Brad Bohannon
	Position: Assistant Coach

A dynamic recruiter.

Infectious personality.

Staggering knowledge of the game.

Keen eye for talent.

All of those phrases describe Kentucky assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Brad Bohannon, who is in his ninth season as an assistant coach for the Wildcats.

In his eight previous seasons, Bohannon has helped dramatically change the landscape of the UK baseball program, annually infusing unprecedented talent into the UK roster.

Widely known in the college ranks as a tireless and aggressive recruiter, Bohannon is responsible for evaluating talent and bringing mature and competitive players to campus. In his last six years, Bohannon has been directly responsible for recruiting the kind of players who represent the University of Kentucky with class; both on and off the field. In addition to his recruiting responsibilities, Bohannon works with UK's talented crop of outfielders and serves as third-base coach.

A native of Rome, Ga., Bohannon came to UK before the 2004 season after two seasons at Wake Forest, serving as an assistant coach on John Cohen's staff from 2004-08 and as the recruiting coordinator for Gary Henderson after his hire as head coach in June of 2008.

Bohannon has helped guide the Wildcats through the most successful nine-year period in program history during his time in Lexington, with UK boasting the first SEC Championship in program history, the first NCAA Regional held in Lexington and two school-record 44 win seasons.

Primarily responsible for identifying and recruiting talent, Bohannon has guided the Wildcats into an era that an unprecedented about of talent, as 44 UK players have been picked in the MLB Draft or signed a MiLB free agent contract during his time at Kentucky.

During his time as the recruiting coordinator, Bohannon has welcomed the two top classes in the over 100-year history of the program, as the 2008 group was ranked No. 4 in the nation by Baseball America and his 2009 class was tabbed No. 6 by College Baseball. Annually, Bohannon's classes are ranked among the nation's best, as his 2006 class was No. 21, the 2007 class was No. 31 and the 2010 group was tabbed No. 16. In August, Bohannon brought in another ranked class to Lexington, ranked No. 25 by Collegiate Baseball.

With those recruiting classes have come some of the top performers in the storied history of the program, with Bohannon having great success finding the top junior college players in the nation as immediate-impact performers for UK. In 2006, Bohannon found eventual SEC Player of the Year Ryan Strieby, a first-team All-America infielder, along with slugging catcher Sean Coughlin, who earned first-team All-America honors in 2007.

In 2008, Bohannon brought in junior college outfielder Sawyer Carroll, who teamed with local outfielder Collin Cowgill to earn first-team All-America accolades, with Carroll exiting UK with the single-season record for RBI, along with career school records for batting average and on-base percentage.

In addition to Carroll, Coughlin and Strieby, Bohannon has had great success in the junior college ranks with 2010 slugging outfielder Lance Ray and 2011 All-SEC third baseman Thomas McCarthy. He has also tapped the junior college pitching market, annually brining in immediate-impact hurlers, including 2010's closer Matt Little and 2011 workhorse southpaw Alex Phillips.

He has not limited his recruiting prowress to junior college talents however, going nationwide to bring in some of the top performers in school history, including pitching talents Andrew Albers, Chris Rusin, James Paxton, Logan Darnell and 2011 MLB Draft first-round pick Alex Meyer. Positionally, Chris Bisson (2008-10), Antone DeJesus (2005-07), Chris Wade (2007-09), Ryan Wilkes (2005-08), Michael Williams (2009-12), Luke Maile (2010-12), Chad Wright (2009-11) and J.T. Riddle (2011-12) have helped UK annually welcome a top-ranked recruiting class.

Bohannon had a big hand in turning around a Kentucky program that was the first SEC team ever to go from `worst-to-first' in one year, claiming the school's first SEC Title in 2006. The 2006 campaign saw the Wildcats win a school-record 44 games and host the school's first NCAA Regional Tournament. The 2007 club finished with 34 wins and the 2008 club totaled 44-wins and an appearance in the Ann Arbor NCAA Regional Championship game.

In 2006, Bohannon's effect could be seen in the defensive output of UK's two middle infielders, John Shelby and Ryan Wilkes. The duo combined to turn the most double plays in the SEC, ranking 17th nationally.

Shelby's professional stock soared after being undrafted out of high school, developing into a fifth-round pick in the 2006 MLB draft. Wilkes improved dramatically under Bohannon's tutelage, improving from a .900 fielding percentage as a freshman in 2005 to a perfect 1.000 percentage as a senior in 2008 as he was one of nine college players to win a Rawlings Gold Glove, honoring Wilkes as the top defensive second baseman in the nation. The team's fielding percentage also improved under Bohannon's guidance, moving from last place in the SEC in 2005 to .974 in 2008 - a school record.

At Wake Forest, Bohannon worked primarily with the outfielders and base runners while also assisting with the hitters. During his two seasons there, the Demon Deacons posted team batting averages of .330 and .321, respectively. The 2001 Wake Forest club won the ACC championship and the Demon Deacons made the NCAA Tournament during both of Bohannon's seasons.

After completing his collegiate career at Berry College in 1997, Bohannon played two years of professional baseball for the Dubois County Dragons (Huntingburg, Ind.) and was named to the 1997 Heartland League All-Star team.

Bohannon graduated with a degree in finance from Berry College in 1998, and went on to earn his Master's degree in business administration from Wake Forest in 2002. Before joining Kentucky, he spent one year working as a Senior Financial Analyst for Intel Corporation in Portland, Ore.

During the summer of 2005, Bohannon managed the Southern Ohio Copperheads of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League.

Bohannon, 35, resides in Lexington and is married to the former Kim Traylor of Georgetown, Ky.

Bohannon's Last Six Recruiting Class Rankings

2006: No. 21

2007: No. 31

2008: No. 4

2009: No. 6

2010: No. 16

2011: No. 25

Noting Bohannon

* During his time as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, Bohannon has brought in the most talent in program history, as 44 total players have been drafted or signed a professional contract during his tenure, a school record.

* His recruiting classes are annually ranked among the nation's best, including the top two in program history, No. 4 in 2008 and No. 6 in 2009, with the 2008 class featuring high school All-Americans Alex Meyer, Braden Kapteyn and Michael Williams, in addition to underrated eventual All-SEC outfielder Chad Wright.

* Recruited by Bohannon throughout high school, Meyer finished a distinguished three-year career as the No. 23 pick in the 2011 MLB Draft to the Washington Nationals, the second-highest draft pick in UK baseball history.

* Has had great success with junior college talent, including eventual first-team All-America junior college sluggers in Ryan Strieby (2006), Sean Coughlin (2007) and Sawyer Carroll (2008), in addition to leading hitters Lance Ray (2010) and Thomas McCarthy (2011).

* Has geared his recruiting approach to finding position players with great speed, athleticism, competitiveness and baseball instincts, all tools that show up in his aggressive approach as UK's third base coach and outfield defense coordinator.

* Recruited the corp of a UK roster that helped UK go from a last-place finish in the league in 2005 to a first-place finish in 2006, with UK riding the talents of individuals like Strieby, Coughlin, Collin Cowgill, Antone DeJesus, Sean Lehmann and Ryan Wilkes to a historic turnaround.

* As the outfield defensive coordinator, Bohannon puts an emphasis on speed, athleticism and defensive instincts, with UK annually leading the league in outfield assists and putouts. In 2011, UK outfielder Chad Wright recorded four outfield assists for the second year, while freshman outfielder Lucas Witt recorded four assists in limited playing time.

* Coached the UK infield from 2006-08, with UK excelling at infield defense and turning the double play. Wilkes, UK's shortstop and Shelby, the second baseman, formed a dynamic tandem in 2006 with Wilkes sliding over to second base in 2008 to accommodate shortstop Chris Wade.

* Comes from a great business background, owning a M.B.A. from Wake Forrest in business administration and a finance degree from Berry College. Also played collegiately at Wake Forest, Vanderbilt and Berry College, and is recently married to the former Kim Bohannon.