Conaley Aaron’s high school baseball team had a 36-player roster. If you didn’t have a starting job, you were expected to still contribute.
“We’d be in the dugout stealing signs and trying to figure out what the other team was doing,” Aaron recalled of his days in East Peoria, Illinois. “That’s what drew me into coaching.”
Aaron coached more as a teenager — “a local ma and pa program” he called it — before becoming a head coach, umpire and running tournaments on the travel baseball circuit. He eventually got involved with Louisville Slugger and brought the group to Missouri when his family moved here in 2021. He’s currently the USAAA national baseball team director in Missouri.
Still, despite 25 years of being around the game, Aaron said he didn’t foresee coaching in a school system.
“At the end of last season when Jimmy was gone, they asked me to put my name in,” Aaron said. “I never thought I’d be a high school coach to be honest. It was never in my cards. I was happy doing the travel side. When the girls came to me and asked if I put in for it, I felt like I owed it to them.”
HUGE SHOES TO FILL
Aaron is the new face of one of Houston High School’s most successful sports programs. He has taken the reins of the Lady Tigers softball team from Jim Moore, who resigned last year and eventually landed within the SCA conference at Salem.
Aaron had a front row seat of the program as his daughter, Makinley, won conference player of the year honors as a junior and led Houston to SCA and district titles two years ago. They were the 4th conference and 3rd district titles under Moore.
“Coach Moore’s shoes are huge to fill,” Aaron said. “His record here has been great.”
Last season didn’t go as expected for the Lady Tigers, despite returning the bulk of the roster from the 2024 title team. Houston had 3 conference defeats and lost to Ava in the district semifinals. It ended the program’s run of 3 straight district titles. Aaron said many of the team’s returning seniors, who he helped with individual softball workouts during the season, asked him to apply for the job when Moore left.
“How last year ended for our seniors — let’s not end the story there,” he said.
Despite inheriting a successful program, Aaron has made immediate changes. He’s expanded his coaching staff — adding Bill Nenadich and volunteer Jon Koch to join himself and volunteer Jim Kulakowski — and emphasized station work during practices. He held a classroom session only last week with the team to discuss game situations and has sought input from his six returning players as often as he communicates with his staff.
“We’ve changed everything — how we warm up, how we practice — it’s completely different this year.”
HHS softball coach Conaley Aaron
Aaron said he is intentionally lightening the mood around the team too. He’s welcomed music to early-morning batting sessions at the hitting facility in town and can be heard cutting up and laughing with players during practice.
“You’re not going to hear a lot of yelling and screaming,” he said. “If you yell and scream, some kids are motivated by that and some kids are defeated. You have to find the medium ground.”
COACHING STAFF WILL SHARE LOAD
Aaron, who described himself as an “IQ heavy coach,” said his niche is batting. He also plans to be very aggressive on the basepaths. He said every player will have the green light to go when they are ready, and he plans to have a greater small ball approach at the plate.
The rest of the coaching is led by his assistants. When players arrive to practice, they immediately go to their position coaches: Koch with infielders, Nenadich with outfielders and Kulakowski with the catchers.
“When you look at a major league baseball game, the first person who comes out for a mound visit isn’t the head coach,” Aaron said. “If you have an issue with hitting, you go see a hitting coach. That’s how I want our girls to feel.”
By utilizing his assistants, Aaron said he is able to increase practice reps and get more girls involved. All 18 of his players have the same number of chances — an approach Aaron said will help when his 5 seniors graduate after the 2026 season.
He invited the middle school, coached by his daughter Madelyne, to work out with the high school on Friday and has begun the Houston Softball Club to emphasize development at an earlier age.
“In the past, you had a select 10 who got all the work and for everyone else, you’d deal with them when they got to varsity,” Aaron said. “I want to get them ready now.”
‘WINS AND LESSONS’ AHEAD
Aaron, who works in the parts department at Piney River Ford in Houston while studying online for a degree in elementary education, knows expectations are high for a program that is a combined 101-35 in 6 spring seasons with multiple championships. He said he’s ready for the challenge. Not just for the upcoming 2026 season but also for the ones to come as Houston softball strives for continued success.
“There’s always pressure,” he said. “Is success wins and losses or is success watching the program grow? We call them wins and losses now. They are wins and lessons.”
Conaley Aaron is simply a great guy, and I’ll put my name on that. He’s going to give everything he has to his team, just like he always has for his family. HHS is fortunate to have him. Good luck, Lady Tigers!