Lance Harvell

Lance Harvell enters his sixth year as assistant coach at Nebraska in 2025, having joined the staff in June 2019. Harvell coaches the outfielders, while also serving as the Huskers’ first-base coach and recruiting coordinator.

The Husker offense turned to the running game in 2024, as Nebraska was among the national leaders in sacrifice bunts and stolen bases throughout the season. The Big Red ranked 21st with 44 sacrifice bunts and 36th with 95 stolen bases, including Riley Silva finishing as the nation’s leader with 18 sacrifice bunts and recording the 17th-most stolen bases with 32 on the season.  The NU offense also had a draft pick in the first four rounds for the third time in last two seasons after Josh Caron was selected in the fourth round of the MLB draft by the Seattle Mariners. Caron was one of two catchers nationally to hit at least .300 at the plate with 15-plus homers and 65 runs driven in last season.

In 2023, Nebraska belted a school-record 97 home runs and was led by All-Americans Max Anderson and Brice Matthews. Anderson was a Second-Team All-American after becoming the first Husker since 2001 to hit above .400 at the plate with a .414 batting average while hitting the fifth-most homers in program history with 21. The junior became the first Big Ten player with 15 home runs in a conference season with a traditional schedule before being selected by the Detroit Tigers in the second round of the 2023 MLB Draft. Matthews was selected No. 28 overall in the MLB Draft by the Houston Astros after becoming the first player in program history and second player all-time in the Big Ten to record at least 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a season.

The Huskers hit a Big Ten-best .279 in 2021, bolstered by three players in the league’s top 25 for batting average: Jaxon Hallmark (.342), Max Anderson (.332) and Luke Roskam (.307). Hallmark, an outfielder, picked up first-team All-Big Ten honors. Nebraska went on to finish 34-14, captured the Big Ten regular-season championship and appeared in an NCAA Regional Final.

Harvell spearheaded the Huskers’ recruiting efforts, and their 15-member 2021 recruiting class, which included a trio of top-200 prospects, was ranked 20th by Perfect Game, 21st by Baseball America and 36th by Collegiate Baseball.

Harvell’s first season in Lincoln was cut short after 15 games in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NU’s offense was hitting .281 and had 17 home runs, while averaging 6.8 runs per game.

Prior to coming to Lincoln, Harvell spent five seasons at Sam Houston as the team’s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under Matt Deggs. During that span, the Bearkats captured four Southland Conference regular-season titles and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2016 and 2017. In 2016, Harvell established himself as the top recruiting coordinator in the Southland Conference by D1Baseball.com.

In 2019, Sam Houston went 31-25 and won the Southland Conference with a 20-10 mark in league play. Hayden Wesneski, Jordan Cannon, Nick Mikolajchak and Hunter Hearn were each selected in the 2019 MLB Draft after the season. In addition, Colton Cowser was named Southland Hitter of the Year and was a standout on Team USA.

In 2018, the Bearkats boasted a 39-20 mark overall, which included a 24-6 record in conference play, as they won the regular-season league crown.

Sam Houston enjoyed a Division I program-record 44-win season in 2017 to advance to its first-ever NCAA Super Regional. The 2017 squad finished nationally ranked in all six polls, checking in at No. 14 (Collegiate Baseball), No. 16 (NCBWA), No. 18 (D1 Baseball), No. 19 (USA Today Coaches), No. 20 (Baseball America) and No. 22 (Perfect Game).

The Bearkats stormed through the Southland Conference Tournament with four consecutive wins to capture the crown and earn the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. In the Lubbock Regional, the team knocked off No. 5 Texas Tech twice and won both of its games against 16th-ranked Arizona to earn a spot in the Tallahassee Super Regional.

Heath Donica earned All-America honors and Southland Pitcher of the Year in 2017, while Wesneski took home Freshman All-America accolades and Southland Freshman-of-the-Year recognition. Sam Houston finished the 2017 regular season as one of two teams nationally ranked in the top-25 for both ERA (3.58) and batting average.

In 2016, the Bearkats swept the Southland regular-season and Tournament titles to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Sam Houston State, which welcomed 19 freshmen and 29 newcomers, went 42-22 overall and posted a 24-6 mark in conference play.

In 2015, Sam Houston won 31 games and made it to the championship game of the Southland Tournament.

Harvell spent two years as the volunteer assistant at Louisiana in 2013 and 2014. Harvell helped guide the Ragin’ Cajuns to national prominence and the best offense in the country two straight years. The 2014 team finished the season with a 58-10 record, the third-best record in NCAA history, and the best record and most wins in school and Sun Belt Conference history.

At the end of the regular season the Cajuns were the consensus No. 1 team by every poll, earned the No. 6 national seed, had a school-record seven players taken in the MLB draft and led the country with three first-team All-Americans. The Cajuns offense finished ranked in the top three nationally in 26 of the 29 offensive categories.

Along the way to winning the Sun Belt regular-season and tournament championships, several Cajun players earned postseason recognition, including first-team All-American Jace Conrad, who also earned Sun Belt Conference Player-of-the-Year honors before being selected in the 13th round of the MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. Blake Trahan and Caleb Adams (who also played for Harvell at Texarkana) also garnered first-team All-America accolades.

Harvell spent three years at Texarkana College, including two under Bolt, as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 2010 to 2012. In his time at Texarkana, the Bulldogs produced some of the best offenses in their conference and region in terms of production, leading the conference in batting in 2011 and 2012. Under his tutelage, Texarkana never finished lower than second in team batting and more than 25 position players moved on to play Division I baseball.

In 2011 and 2012, Texarkana led the conference in batting average, hits, runs scored, stolen bases, doubles, and triples, hitting .310 and .314 respectively. In 2010, the Bulldogs won the conference championship and finished in the top four of every major offensive category.

Harvell spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons as a graduate assistant coach at Texas A&M. During the 2009 season, he was the team’s strength and conditioning coach. In 2008, he served as the pitching assistant, helping the Aggies to a Big 12 regular-season crown, an NCAA Regional title and an NCAA Super Regional berth.

During his playing days, Harvell was an all-conference and All-Region catcher at Richland Community College in Dallas. In 2003 and 2004, he led his team to back-to-back NJCAA national titles. Harvell walked on at Texas A&M in 2005 and 2006 as a catcher.

Harvell graduated from Texas A&M in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in sport management and earned his master’s degree in the same field in 2009. He and his wife Courtney have two sons, Bodie and Dexter, and a daughter, Ellie.