David Pierce named Baseball America College Coach of the Year

Following a season that saw the Texas Longhorns earn a trip to the College World Series for the first time since 2014, head coach David Pierce was named Baseball America College Coach of the Year on Tuesday.

Pierce took over for arguably the greatest college baseball coach of all time in Augie Garido in 2015 and reached the sport’s pinnacle in only his second season on the job.

Texas went 42-23 in 2018, with a sweep over TCU in the final weekend of the regular season helping the Longhorns earn the program’s first regular season Big 12 title since 2011. Pierce earned conference coach of the year honors in the process.

“You could see they were committed to each other,” Pierce said. “When we won the conference championship and some things fell into place for us, you knew this team was doing things right and they were playing at a level for each other, they were playing with confidence. When that happened, you saw them feed off each other.”

Hosting a regional for the first time in that span followed, along with a super regional. By winning the final two games against Tennessee Tech in the Austin Super Regional, Texas earned the program’s record-setting 36th trip to Omaha, but bowed out after only two games.

Yet, despite the disappointment in the College World Series, Pierce proved that he’s one of the top coaches in college baseball.

Click for the release from Baseball America.