Assistant Coach

Matthew Lillard has joined the Centenary baseball staff as Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator for the 2026 season.  

Lillard, a native of Dallas, Texas, comes to Centenary with five+ years of college coaching experience, and three years exclusively at the Division III level. Lillard’s stops include being a member of the University of Dallas coaching staff in 2021, the Franklin College staff from 2022 to 2023, and the top assistant at LSU of Alexandria in 2024 and 2025.  

Lillard played baseball initially at Millsaps College and later at Hendrix College, where he lettered three years and was named First Team All-Conference, Second Team All-South Region, and All-Arkansas Honorable Mention his junior year. Additionally, Lillard was Academic All-Conference from 2015 to 2018. During his junior season at Hendrix, Matthew set the school RBI single-season record with 56 in 42 games. He lost his senior year due to injuries but graduated from Hendrix College with a B.A. in History.  

Lillard enrolled in graduate school and played his last year of college baseball at Hardin-Simmons University in 2019, where he received an MBA in Sports Business in May of 2021 while being an integral member of the University of Dallas Crusader staff under Coach Grafton’s tutelage. While pursuing his Master’s Degree, Matthew continued playing baseball in the Pecos League and California Winter League from 2020-2021.   

While coaching at Franklin College under the legendary Division III Head Coach Lance Marshall, Lillard helped guide the Grizzlies to a 62-27 record which included back-to-back regular season conference titles in 2022 and 2023 for the first time in program history.  The 2023 squad finished the season with a 33-13 record, a conference tournament championship, and a trip to the NCAA Division III Regional in Birmingham, Alabama.  Serving as first base coach during the 2023 campaign, Lillard coached 15 all-conference selections during his two years at Franklin College, including 2022 Region 8 Player of the Year Logan Demkovich and 2023 Conference Player of the Year Jonathon LaGuire-Cruz.   

Following the 2023 campaign at Franklin College, Coach Lillard was hired as recruiting coordinator and top assistant at LSU of Alexandria, an NAIA institution located in Alexandria, Louisiana competing in the Red River Athletic Conference.  During the 2024 & 2025 campaigns, the Generals successfully qualified for the conference tournament.  Finishing the regular season in 4th in 2024 with a conference record of 18-12 and 5th in 2025 with a conference record of 16-14, Lillard was instrumental in coaching 3 All-RRAC Selections, including 2 Champions of Character Team Members.  Utility Blaise Foote won 1st Team All-RRAC honors in 2024 alongside OF Keegan Garcia who garnered 2nd Team All-RRAC.  Legendary LSUA LHP Seth Trahan was awarded a spot on the Champions of Character Team in 2024.  In 2025, Blaise Foote won 2nd Team All-RRAC at 1B and RHP Zack Benevage was honored as a member of the Champions of Character Team, concluding his career as an established Relief Pitcher for the Generals as displayed in his 2024 campaign.   

During Lillard’s two years at LSUA, he was instrumental in bringing in multiple recruiting classes, including the 2025 class which had 13+ commitments from Louisiana, Texas, and California from the high school and junior college levels.  Additionally, Lillard brought in 11 more commits for the 2024 class which came from Louisiana and Texas primarily, ranging from high school, post-grad, and the junior college ranks.  Lillard worked heavily with the hitters and 1st baseman/infielders but also assisted in the strength and conditioning efforts during the fall and spring seasons.

Lillard graduated from Highland Park High School where he lettered three years in baseball and was a 2nd-Team All-District Outfielder his junior season and Honorable Mention All-District 1st Baseman his senior season, serving as Team Captain. He and his wife Jennifer reside in Bossier City and have two dogs, Bear and Charlie.