Texas Hires Tulane’s Pierce

Texas has hired a Houston native to replace legendary coach Augie Garrido.

The Longhorns on Wednesday agreed to terms with Tulane coach David Pierce to replace the winningest baseball coach in NCAA history, who stepped aside on May 30. Pierce has been a head coach for the last five seasons at Tulane and Sam Houston State, and spent nine seasons as one of Wayne Graham’s assistants at Rice.

“As a kid growing up in Texas, I dreamed of being a Longhorn and wearing the burnt orange,” Pierce said in a news relase. “Today that dream is coming true. I am truly honored and grateful to become a part of The University of Texas community and to serve as head baseball coach.

“Texas is second to no one. Just growing up, I was on the field when David Denny broke the doubles record at Texas. I played against a lot of the guys in the mid-’80s and just understood the tradition and the history and the expectation of being a Longhorn. I understand it’s a position that’s going to hold a lot of responsibility, and I’m ready to accept that.”

Tulane hired Pierce, 52, two years ago to replace Rick Jones, who stepped down because of health reasons. In 2015, his first season, Pierce guided the Green Wave to its first regionals appearance since 2008. This season, Tulane went 41-21 and won the American Athletic Conference regular-season title. It was the school’s first conference championship in any sport since the conference was created for the 2013-14 school year. Tulane had not won a conference championship in baseball since 2005.

Prior to Tulane, Pierce spent three years as the coach at Sam Houston State. He guided the Bearkats to three straight NCAA tournament apperances. As a head coach, he is 197-109.

Pierce was an assistant at Houston and Rice before taking the job at Sam Houston State in 2011. During his tenure at Rice, Pierce served as both a hitting coach and pitching coach.

“The city of New Orleans and the Tulane community have been incredible supporters of my family over the past two years,” Pierce said in a statement. “I want to especially thank our baseball coaches, support staff and teams for the great memories that we have shared together. My family will always be grateful to Tulane University, and we will cherish the last two years we spent here. I know we are leaving the baseball program in great shape. I am proud of the accomplishments of our players, and I know they will continue to strive for excellence. Roll Wave!”

Garrido, 77, won 1,975 games overall and five national championships—including two two national championships in 20 seasons at Texas—but the Longhorns missed regionals three times in his final five years as coach.

Tulane said it would conduct a national search immediately to find Pierce’s successor.

“We thank David for the commitment to success he brought to Tulane baseball the past two years,” Tulane director of athletics Troy Dannen said in a statment. “He leaves our program in tremendous position to continue its growth. I’ve long understood Texas was David’s dream job and wish him and his family a great future in Austin.”

2016 COACHING CHANGES
School	Departures	Arrivals
Alabama	Mitch Gaspard	Greg Goff
Alabama State	Mervyl Melendez
Appalachian State	Billy Jones
Army	Matt Reid	Jim Foster
Butler	Steve Farley
Florida International	Turtle Thomas	Mervyl Melendez
Furman	Ron Smith
Jacksonville	Tim Montez	Chris Hayes
Kentucky	Gary Henderson	Nick Mingione
Lamar	Jim Gilligan (ret.)	Will Davis
Liberty	Jim Toman
Louisiana Tech	Greg Goff	Lane Burroughs
Missouri	Tim Jamieson
Northwestern State	Lane Burroughs	Bobby Barbier
Purdue	Doug Schreiber	Mark Wasikowski
San Jose State	Dave Nakama
SIU-Edwardsville	Tony Stoecklin	Sean Lyons
Texas	Augie Garrido	David Pierce
Tulane	David Pierce
Villanova	Joe Godri
Youngstown State	Steve Gillispie	Dan Bertolini