Josh Merrill – Field Manager
Josh Merrill will return as the Rockers Field Manager for the 2026 season after guiding the franchise to its second Northwoods League Championship in the past three seasons. Merrill currently serves as the Head Baseball Coach at Eastern Oklahoma State College.
Merrill is no stranger to the summer collegiate baseball scene and the Northwoods League. He joined the Rockers in 2025 after spending a summer leading the Johnstown Mill Rats in the Prospect League, where his team achieved a Northeast Division playoff appearance in his first year at the helm. Merrill has previous Northwoods League experience as a player pitching for the rival Wausau Woodchucks during the 2012 season.
Prior to taking the reins at Eastern Oklahoma, Merrill spent three years as the head coach for the Northern Iowa Area Community College Trojans. During his years at the helm, his teams made appearances in Region 11 tournament two years. During Merrill’s time at NIACC, Trojan baseball saw 16 players receive ICCAC All-Region Honors and one player named to the ABCA NJCAA Division II All-American team in 2023. Merrill has helped 32 players successfully transfer to four-year colleges during his time at NIACC and has simultaneously built an extensive network with other college coaches throughout the country.
Prior to his arrival in Mason City, Merrill was an assistant coach at the University of Southern Indiana for one season where he oversaw recruiting and worked with the offense, catchers, and outfielders. He was also an assistant coach for two years at Neosho County Community College.
A native of Wichita, Kansas, Merrill was a right-handed pitcher that started his career at Neosho County Community college where he was a part of back-to-back trips to the NJCAA D1 World Series. After Neosho County, he transferred to the University of Arkansas-Little Rock and later King University. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and a Master of Science in Healthcare Administration from Oklahoma State University. Merrill currently resides in Mason City with his wife and their four children.
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Chris Dawson – Bench Coach
Chris Dawson joins the coaching staff as bench coach and will oversee the development of infielders and hitters. Dawson currently serves as the Head Baseball Coach at McPherson College in Kansas, where he has led the program since 2023. During Dawson’s five years at McPherson, the team has been ranked in the NAIA top 25 multiple times with a program high ranking of 13th coming in the spring of 2022. Prior to his arrival in McPherson, Dawson was the head coach at Southwestern College and has also had coaching stints at Central Christian College, Hawaii Pacific University, and Hesston College. Dawson is no stranger to the summer collegiate baseball scene after spending last summer leading the Kansas Curve in the Kansas Collegiate League, where his team finished with an appearance in the league championship game. Dawson has also spent time as the head coach of the Joplin Outlaws in the MINK League, where his team set the single season stolen base record in the summer of 2021. Dawson is a native of Wichita, Kansas and currently resides in Newton, Kansas with his wife Whitney and their son, Kannon. He is a graduate of Central Christian College with a Bachelor of Science and East Central University with a Master of Education in Sports Administration.
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John ‘JR’ McElroy – Hitting/1B Coach
John ‘JR’ McElroy will serve as the Rockers hitting and first base coach in his first season with the team. A 2019 graduate of Bentonville West High School in Centerton, Arkansas, where he played baseball, McElroy has been on staff with the University of Arkansas baseball program for six years. He is currently a graduate assistant focusing on offensive player development and analytics for the program. In the summer of 2024, McElroy was the hitting coach for the Johnstown Mill Rats of the Prospect League, where he was a member of current Rockers field manager Josh Merrill’s coaching staff. McElroy graduated in May of 2023 from Arkansas with an undergraduate degree in physical education and expected to graduate with his masters degree in sports management in May of 2025.