Bryant Gaines

Biography

Bryant Gaines enters his first season as associate head coach and seventh as pitching coach for the Tar Heels in 2026. Gaines was promoted to associate head coach in August of 2025 after serving as assistant head coach for the previous five years. He also served as recruiting coordinator from 2021-2024. Carolina has won over 65 percent of its games with Gaines manning the dugout as both a player and a coach and has reached the NCAA tournament eight times in that span. In his tenure on the coaching staff, the team has racked up 212 wins, captured a trio of ACC titles, made five NCAA tournament appearances (each year minus covid), and earned a trip to the 2024 College World Series. A four-year letterman and two-time captain for Carolina from 2007-11, Gaines has now spent a total of 16 seasons with the program after previously serving on Hall of Fame head coach Mike Fox’s staff from 2012-15. He has been a part of half of the team’s trips to the College World Series, four as a player and two as an assistant. The 2025 season brought the crown jewel of Gaines' collection as a pitching coach, as he would guide Jake Knapp to National Pitcher of the Year and ACC Pitcher of the Year honors. Coming off of Tommy John surgery that took the entirety of his 2024 campaign, Gaines coached Knapp to an unbelievable comeback in 2025 that saw the big righty go 14-0 (best record in program history and best in the nation in 2025) with a 2.02 ERA. Knapp would go on to earn unanimous All-America hono