Chris Finnegan - Head Coach

Experience: 7th Year

Alma Mater: Southern Mississippi

Contact: 620-276-9599

Email: chris.finnegan@gcccks.edu

    After spending one season as the Assistant Coach at Garden City CC under Rick Sabath, Chris Finnegan was named the Head Coach in the fall of 2005. Under the direction of Finnegan the Broncbusters have won 177 games (177-113) with 90 of them coming in Conference play (90-70). The Broncbusters have won 1 Jayhawk West Title (2009), 1 Region 6 Runner up (2007), 1 Final 4 appearance (2009), and 3 Sub Regional Runner up finishes (2006, 2008, 2010). Finnegan has produced or help produce 2 Player of the Year Awards (Luke Gorsett 2005, Erik Mattingly 2010), 2 Freshman of the Year Awards (Aaron Breit 2005, Erik Mattingly 2009), 26 All Conference selections (8 being 1^st Team), 5 All Region 6 selections, 1 Rawlings Big Stick Award (Erik Mattingly 2010), 3 All American Selections (Luke Gorsett 2005, Aaron Breit 2006, Erik Mattingly 2010), and 13 Academic All Americans going into his 7^th total year at Garden City Community College.

    In 2010 the Busters recorded another 40 win season. Posting an overall record of 40-17 with a conference record of 21-11 that was good for a 3^rd place finish. The Broncbusters saw their season travel to Cowley for the 1^st Round of the Region 6 Sub Regional. Garden City posted 2 wins against Fort Scott and pushed Cowley to a 2^nd Championship game but fell short to the Tigers in Game 2. The overall season saw Erik Mattingly win the Player of the Year Award and be named 1^st Team All American and also receive the Rawlings Big Stick Award for the Central District by posting a .455 Average. Finnegan also saw 5 total players receive All Conference Awards with 2 of them being name to the Region 6 Team (Erik Mattingly and Reece McGraw).

    Going into the 2009 season Garden City was coming off of one of the worst seasons in program history. That changed in a hurry. The Busters started off the season with a 10-0 record by sweeping nationally ranked Iowa Western and NE Colorado, and never looked back. Posting the most wins in school history since 1988, the Broncbusters rolled of a 45-17 record, 22-10 in Conference, and won the Jayhawk West for the 1^st time since 2005. Garden City hosted the 1^st Round of playoffs at home against KCK of the East. The Busters took the Saturday double header to advance to the Region 6 Playoffs in Wichita. In Wichita Finnegan’s team went 2-2 and lost to eventual World Series participant Cowley County. The 2009 team saw 8 total players receive All Conference Awards with 2 also being named to the Region 6 Team (Cass Via and Erik Mattingly).

    2008 began a rebuilding year for Coach Finnegan. With only 4 returning players off of a wild 2007 finish that saw the Broncbusters lose to Cowley in the Region 6 Championship game, Coach Finnegan and the players would end up with a 21-30 record. The Busters finished in 8^th place and slipped into the playoffs to face Cowley and lost to them in 2 games. At the end of the season Garden City still placed 2 players on the All Conference Team. The big bright side of the season Finnegan’s team posted a 3.42 Team GPA.

    2007 saw an up and down year that eventually took the Busters to the Region 6 Championship game against Cowley. Throughout the whole year Garden City could not get on a roll but found themselves playing well at the end. After finishing in 4^th place Garden City hosted Allen County for a wild Sub Regional best 2-3 series. Coach Finnegan found his team down 1 game to nothing going into Game 2. Going into the bottom of the 2^nd Inning Garden City was already down 8-0 and looking at being eliminated from the playoffs. The Broncbusters woke up and came back to win 9-8 to push a Game 3 vs. Allen. After a winning Game 3 of the 1^st Round Garden City won its 1^st three games of the Region 6 playoffs in Wichita, while each win came in either extra innings or in the bottom of the ninth. The Busters found themselves in the Championship Game vs. Cowley and ended up losing both games to the Tigers. That season 4 players were named to the All Conference Team.

    In 2006 saw Garden City under a new direction in Chris Finnegan. After being an Assistant for the 2005 season and helping Coach Sabath to a Jayhawk West Championship, 41-17 record, and a Region 6 runner up season Coach Finnegan took over for the 2006 season. During his 1^st season at the helm the Busters ran their overall record to 34-22 and a 4^th place finish. Finnegan saw 6 players placed on the All Conference Team and 3 on the Region 6 Team and saw Aaron Breit earn and All American selection.

    2005 saw the Broncbusters finish with an overall record of 41-17. Garden City shared a piece of the Jayhawk West title and found themselves losing to Hutchinson CC in the Region 6 Final Game. During Coach Finnegan’s 1^st year as an Assistant he helped place 8 players on the All Conference Team and seeing 3 of them placed on the Region 6 Team.  With Luke Gorsett earning a spot as a 1^st Team All American.

    During Finnegan’s tenure at Garden City the Broncbusters have seen 5 players drafted (Luke Gorsett – Cardinals, Joe Servais – Rockies, Aaron Breit – Padres, Todd Weldon – NY Mets, and George Isabel – NY Yankees) with a handful of former players in Independent Professional Baseball.

    Several Bronbusters have gone on to prominent Div. 1 baseball programs, including Nebraska, Creighton, SE Louisiana, Dayton, Northern CO, South Dakota State, and Texas Corpus-Christi.   Finnegan came to Garden City after 1 season at Peru State College in Peru, NE after earning a degree in Sports Administration from the University of Southern Mississippi.

    Finnegan finished his playing career at The University of Southern Mississippi (1999-2000). He was a 2 year starter behind the dish for the Golden Eagles while being placed on the All Conference Team his Senior year. After USM, Finnegan played professionally for 3 years in the Northern League with stops in Schaumburg, Ill and Glens Falls, NY. 

    Finnegan started his collegiate career at Hutchinson CC, where he was a 2 year starter for the Blue Dragons. During his 2 years Finnegan helped the Blue Dragons to a Sub Regional Title in 1997 and the Jayhawk West Conference Title in 1998. Finnegan was named an All Conference and All Region player at Hutch as he still is in the top 5 of many offensive categories’.

The Finnegan File:

Garden City CC Head Coach: 2006 – present

Garden City CC Assistant Coach: 2005

Peru State College Assistant Coach: 2004

Summer Baseball Stops:

Mat Su Miners Assistant Coach (ABL): 2005

Chillicothe Mudcats Assistant Coach (MINK): 2004

Finnegan Playing Career:

University of Southern Mississippi: 1999-2000

Hutchinson CC: 1997-1998

Finnegan Summer Career:

Hyannis Mets (Cape Cod):1999

Liberal BJ's (Jayhawk League): 1998

Finnegan Professional Career:

Schaumburg Flyers: 2000, 2002

Adirondack Lumber Jacks: 2001, 2002

Coach Finnegan's Career Coaching Record at GCCC

Head Coach

Jayhawk West Coach of the Year: 2009