Bucks Head Coach: Mitch Messer

Coach Messer played American Legion baseball in Rapid City, South Dakota from 1993-1997. Rapid City won state and regional championships in 1995 & 1996 earning back to back trips to the American Legion World Series. In the spring of 1998 Mitch played left field for South Dakota State. In the fall of 1998 he transferred to Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa who made it to their first CONFerence championship game. Mitch finished his collegiate career at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management.

In the spring of 2001, he coached the junior varsity Post 15 East team in Sioux Falls, SD where they finished state runner-up. In the spring of 2002, he coached the Sioux Falls O’Gorman High School team to their first state tournament appearance. In the fall of 2002 Mitch was chosen by the Bitterroot Bucs as their Manager for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. They won a record-breaking 50 games and finished second at the State A American Legion baseball tournament in 2003. During the fall seasons of 2003-2005, he has also served as an assistant coach for the Big Sky Baseball team. He and his wife Jacey have recently moved to Bozeman where Jacey will be practicing as an attorney. Mitch is planning on attending MSU in the fall to earn his Master’s degree in Health Promotion and Education.
 

Bucks Assistant Coach: Matt Barefield

Coach Barefield played American Legion baseball in Belgrade and Bozeman (playing for the Bucks his senior year).  Matt then played baseball for Trinidad State Junior College in 1999 and was a member of the pitching staff.  An arm injury sidelined him for his sophomore year, and he returned to Bozeman to attend Montana State University.

Still wanting to play baseball, Matt ventured to Dawson Community College and Morningside College where he was able to pitch for a spring and fall semester.   Another shoulder injury allowed him to make the decision to return to Bozeman to finish school and start his career.

Matt currently teaches 8th grade at Sacajawea Middle School in Bozeman and is a coach for the Bridger Ski Foundation Freestyle Team.  Baseball coaching experiences before becoming the pitching coach for Bozeman Baseball include:

• 2 years at the Babe Ruth level where Matt's team won a city championship; and
   

• 2 years as the pitching coach for the Gallatin Valley Outlaws. While coaching there the Outlaws won  a state championship and a second place at regionals in 2005; and a 3rd place finish at state in 2006.

Bucks Assistant Coach: Dan McKinney

Dan is from Corvallis Montana and also played for the Bitterroot Redsox organization for three years as a pitcher, first baseman and outfielder. This is Dan's 4th season as a coach for our Bozeman American Legion baseball program.  Dan has been the head coach for the Spikes team for 2 seasons and he also coached for Big Sky baseball for 1 season.  

He is currently working on the baseball coaching staff as the director of operations with the New Mexico State baseball program in Las Cruces, New Mexico. This is Coach McKinney’s 2nd season with the Aggies and his first as the director of operations.  He was a student-coach in 2008 and helped to order, distribute and maintain equipment, as well as field maintenance, assisting with practice and travel tasks.  This season he is the Director of Baseball Operations and his duties include assisting the coaching staff with team travel, hotel arrangements and helping to oversee facility maintenance.  McKinney is a 2005 graduate of Corvallis High School in Corvallis, Mont. Although, there was no high school baseball in Montana, he played for the Bitterroot Red Sox in the American Legion for three years and helped his team to a state championship and a third place regional finish in 2003.  McKinney coached the Bozeman Montana American Legion Program Post 14.  He is currently working on a bachelor of individualized studies with three minors in sports marketing, exercise science and counseling. His coaching philosophy is " Practice makes permanent, not perfect".