conference gives players so many opportunities to find out how good they can be. It will always be a challenge to win games in Region 14, and we embrace this competition and want players that are up to the challenge. We want to build teams that love to play hard and players that want to grow as a people and in the game mentally.  It's a process and structure to build a championship level program. It takes a lot of pieces and development. We have a good structure in place with all our coaches, and are steadily shaping and putting our plan in place for the future of BPCC Baseball."

Jon Phillipsm Associate Head Coach

Jon Phillips enters his fifth season at Bossier Parish Community College as the Cavaliers Associate Head Coach. Phillips came to Bossier Parish from Lamar University where his duties included infield and coaching first base.

As a player, Phillips was an All-Great American Conference third baseman in 2014 after he led the Muleriders in batting average (.346), on-base percentage (.462) and walks (35). He finished that season with 15 doubles, two home runs and 30 runs batted in.

For his career, he played in 115 games with a .315 batting average, 85 runs scored and another 60 driven in. He registered 30 extra base knocks (26 doubles, two homers and two triples). The Muleriders were back-to-back GAC Tournament Champions and 2015 regular season champs with Phillips in the lineup.

He played two seasons at Texarkana College and was an all-conference shortstop in 2012. In 48 games, he finished with 50 hits for a .303 batting average, 32 runs, 28 RBI and six doubles. He was voted as NJCAA Region XIV Hitter of the Week during that season too.

Phillips is a 2010 graduate of Texarkana Pleasant Grove High School, a graduate from SAU in 2015 with a Bachelors in Physical Education, Wellness and Leisure as well as a Masters degree from SAU in Exercise Science in 2017.

Andrew Mercer | Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator

Andrew Mercer serves as the Recruiting Coordinator/ Pitching Coach for the Cavalier Baseball Program and also teaches at BPCC in the Physical Education Department.

Mercer came to BPCC after serving as an assistant coach for two seasons at Central Methodist University, a nationally-ranked NAIA school in Fayette, Missouri. While at CMU, the pitching staff was ranked 15th in the nation in team ERA at 3.75, ninth in opponents batting average against at .233, third in strikeouts per nine innings at 8.96 and 25th in walks per game with 3.10. Peyton Long, one of the pitcher's on the Eagles staff, was drafted in the 30th round by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Prior to CMU, Mercer spent one season as an assistant coach with the 16U Ontario Blue Jays during the summer of 2017. He also spent two years as an instructor at The Kevin Brown Baseball School in Mt. Vernon, Indiana.

A native of Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, Canada, Mercer graduated from the University of Southern Indiana after spending two years at NJCAA DI Highland Community College in Kansas.  At the University of Southern Indiana he aided the Screaming Eagles to a 49-13 record and a NCAA Division II National Championship in 2014.  That same season, Andrew set the program's single-season record for lowest ERA at 1.01.

Andrew graduated with his bachelor's degree from the Univeristy of Southern Indiana in Business Administration and obtained his master's degree from Central Methodist Univeristy in Education in 2019.