Eric Gilliland became Cloud County Community College's 10th head baseball coach in June of 2016, taking over the reins of the T-Bird program after successful stints as an assistant coach at Garden City Community College and as a graduate assistant at Fort Hays State University.

While at Cloud County, Gilliland has coached 58 players who have transferred to NCAA Division I schools and 140 players that have moved on to four-year programs. Former T-Bird pitcher Erik Sabrowski was drafted in the 2018 Major League Baseball draft and made his big-league debut for the Cleveland Guardians in 2024, including pitching in five postseason games. In addition, Gilliland has led the program to four consecutive NJCAA Region 6 Plains District Baseball Tournament appearances (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025), including reaching the tournament title game in 2025, the first in school history. The T-Birds have averaged 42 wins per season since 2022. In 2025, Cloud County established a new program record for wins in a single season with 48.

Entering the 2026 season, Gilliland sits with 298 career wins at Cloud County. On March 1, 2025, Gilliland became the winningest coach in T-Birds history, surpassing Greg Brummett on Cloud County's all-time wins list, when his team knocked off No. 1-ranked Weatherford College, 7-6, in Weatherford, Texas.

The 2025 season saw the T-Birds shatter multiple program records, including games played (65), at-bats (2021), hits (681), runs (603), singles (435), doubles (143), runs batted in (545), and highest-fielding percentage (.970). Cloud County finished the 2025 campaign with a 48-17 record, marking the team's third 40-plus win season in the last four years. The T-Birds also secured their fourth consecutive top-three finish in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference - West Division by going 25-7 in conference play and sweeping three of their four-game conference matchups.

In addition to a record-breaking season on the field, Cloud County third baseman Nolan Freund was named an honorable mention All-American by the NJCAA Division I Baseball Committee. Freshman Cole Linton was tabbed as the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference - West Division Pitcher of the Year, and Cloud County placed ten recipients on the All-KJCCC West team and three on the All-Region 6 team.

Gilliland graduated from Concordia High School in 2005 before beginning his collegiate playing career at Cloud County Community College. Gilliland spent two years as a two-way player for the T-Birds, earning time on the mound and in the outfield, and received Academic All-American honors.

Gilliland received his Bachelor's degree in Health and Human Performance from Fort Hays State University in 2009 before obtaining his Master’s degree in Sports Administration from Fort Hays State University in 2011. Gilliland was a two-time All-Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) selection as a pitcher for the Fort Hays State Tigers and is currently ranked in the top ten in program history in strikeouts and innings pitched.

Following his collegiate playing career, Gilliland played professionally for three years in Independent Baseball, amassing a career 3.95 ERA in 86 professional appearances on the mound for the Wichita Wingnuts of Wichita, Kansas, the Gateway Grizzlies of Sauget, Illinois, and the Midwest Sliders of Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Gilliland is married to the former Ambria Menard, also from Concordia, Kansas. They are the parents of three sons, Jack (12), Kip (6), and Brooks (4) and one daughter, the late Hattie Jo Gilliland.