Taylor Kelly returned to VU in the summer of 2025 as the Associate Men's Basketball Coach for the Lions. This is his second deployment to Vanguard, as he was an assistant coach from the 2014-15 season until he took the head coah position at Corban University (Oregon) in 2020.
For the past five seasons, Kelly thrived as the head coach of Corban University's men's basketball program, departing as the third most winningest head coach in program history with a career winning percentage of 62.7%. He was named the Frontier Conference Coach of the Year in his very first season, winning the conference championship in 20-21, and took Corban to the program's first NAIA National Championship Tournament appearance since 2017. Kelly was also named the He coached 13 all-conference players and 61 all-academic selections across different honor societies in his time with Corban.
As a student-athlete, Kelly played three years with the Lions after transferring in from Fresno State University. He was a two-year captain, an NAIA Scholar Athlete, a three-time Golden State Athletic Conference Scholar Athlete, and ranks among the top-five in Vanguard men's basketball history in career three-point field goals made as well as in three-point field goal percentage (single season). As a senior, he was named VU Male Athlete of the Year and won the Champions of Character Award.
After his playing career with the Lions, Kelly was hired as a graduate assistant at Cal State University Dominguez Hills. He spent half of the 2013-14 season as a GA with the Toros before being promoted to lead assistant in the program for the remainder of the year. During the next six years as a member of Coach Soliday's staff, he oversaw recruitment and development of nine All-Conference honorees, a trio of NAIA All-Americans, a Golden State Athletic Conference leading scorer, and the Vanguard career record holder for three-point field goals. Kelly helped propel the Lions to the best start in program history (18-0) in 2018-19, with VU earning a No. 3 seed in the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Tournament that year.
Kelly obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in Kinesiology in 2013 and graduated with his Master's Degree in Physical Education Administration at Cal State Dominguez Hills in May of 2015.
Kelly is married to Kayla, also a Vanguard University alum.
