Pyles came to Rio Grande as a coaching novice after spending many years as an umpire. He had umpired numerous games at Rio Grande in the years leading up to his hire. He took over for Dan Shane, who coached Rio Grande to a 9-33 record in 2001. Pyles' first season was his only year under the .500 mark as Rio Grande posted a 16-22 record in that initial season.

In 2010 Pyles completed his ninth season as head coach of the University of Rio Grande softball program.  Beginning with the 2003 season Rio Grande qualified for post-season play every year.  The 2004 season was Pyles' best campaign, setting a school record for wins (40) and advancing to the NAIA National Tournament after winning the Region IX title.  Rio finished seventh at the national tournament that season. Pyles enjoyed three 30- win campaigns, including this past season when the RedStorm went 30-23. Rio finished fourth in its first season in the Mid-South Conference with a league record of 17-11 this past spring.

The 2006 season saw the program have a 3.75 grade point average, which earned the team the highest softball GPA in the nation, leading all collegiate divisions.  Rio Grande repeated that feat in 2007.

Pyles compiled an impressive overall record of 242-152 (.614 winning percentage) in his nine seasons. During those nine years, Rio Grande won one NAIA Region title (2004) and tied for the regular-season American Mideast Conference Championship twice (2006, 2008). 

Pyles feels good about his time as Rio coach and the fact that he can leave on his own terms. "Fortunately I wasn't run out of town," he said. "It's been a good run; I've really enjoyed my time here at Rio Grande. I've had a lot of nice players and made a lot of good friends over the years."

Coming from the umpiring ranks and never having any prior coaching experience before heading up the Rio Grande program, Pyles really had no idea how his career would go when he started. "That first year was extremely rough, I didn't have any coaching experience, other than just little league and things like that. And coming from an umpiring background I had some knowledge of the game, but didn't really know all the ins-and-outs and everything that was involved with recruiting and travel and scheduling," Pyles said. "After that first year I didn't know how long, it was a struggle, we had a lot of issues and a lot of things to deal with, but being able to bring in that first recruiting class, and looking back, I didn't realize actually how good of a class it turned out to be."

"I've really got to give that class and those girls that stuck with me that second year the credit for turning things around here," Pyles added. "It's been a good, long run, but I couldn't have foreseen (the success) and I don't have a clue how many wins I had, that's never been really an important part for me."

"I've always tried to have teams prepared toward the end of the season and strived to do well in our conference tournament, but to me it's been more important seeing these kids get an education and building good relationships with them and things like that," he said. 

Pyles also talked about the relationships he formed with the opposing coaches over the years. "I'm going to miss a lot of people. As the season went on I tried to bring it to some of the coaches' attention that I wouldn't be back and it was hard," he said. "There are a lot of good competitors, obviously when step between the lines, you want to beat them, but at the same time that doesn't mean you can't be friends with them."

"It's been really quite enjoyable to make the relationships I've made with some of them," Pyles added. "I'm sure I'll stay in contact with some of these coaches."

Pyles' immediate plans are for he, and his wife Connie, to move to Nashville, Tennessee to be closer to their daughter, who resides there. 

The search for a replacement for Coach Pyles is already underway and the hope is to have a new coach in place by the end of the month when Pyles' contract will officially expire.