photo by: Angilo Allen/Kansas Athletics

Kansas infielder Chase Diggins, left, slaps hands with assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Jon Coyne during the game against Kansas State in Manhattan on Saturday, May 4, 2024.

Fresh out of college and working as a volunteer assistant on a baseball team that no longer exists, Jon Coyne slept on the floor in his office.

Coyne was paranoid that he would oversleep his 5 a.m. alarm to prepare the field at Texas-Pan American. He soon found himself scared half to death when a spider crawling across the floor spooked him.

At that moment, broke and on his office floor, Coyne thought, “God, can I really do this?”

Thirteen years later, Coyne finds himself as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Kansas, where, in each of his three years on staff, he has helped nab the No. 1 junior college recruiting class in the country.

“I still remember that day vividly,” Coyne said. “Those are the days, you look back and are so grateful that you got through the grind, those early years when there is no money in it.”

Coyne is constantly on the phone texting or flying to meet with commits and recruits, something that he says is one of his favorite things in the whole world.

“I genuinely enjoy doing my job every day,” Coyne said. “I know it sounds cliche, but I love what I do.”

Those phone calls and flights add up yearly for Coyne, who has stayed at Marriott hotels 158 times in two and a half years, all for recruiting.

“I’m happy that I am single with that travel schedule,” Coyne joked.

But the travel doesn’t bother Coyne, as he keeps his head down and is persistent with his work, and he doesn’t stop recruiting. He puts in the long days to help out his fellow coaches on the staff led by head coach Dan Fitzgerald.

Coyne doesn’t do it because the other coaches aren’t capable, but because they are busy with other obligations for team success.

His way of doing things is pretty simple. When out recruiting, he makes a calendar for all tournaments over the summer that the other coaches need to attend. He will tell them all the specifics, the dates, times, locations, which specific players they’re supposed to watch. The only decision that the coaches have to make is if each player is good enough to wear a Jayhawk jersey, which they then relay to Coyne.

Coyne does this simply through Google Docs and Sheets for each specific coach. He prints them out and has exact instructions on where they need to stand at a specific time to watch a recruit.

“It’s really fun to coordinate when games get moved around and it rains,” Coyne said. “Those are the parts of the recruiting job that I have to be really good at.”

When being a recruiting coordinator, you have to understand that you aren’t going to get a commitment out of every recruit that you come in contact with, and Coyne admitted that securing that pledge is the most challenging part of his job.

“It’s pretty easy to identify a good player,” Coyne said. “The hardest thing is getting the kid to commit to you.”

According to Coyne, it’s a people business. The ability to build meaningful relationships with the player, their family and coaches is what is important to snagging a commitment.

“I think that for someone to be a good recruiting coordinator, they need to really enjoy doing that,” Coyne said. “It needs to be in their DNA.”

With his almost constant travel as the recruiting coordinator, Coyne misses practice during the season, but catcher Ben Hartl, a Coyne recruit who was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 14th round in the 2024 MLB Draft, said his presence was always felt.

“It’s always good to have a guy like him in your corner,” Hartl said. “I wouldn’t be where I’m at without a guy like Jon Coyne.”

Twenty-six players recruited and coached by Coyne have been selected in the MLB Draft in his career.

Right-handed pitcher Hunter Cranton is another of Coyne’s success stories. Cranton was a third-round selection in last year’s draft by the Seattle Mariners and is participating in their spring training this year as a non-roster invitee. Cranton said that Coyne is one of his all-time favorite coaches.

“During my recruiting process, he was not only a great resource, but genuinely a great person that wanted the best for me and the other recruits,” Cranton said. “I felt that we were longtime friends after one phone call.”

Coyne’s role at KU is a far cry from what he dealt with at Cisco College. During his time there in the same position, he was tasked with preparing the field, while also serving as an academic advisor and strength coach.

Recruiting coordinator wasn’t the path that Coyne expected out of college. But after his time as a volunteer assistant at Texas Pan-American — where he slept on the floor — and Wichita State, Cisco offered him the job and Coyne was thrust into the position. His persistence to stick with it through the tough times allowed him to climb the ladder and get to Kansas, paying dividends for him, KU baseball and the many players with whom he comes into contact.