Incoming NorthPaws assistant given green light to become club’s new head coach

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops NorthPaws had their incoming assistant coach relive them of their search for a new head coach for the 2023 West Coast League (WCL) season.

In a news release issued Friday (March 31) morning, the Kamloops baseball club announced that incoming assistant coach Keith Francis will instead become the NorthPaws’ third head coach in franchise history.

“I am looking forward to the coming season,” Francis says. “My teams are aggressive and play the right way. I never play the other team. If you play the game and play the right way, usually good things come your way. It’s my intent for the NorthPaws to play that way, too.”

The move comes after former head coach Brian Anderson departed the NorthPaws to take a NCAA Division I coaching job with Northwestern University’s baseball program. Francis and Anderson had been working with the Pima Community College Aztecs in Arizona. Francis had committed to being Anderson’s assistant in Kamloops for the 2023 season.