Mansfield volleyball coach Kaylie Pyles is pictured at the 2024 AHSCA All-Star game. Pyles was recently elected to the Mansfield Wall of Fame.
Kaylie Pyles knows winning. Plain and simple, that’s her superpower. From high school wunderkind to coaching wizard, her storied journey in the world of athletics has been one of enviable distinction. Not quite thirty years old, this Mansfield alumna will soon join elite company as one of the newest members on the Tiger Wall of Fame (WOF).
Mansfield WOF directors recently announced a list of 10 inductees that will comprise the Class of 2025. Each of those honorees, including Pyles, will be formally introduced during a modest halftime ceremony on October 17, 2025 at Tiger Stadium.
As this date approaches, we offer an in-depth look at each of the inductees. For this second installment of “WOF Spotlight”, we bring the youngest member of this year’s induction class to the forefront. This profile paints a picture of Mansfield’s current head volleyball coach, Kaylie Pyles.
Pyles is a 2014 Mansfield graduate with an impeccable pedigree. This All-State, All-Star, MVP, high school state champion has equaled much that same success as the highly productive coach at her alma mater. Basically, her list of athletic achievements is extensive.
As a high school athlete, Kaylie was a 3-sport star playing volleyball, basketball, and track. She earned All-State credentials in all three sports and state MVP honors in two. All of which was accompanied by six state championship rings. Two came from volleyball, a sport she would go on to play in college, and four from track and field.
In regard to volleyball, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazettecalled her one of the best outside hitters of 2013. That deserved reputation helped net a pair of state championships and a state runner-up finish. It also earned her Most Valuable Player awards in 2012 and 2013 seasons. All of which warranted an invitation to play in the 2014 AHSCA Volleyball All-Star game. Add 1,114 career high school kills, it’s easy to see why Henderson State University offered an athletic scholarship.
While playing volleyball for Henderson, Pyles earned a Bachelor of Science in Health & Physical Education. She returned to Mansfield to take over the MHS volleyball program in 2018. Eventually, she would earn a Masters in Educational Leadership at Arkansas Tech University right in the midst of a four-peat run of state titles from 2020 through 2023. Within that same timeframe, her senior high teams won 51 straight sets in state tournament play.
As fate would have it, exactly 10 years after playing in an All-Star game, Pyles would also coach in one. She was an assistant on the 2024 AHSCA All-Star volleyball coaching staff. By this time, she’d coached 5 District Championships, 4 Conference Tournament Championships, and 4 consecutive 2A State Titles all within her first 7 years as head coach. As the leading lady of MHS volleyball, Pyles also spearheaded and won the bid for Mansfrield to host the 2022 Class 2A State Tournament and the first ever 2024 Class 3A North Regional Tournament.
As a high school track athlete, Kaylie was part of 3 consecutive indoor state championships in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Her outdoor track teams got increasingly better placing 3rd, runner-up, and Class 3A champion in that same sequence of years. In the process, she won 22 high point awards, 4 straight 3A Region 4 District high point awards, the Class 1A-4A Indoor MVP and a top-10 heptathlon medal.
She brought home 19 combined medals through indoor and outdoor state track meets. She finished first or second 11 times in individual state events earning multiple All-State certificates. She also amassed an astounding 208 track ribbons.
Along with coaching volleyball, she held assistant roles coaching track and softball. While an assistant, the 2023 softball team took runner-up at state and the 2024 indoor boys track team was also state runner-up. That same 2024 season she was the head coach of the Lady Tiger track team. She promptly won the Class 2A State indoor title and the 2A-4 District that very first season as the head track mentor.
Pyles, the basketball player, scored 1,251 career points, made the 2014 All-State Tournament team, and was selected to the Ft. Smith Radio Group Dream Team 3 times. She was Mansfield’s Basketball Player of the Year every year in high school and landed on the SWTR First Team as a senior.
Kaylie’s roots indeed run deep as a K-12 Mansfield graduate and now, a faculty member. She returned home to coach because this is the school she loves. She has organized youth camps and delivered meals to underprivileged kids for the same reason.
Kaylie’s accomplishments as a student-athlete, teacher and coach are outstanding to say the least. Her journey from prep star to young career woman to first time mother gives strong reason to celebrate. With her soon to be etched WOF plaque about to be hanging above the arena in which she currently coaches, that journey can be celebrated for years to come.
