Former Major League Baseball scout and assistant baseball coach Jeff McKay became the head coach of the Corban University baseball team prior to the start of the 2011 campaign. Since taking over, he has become the winningest coach in program history with 148 wins in six years.
Showing his ability to help players reach their full potential and play at the next level, two players have signed with Major League Baseball teams in the past three years.
During his time at the helm of the Warriors, McKay has guided Corban to back-to-back 29-plus win seasons and in 2014, the team finished tied for third in the conference standings, ultimately taking third in the conference tournament – the highest finish in program history. Under his guidance, Corban has qualified for the NAIA-West Tournament in five-consecutive seasons, averaging nearly 28 wins in each of the last five years. Corban boasted 19 conference wins in 2016, marking the most in program history.
In 2015, McKay coached the Warrior team that registered program records in hits and total bases offensively, and saves and strikeouts on the pitching records. Following the conclusion of the 2015 and 2016 campaigns, he led the Corban team on Mission Trips to Cuba, becoming the first baseball team to enter the city of Caimanera, Cuba in nearly 60 years.
The 2014 campaign also marked the first time the team had reached the conference postseason tournament in three successive years. Furthermore, the squad produced eight offensive and 10 pitching team or individual records over the course of the season, exemplifying the successful year that it was.
In 2013, McKay helped the Warriors rise to new heights after Corban won a single-season school-record 30 games and earned the first-ever postseason victory with a 3-1 win over Oregon Tech in the NAIA West Tournament. For the second season in a row, McKay helped guide Corban to the playoffs after the Warriors finished fourth in the NAIA West standings.
In 2012, McKay led the Warriors to their first winning record since 2002, as Corban went 28-23 overall and 16-15 in NAIA West play. In his second season as head coach of the Warriors, McKay guided Corban to the postseason for the first time since 2003 with the Warriors advancing to the NAIA West Tournament.
In his first season at Corban in 2011, McKay helped Corban average over three runs per game that included a school-record and season-high 21 against cross town rival Willamette. The Warriors’ pitching staff also averaged nearly five strikeouts per game under McKay’s guidance.
McKay helped former Corban head coach, Nate Mayben, as an assistant coach during the 2007 and 2008 seasons, while working with the pitching staff that included former Warrior Jason Braun – an ‘09 draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds.
Prior to his time at Corban, McKay was a professional scout for more than 25 years beginning in 1982 within the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, before concluding in 2008 as a scout for the Chicago White Sox. McKay spent most of his professional scouting career with the Kansas City Royals (1990-2006) as a Northwest Area Scout, West Coast Crosschecker, or National Crosschecker.
Before scouting, McKay coached at both the professional and collegiate level. In 1978, McKay began his professional coaching career as a pitching coach for the Boise Bucks of the Northwest League. One year later, McKay worked as the pitching coach for the Northwest League’s Salem Angels from 1979-80. In 1990, McKay returned to coaching as a hitting coach for the Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League. McKay also served as an assistant coach to Mel Krause at the University of Oregon in 1979 and 1980.
As a player, McKay played one year at Treasure Valley Community College before signing with the San Francisco Giants. From 1972-75, McKay played for five different teams within the San Francisco Giants organization. McKay later played one season (1976) for Texas City of the Lone Star League before moving to the Boise Hawks organization in 1977.
While with the Kansas City Royals, McKay started Baseball Northwest, Inc. in 1996 starting a player development program for over 2,000 high school players per year in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Since the start of the program, Baseball Northwest, Inc. has produced over 5,000 players that are playing college baseball and more than 200 playing professional baseball, including 40 players in the MLB.
One year prior to starting Baseball Northwest, Inc., McKay also became a member of the Board of Directors and Research Consultant for Bio-Kinetics Research and Development Company in 1995. Bio-Kinetics is the world’s only three-dimensional computer motion analysis company of major league hitting and pitching mechanics.
Moreover, McKay is the General Manager of the Salem Capitals of the Oregon Collegiate Baseball League.
McKay graduated from the University of Oregon in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education. He and his wife, Jodi, have two children – Annie Warner, of Aumsville, Ore., and Torie Grubb, of Conrad, Mont. – both are both Corban graduates. He enjoys chasing his two grandsons around, fishing and golfing. McKay and his family currently reside in Salem and attend First Baptist Church.
