Bio

Coach Jon Olsen

Jon Olsen is in his 23rd year overall as a junior college head coach and his 18th at McCook Community College. He has coached 904 games at McCook and 1,185 in his career, winning 387 at MCC and 134 at Independence Community College.

He was the first head coach in MCC history in 2002 then had a five-year stint at Independence CC in Kansas, where his teams went 134-147, before returning in the summer of 2007 to take over the Indian program again.His teams have won 376 games since then and have a .440 winning percentage.

RECORD SEASON: The team is coming off a record-setting 2023 season. Propelled by a program-best 16-game mid-season winning streak, the Indians won 33 games during the regular season – the most in MCC history and the 22-12 record against Region IX opponents is also a program best with the team finishing as runner-up in the Region IX championship.

Gaining the Empire League North Division’s second seed, MCC swept Lamar in an opening round series at home to advance to the Region IX final-four, double-elimination tournament in Colorado Springs. MCC beat Western Nebraska and Otero to send the team to the Region IX championship. Southeast CC came back through the elimination bracket and downed MCC twice to gain the West District Championship but as district runner-up, MCC also earned a berth in the West District Championship.

MCC opened districts with a 9-8 loss in extra-innings to No. 19 Pima then lost to Southeast.

THE INDIANS finished with a team batting average of .319 and was tenth in the nation among 170 Division I schools, with 579 runs, averaging 9.3 runs per game, 143 doubles (sixth most in the nation), 90 home runs (ninth highest total in NJCAA), as well as top-10 totals in extra-base hits with 1,090.

MCC went 18-4 at the Jaycees Sports Complex in 2023 and with the eight post-season games, finished the year 37-25.

Ten players from last year’s teams moved on to four-year programs.

COACH OLSEN, a McCook native, graduated from McCook Senior high school in 1995. Following graduation, he played two years of junior college baseball in Kansas. He graduated with his associate degree from Colby, then transferred to Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., where he completed his baseball eligibility and graduated in the fall of 1999 with a bachelor’s in kinesiology. Olsen stayed on in the spring of 2000 as an assistant coach at Wheaton, then in 2000-2001 he went back to Colby and spent one year as an assistant there.  

From 1997-2002 he also served as the head coach in the McCook American Legion Baseball program, including a state runner-up finish in the summer of 2001. Olsen completed his master’s degree in health/physical education and recreation from Emporia State University.

Coach Olsen was hired in the spring of 2001 to start the baseball program at McCook Community College. After one season as the Indians coach, he was hired to lead Independence Community College in Independence, Kan. At Independence, Olsen built the Pirates into a program that consistently competed for a top spot in the highly competitive Jayhawk East. In his first season Olsen helped lead the Pirates to their first winning season in school history and was named the 2003 Jayhawk East coach of the year. 

Olsen’s final two recruiting classes in Kansas produced three Major League Baseball draft picks, in 2007 Josh Beal was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds, in 2008 Jon Nagel to the Chicago Cubs, and in 2009 Justin Beal went to the Philadelphia Phillies. Former Indian Jake Sanford was also a third-round draft pick of the New York Yankees in 2019, with other former Indians signing professional contracts as well.

In July of 2007 Olsen returned to MCC as head coach. During his time at McCook, he has seen more than 115 players move on to four-year schools, including more than 40 to NCAA Division I schools. 

Olsen also is a full time Health and PE instructor and athletic director at MCC. 

Olsen is married to his wife Nicole and with their son Avery and daughters Elsie and Emery reside in McCook.

Coaching Resume:

2007-Present - Coach - McCook Community College - McCook, Neb.

2003-2007 - Coach - Independence Community College - Independence, Kan.

2002-2003 - Coach - McCook Community College - McCook, Neb.

2001-2002 - Assistant - Colby Community College - Colby, Kan.   

2000-2001 - Assistant - Wheaton College - Wheaton, Ill. 

His career mark stands at 561-664 with a .440 winning percentage.

AT MCC
YEAR  W-L   WINNING % REGION RECORD
2002   11-37     .229
2008   18-36     .333
2009   18-34     .346
2010   29-28     .509
2011   23-31     .426
2012   25-32     .439
2013   18-35     .340         7-26 (.212)
2014   19-34     .289       11-27 (.289)
2015   26-30      .382      13-31 (.295)
2016   26-33     .441      16-20 (.444)
2017   29-27     .556      20-16 (.556)
2018   16-40     .261        6-17 (.261)
2019   20-28     .417      16-20 (.444)
2020   12-10     .545        6-3   (.667)
2021   31-27     .559      19-15 (.559)
2022   29-30     .492      17-17 (.500)
2023   37-25     .597      22-12 (.647)
MCC TOTAL:
        387-517 .428 (904 games)

At Independence
        134-147 .477 (281 games)

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TOTAL 521-664 .440 (1,185 games)