Fran Riordan, Three-Time PCL Manager of the Year, Returns to Aviators 2026

Fran Riordan will return as manager of the Las Vegas Aviators for the 2026 campaign, the club announced on February 6, 2026, a move that keeps in place the skipper who led Las Vegas to the 2025 Pacific Coast League championship and earned his third PCL Manager of the Year honor. Riordan’s retention signals stability for the Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate as it looks to defend a title and continue developing major league prospects.

“I’m excited to start another season of Aviators baseball,” Riordan said. “Our expectations are high this year and our goal is to bring a PCL Championship to the passionate and deserving fans of Las Vegas,” KSNV reported. The statement underlines the pressure and promise following a 2025 campaign in which Riordan guided Las Vegas to an 83-67 overall record and a dominant first-half mark of 49-26. MiLB reported the Aviators defeated Tacoma 2-games-to-0 in the LCS to capture the 2025 PCL crown, the franchise’s third PCL championship after 1986 and 1988.

The local station KSNV also published the club’s coaching and support staff as part of its coverage, listing Paul Abbott and Don Schulze as pitching coaches, Brian McArn returning as hitting coach, Kevin Kouzmanoff joining as assistant hitting coach, Dave Comeau and Jake Routhier as athletic trainers, and Steven Thayer as sports performance coach. The station’s reporting provided biographical context as well, identifying Riordan as 49 years old and noting he has spent 24 seasons in professional baseball.

Riordan’s résumé ties independent league achievement to steady advancement in affiliated ball. Baseball-Reference documents his playing and early managing career from 1997 through 2003 in independent leagues, including player-manager stints that yielded back-to-back Frontier League championships with the Richmond Roosters and a 2005 Frontier League title with the Kalamazoo Kings. The Athletics hired Riordan in 2015 to manage Beloit, and he won a championship with the Midland RockHounds in 2017. His 2019 Las Vegas squad posted an 83-57 record and earned Riordan his first PCL Manager of the Year award; MiLB and other records now list him as a three-time PCL Manager of the Year for 2019, 2023 and 2025.

KSNV reported Riordan’s cumulative managerial record as 1,309-1,271 over 23 seasons and noted he ranks eighth among active minor league managers. The station also reported a five-year Aviators record of 368-346 under Riordan and called him the Aviators’ all-time leader in managerial wins. KSNV’s coverage used both “seventh season” and elsewhere “eighth year” phrasing about his tenure with the Aviators; both phrasings appeared in the station’s reporting.

Beyond managerial honors, MiLB’s September 27, 2025 awards release also named outfielder Carlos Cortes and pitcher Ben Bowden to the 2025 PCL All-Star team, underscoring the club’s role in advancing players. For fans, Riordan’s return means continuity in leadership, a clear emphasis on winning, and a familiar steward for the A’s prospect pipeline. The coming months will reveal how Riordan and his staff reload for 2026 and whether Las Vegas can parlay recent momentum into sustained success.