Cougars baseball team adds assistant coach

Northeast Iowa Community College Cougars Head Baseball Coach Conner Klostermann added to his coaching staff recently, announcing the hiring of Assistant Coach Corey Harrell. The Knoxville, Iowa, native joins the staff from Northern State University (S.D.).

Harrell started his collegiate playing career at Southeastern Community College (SCC) before transferring to Graceland University. He received degrees in business administration and sports management while also setting program records for home runs and runs batted in for a single season at Graceland.

His coaching career started at Presentation College in Aberdeen, S.D., where he worked as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator. After three years, he decided to complete a master's degree in coaching and joined Northern State University as a graduate assistant. He worked primarily with pitchers and catchers.

"The game of baseball has given me so much in my life that when I was presented with the opportunity to coach and potentially give back to the game," Harrell said, "it was a very easy decision. Coaching has always been a career path that I wanted to take."

While at Northern State, Harrell was instrumental in the development of the program's first all-conference catcher in over six seasons. At almost every stop along his journey, he's seen success. Coach Klostermann recognizes this, and those experiences are a significant factor in why he was hired.

"His passion for developing student-athletes is unmatched," Coach Klostermann said. "Corey has a wealth of experience in college baseball, both as a player and coach, and will be an invaluable asset to our program."

Harrell thinks he will bring consistency, energy and the desire to learn every day to the program.

"It's not how you do one thing," he said, "it's how you do everything and stay consistent with your daily intent towards whatever we are working to accomplish. In order to grow as individuals, we must also learn, so we have to be willing to try new techniques and take on new challenges."

Harrell's first day with the college was Friday, Nov. 1. Stay up-to-date on all NICC Athletics at nicc.edu/athletics.