Kinzy named WC’s head baseball coach

Former Coyote player Jud Kinzy has been named the new Weatherford College baseball coach. An assistant since 2018, he replaces Jeff Lightfoot, who is now the school’s athletic director.

Courtesy of Weatherford College

Kinzy has been WC’s assistant coach since 2018, serving as the program’s pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. He is also a WC alumnus. 

“The Coyote baseball program has a winning tradition and a championship culture, and Jud has been a big part of it as a player and a coach,” Lightfoot said. “He is a relentless recruiter and has a great reputation in college baseball. I’m excited to see Jud grow in his new role as head coach — the future is bright for Coyote baseball.”

Under Kinzy, WC’s pitching staff had the second-lowest earned run average in the nation for the past two seasons (3.40 in 2025, 3.15 in 2024). The Coyotes produced All-American pitchers in 2023 (Ryne Rodriguez) and 2024 (Robert Fortenberry), with Fortenberry winning the National Pitcher of the Year Award. The NJCAA has not yet announced its 2025 awards.

Four WC players have won the conference Pitcher of the Year Award in the last three years (Rodriguez in 2023, Cade Crossland and Fortenberry as co-winners in 2024, and Evan Brandt in 2025). 

Kinzy began his collegiate baseball career at WC in 2013, pitching for a team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation during the 2015 season. He played one year at the University of Houston and then transferred to the University of Texas at Arlington, where he earned academic all-conference honors and contributed to a Sun Belt championship in 2017. Kinzy earned his associate degree from WC in 2015 and a bachelor of science degree from UTA in 2018.

“I feel blessed to step into this role,” Kinzy said. “I’m extremely honored. I know there is much work to be done to continue to be where we want to be year in and year out. It’s also surreal that I won’t share a dugout with Coach Lightfoot anymore. Good news is, he’s still around and helping us in a higher role.”

Kinzy is a Denton Guyer High School graduate, playing for his father, longtime baseball coach Johnny Kinzy. He was a two-time first team all-district pitcher and was named Co-MVP of District 5-4A his senior year. 

Jud and his wife, Lindsey, have one son, Maddox, who was born in February of this year. 

“It feels like a full circle moment,” he said. “From stepping into the WC locker room as a young freshman, to now, leading all these future young men into what it takes to be a Coyote, to be a champion on and off the field. The standards and goals never change for us. Yes, there’s a new head coach, but the Coyote culture never changes; that’s part of being a Coyote for life.”