Tanner Spencer was hired as the second Head Coach of the UCCS Baseball program in June of 2026.
Coach Spencer joined the Mountain Lion family after spending seven seasons at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N. D. and was coming off his most successful season with the Marauders. That spring, Spencer led his University of Mary team to 37 wins, while going 27-10 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), both totals being program records for Mary Baseball, earning Spencer the NSIC Coach of the Year honor. That spring alone, Spencer's athletes totaled five All-NSIC selections, Two NSIC All-Tournament performers, four All-Region athletes, 10 NSIC All-Academic Team members, 13 NSIC Academic Team of Excellence honorees, and one All-American Honorable Mention (Cole Smith, NCBWA).
In seven seasons with the Marauders, Spencer was 155-155 overall, while finishing 116-100 in Northern Sun contests, reaching the postseason five of the seven seasons including the shortened 2020 campaign. The winningest coach in the program's history, Coach Spencer also stressed the importance of academic success, with his program maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or better during his time in Bismarck, garnering 91 NSIC All-Academic players, 13 NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic Award recipients, ten CSC Academic All-Academic All-District players, and two CSC Academic All-Americans.
Prior to his time with the Marauders, Spencer served two seasons at Minot State where he was hired as an Assistant Coach and was quickly elevated to Assistant Head Coach after one season. In his time with Minot State, Spencer helped guide the program to their two most successful years while coordinating recruiting, academics, fundraising and pitching. The Beavers saw eight future professionals come through the program during Spencer's two seasons.
Coach Spencer began his career at his alma mater, Nebraska-Kearney, where, after the end of his playing career, Spencer spent the 2016-17 season as the pitching coach and the strength and conditioning coach. The Lopers experienced an increase of 14 wins over the prior season, lowered the team's ERA by nearly two runs and broke the school record for strikeouts. Three times the Lopers earned MIAA Pitcher of the Week honors and UNK landed a pitcher on the All-Conference Second-Team. Additionally, Alex Achtermann was the Conference and Region Player of the Year and was drafted by the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB).
Spencer played two seasons for the Lopers before graduating and joining the coaching staff. He graduated in 2017 from Kearney with a bachelors degree in Exercise Physiology, and Minot State with a masters degree in Sport Management in 2019.
A native of Craik, Saskatchewan, Spencer and his wife Kylee are proud parents of their son Sutter.
