Anthony Essien begins his 9th year at Reedley College after spending 17 years as an Assistant Coach at Clovis High School.  In his 1^st season with the Tigers, Essien was instrumental in guiding the Tigers to the California State playoffs for the 1^st time since 1963.  Under Essien’s tutelage, Tiger catcher Alan Crowley was selected Central Valley Conference Player of the Year, All-State, 2^nd Team All American, and was selected and signed by the Atlanta Braves in the 2016 Amateur player draft in the 26^th round.  In Essien’s 2^nd season the Tigers advanced to the state playoffs again defeating Lassen before losing to eventual state runner-up Santa Rosa in game 3 of the 3 game series.  In 2018 Essien took over the Pitching Coach duties and helped the Tigers to the State playoffs for the 3^rd consecutive season.  The Tigers Pitching staff finished 6^th in the state with a 3.28 ERA.  Cal State Fullerton commit, Brady Barcellos, was selected 1^st team All Central Valley Conference along with closer Sid Lacy, who finished tied for Saves with 8 in the State.  In 2020 the Tigers were 15-6 at the mid-point of the season before the Pandemic shut down the rest of the season.  The Pitching staff at the time of the season stoppage was 2^nd in the State of California in ERA with a 2.40 under Essien.  The 2023 Tigers finished 30-15-1 and defeated Feather River in the Regional Playoff best of 3 series, beat Canada in the first game of the Super Regionals before dropping 2 games to Santa Rosa.  Essien developed Tiger closer Elijah Acosta who went on to become an All-State and 3^rd Team All-American in 2023 as he finished with a record of 4-0 with 10 saves.  In the last 6 seasons as the Tiger pitching Coach, Essien has developed 5 1^st team All-Central Valley Conference Pitchers and 2 All Americans.  For the past 3 summers, Essien has been the Pitching Coach and most currently the Manager for the Burlington Sock Puppets in the Appalachian Summer Collegiate League where they were the East Division Champions in 2022 and 2023.

Essien was a 3 year letterman at Narbonne High School in Harbor City, California where he graduated in 1989.  He moved on to Mendocino Junior College in 1990 where he was a pitcher for the Eagles.  He graduated from Fresno State in 2001 where he received a degree in Kinesiology.  Essien received his Master’s degree in Exercise Science from Cal Baptist University in 2021.  He served as a Pitching coach at Bishop Montgomery High School in 1992.  He then moved to Clovis High School where he was instrumental in the success of one of the most storied Baseball programs in the country.  Essien was part of 7 Valley championships, 3 State championships, and 2 National championships in 1997 and 1998.  During his tenure at Clovis he coached over 50 players that moved on to College, over 20 players that played in the Minor leagues, and one Major Leaguer (Ryan Cook). 

Along with coaching the Pitchers and Catchers, Essien will be an integral part in all recruiting aspects for the Tigers.  He has been married to his wife Ali for 4 years and he has 2 daughters, Petra and Dottie and 3 step sons, Tanner, Koby, and Kael.