Reports: Texas expected to hire former Baylor head coach Steve Rodriguez as hitting coach

Head coach David Pierce and the Texas Longhorns are expected to add former Baylor Bears head coach Steve Rodriguez to Pierce’s staff as a hitting coach, according to multiple reports on Thursday.

Rodriguez resigned from his position at Baylor in May after seven years as the head coach in Waco following a 28-28 as the Bears missed the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. Baylor had made regional appearance in 2017, 2018, and 2019, including the program’s first Big 12 Tournament title in 2018 and a second-place league finish in 2019. In winning 197 games with the Bears, Rodriguez is the third-winningest coach in school history.

In the seven years Rodriguez spent in Waco, he coached eight All-Americans and three freshman All-Americans while having 12 players selected in the MLB Draft.

A middle infielder during his playing career at Pepperdine, Rodriguez made it to the big leagues in 1995 before starting his coaching career at his alma mater in 2000, eventually taking over the Waves program in 2004 and remaining there until 2015. During that time, Pepperdine made seven regional appearances and one super regional appearance while finishing in first place or tied for first place in the West Coast Conference on five occasions.

So Rodriguez has an appealing resume as an assistant coach, a role he hasn’t held in nearly 20 years, and should help the Longhorns stabilize the program if he is hired, although he certainly doesn’t possess the cachet with current and potential players and recruits that Troy Tulowitzki did. Then again, there probably isn’t anyone in the college game who does, and that’s why the loss of Tulowitzki after three seasons will continue to sting indefinitely.