David Pierce - Baseball Coach - University of Texas Athletics

David Pierce

Title:
Head Coach

Birthdate: October 13, 1962
Hometown: Houston, Texas
High School: St. Pius X High School
Alma Mater: The University of Houston, 1988
Wife: Susan
Children: Daughter, Chelsea; Son, Shea
Grandchildren: Granddaughters, Beckett and Lochlan
Twitter: @DP5hookem

A Texas native who has spent most of his 30-year career coaching in the state, David Pierce was named head baseball coach at The University of Texas on June 29, 2016. Pierce, just the fifth Longhorn head coach since 1911 (with the exception of the war years of 1943-45 when Blair Cherry was at the helm), is the 13th head coach in 123 years of Texas baseball.

In eight seasons as the Longhorns’ head coach, Pierce has an overall record of 297-162 at Texas and a 494-271 mark in 13 seasons as a Division I head coach. For the 2024 season, Pierce takes over the primary pitching coach responsibilities, a role he is very familiar with. In addition to serving as pitching coach at Rice from 2006-11, Pierce managed his pitching staffs as head coach at Sam Houston and Tulane and in his first two seasons at Texas.

The 2024 Longhorns made their fourth-consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and the team hit the second-most home runs in program history with 112. Outfielder Max Belyeu had a breakout sophomore season and was named the Big 12 Player of the Year. Belyeu shared the team lead with 18 home runs and batted .329 with 15 doubles, one triple and 53 RBI. Jared Thomas and Jalin Flores were also among the team’s leaders offensively. Thomas batted leadoff and led the team in hitting with a .349 average and 61 runs scored to go with 15 doubles, 16 homers and 18 stolen bases. Flores started all 60 games at shortstop and shared the team lead with 18 home runs and led the Longhorns with 56 RBI, while batting .340. The Longhorns also saw several pitchers have breakout seasons and fill significant roles in 2024. Relief pitcher Gage Boehm was named First Team All-Big 12 after leading the Longhorns with eight saves, while recording a 2.53 ERA with 60 strikeouts in 53.1 innings pitched. Andre Duplantier II also had a resurgence out of the bullpen in his senior season, making a team-high 29 appearances and posting a 3.09 ERA with a 2-2 record, three saves and 53 strikeouts in 43.2 innings. Starting pitchers Max Grubbs and Ace Whitehead were both named Honorable Mention All-Big 12 after their first seasons in the weekend rotation. Grubbs led the team with six wins and held a 3.67 ERA in 73.2 innings, while Whitehead went 4-2 with a 4.16 ERA in 67 innings pitched.

The 2023 team returned only two everyday starters in the lineup and just 23 home runs from the previous season and still came just one game short of advancing to a third-straight College World Series. Despite featuring an almost entirely new lineup, the Longhorns batted .293 as a team and averaged just over seven runs per game. The outfield trio of Dylan Campbell, Eric Kennedy and Porter Brown all had exceptional seasons. Campbell was a First Team All-Big 12 selection and led the team with a .339 batting average, 19 doubles, 65 runs scored and 26 stolen bases. He also hit a career-best 13 home runs and was stellar defensively with eight outfield assists. Brown was a unanimous First Team All-Big 12 pick and batted .323 with 12 doubles, 59 RBI and 36 runs scored. Kennedy batted .306 and hit a career-high 17 homers with 47 RBI and 57 runs scored. In all, six Texas hitters landed on the All-Big 12 teams with three first team selections. Campbell and Brown were joined by catcher Garret Guillemette on the first team, while infielder Peyton Powell and Kennedy were on the second team and infielder Jared Thomas was named Honorable Mention. On the pitching side, the Longhorns finished the season ranked 10^th nationally with a 4.18 ERA and second in the Big 12 with a .245 opponents’ batting average. Lucas Gordon was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and earned first team All-American honors, while Lebarron Johnson Jr. was recognized on the All-Big 12 First Team and received second team All-America recognition.

In 2022, the Longhorns returned to the College World Series for the second-consecutive season and third time in the last four completed seasons with a 47-22 overall. Texas smashed the program record with 128 home runs, surpassing the 2010 squad that hit 81. The best power hitting team in program history slugged .550 to smash the previous program record of .508 set in 1974. Leading the way offensively, Ivan Melendez became the first Texas player to win the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award and swept the national player of the year awards. Melendez hit a Longhorns record 32 home runs, surpassing Kyle Russell’s Texas record 28 homers in 2007 and Kris Bryant’s BBCOR era record of 31 homers in 2013. Melendez batted .387 and led the country with 94 RBI and an .863 slugging percentage. Along with Melendez’s great season, Murphy Stehly had a breakout year batting .367 with 19 homers and 61 RBI and was named a second team All-American. Pete Hansen led the pitching staff and landed second team All-America honors with a 3.76 ERA, an 11-3 record and 120 strikeouts in 107.2 innings pitched. Melendez, Stehly and Hansen led a total of nine players named to the All-Big 12 teams and were joined by catcher Silas Ardoin on the first team. Infielders Trey Faltine and Skyler Messinger and starting pitcher Lucas Gordon landed on the second team. Outfielder Douglas Hodo III and designated hitter Austin Todd were named Honorable Mention. The Longhorns also produced the best defensive season in program history, fielding .985 for the first time ever and finishing with a program low 37 errors.

The 2021 season saw Texas return to the College World Series and come just one game shy of the CWS Finals. Pierce guided the Longhorns to the Big 12 Championship and their first 50-win season since 2010, while being named the Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year for the second time. He was also recognized as the ABCA Central Regional Coach of the Year, a distinction he had not received since the 2012 season. The Longhorns had 13 total players recognized on the All-Big 12 teams, including the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Ty Madden. Madden was also named a First Team All-American and became the highest drafted Texas player since Taylor Jungmann in 2011. Including Madden, seven total Texas players were selected in the 2021 MLB Draft. The 2021 Longhorns led the nation with a 2.93 ERA, the best mark for the program since 2014. The pitching staff also totaled 556 strikeouts, the most for a Longhorn pitching staff since 2011. Offensively the Longhorns blasted 68 home runs, the most since a program record 81 in 2010. The team not only hit for power, finishing with more stolen bases (92) than any Texas team in over 15 years.

In just his second season at the helm in 2018, Pierce was named Baseball America's National Coach of the Year after guiding the Longhorns to a 42-23 record and back to the College World Series for the first time since 2014. With a 17-7 mark in league play, Pierce, who was named the Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year, led his team to the Big 12 Conference title—the first conference title for Texas since 2011—and hosted both an NCAA Regional and an NCAA Super Regional. In the Austin Regional, the Longhorns went 3-0 with wins over Texas Southern, Texas A&M, and Indiana. In the Super Regional, Texas dropped game one to Tennessee Tech before taking games two and three to send Pierce to Omaha for the first time as head coach. The Longhorns finished ranked in the top eight in every major poll to close out the season and finished first in the nation in double plays (73) and ninth in triples (22). Under Pierce and his staff’s tutelage, second baseman Kody Clemens completed one of the best offensive seasons in Texas history. A third-round draft pick by the Detroit Tigers, Clemens was named a unanimous first team All-American at second base, becoming the first to earn that honor under Pierce. Clemens, the ABCA National Player of the Year and a finalist for both the Dick Howser Trophy and the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award, blasted 24 home runs on the year, good for second in the country and second-most in a single season in Texas Baseball history. Clemens also ranked nationally in total bases (second, 180), slugging percentage (fifth, .726), and RBI (12th, 72).

In his first season leading the Longhorns, Pierce led Texas to a 39-24 record, a 14-win improvement from the 2016 campaign. Texas came within one win of taking the Big 12 Conference tournament title before earning a No. 2 seed in the Long Beach Regional. Texas won its first two games of the regional before its season came to a close at the hands of LBSU. As a team, the Longhorns finished in the top 10 nationally in several statistical categories including double plays turned (fourth, 65), fielding percentage (fourth, .982), earned run average (ninth, 3.15), and hits allowed per nine innings (ninth, 7.60). Right-handed pitcher Morgan Cooper, a third team All-America selection, was taken in the second round of the MLB Draft, the first of 11 Longhorns to be selected in 2017, the most for any school. In Pierce’s two seasons, a total of 16 Longhorns have been chosen in the draft.

Pierce came to Texas from Tulane, where he spent the previous two seasons as head coach following a three-year stint at Sam Houston State in the same role. Pierce's teams have qualified for the NCAA tournament in 11 years with him at the helm, and including his time as an assistant, Pierce was a part of programs that advanced to the postseason in 18 consecutive years, played in eight Super Regionals and reached five College World Series, winning a title in 2003 with Rice. In the summer of 2016, he was also named an assistant coach with the U.S. Collegiate National Team.

Joining the Green Wave in 2015, the Houston native guided the school into its first season in the American Athletic Conference. His team posted a school-record nine shutouts, which ranked fourth in the nation, en route to a 35-25 record and the program’s first regional appearance since 2008.

Pierce’s second season at Tulane brought even more success as he led the 2016 Green Wave to a 41-21 record, a regular season AAC championship and a second-consecutive regional appearance. The 41 wins were the most for the program since 2006. The team led the nation with 13 shutouts and ranked in the top 25 in both ERA (23rd/3.24) and WHIP (25th/1.24), while belting out 66 home runs, which was tied for 13th nationally. Tulane produced two third-round picks in the 2016 Major League Baseball Draft in catcher Jake Rogers and shortstop Stephen Alemais with Rogers becoming Tulane’s highest draft pick since 2008. Seven players earned All-AAC honors, including four first-team selections, while starting pitcher Ross Massey was named freshman All-America after leading the conference and tying for 18th in the nation in victories (10).

In three seasons as head coach at Sam Houston State, Pierce compiled a record of 121-63 (.658). During his tenure, the Bearkats made three straight NCAA Regional appearances for just the second time in program history. Sam Houston State was crowned Southland Conference champions in each of his three seasons (the program’s only previous league title came in 1989), and Pierce was named the conference coach of the year in both 2012 and 2013. The recognition in back-to-back years made him the first Southland Conference coach to earn consecutive honors since UTSA's Sherman Corbett (2007-08).

In his first season as head coach in 2012, the Bearkats were ranked in each of the major Division I polls for the first time in program history. He was honored as an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Regional Coach of the Year that season. In 2014, his final season in Huntsville, Pierce guided SHSU to a 43-19 record, the second-highest single-season win total for the Bearkats since they joined Division I in 1987. The team ranked in the top 25 in the nation and second in the conference in both ERA (17th/2.73) and hits (25th/610). It also led the conference in scoring (5.7 rpg), home runs (31) and slugging percentage (.390).

Throughout his three-year tenure at Sam Houston State, Pierce tutored eight MLB Draft selections. Of those picks, three came in the top-10 rounds, including fourth-round selection (No. 119 overall) Cody Dickson, the highest-ever pick out of Sam Houston State.

Before taking over at Sam Houston State, Pierce spent the previous nine seasons as an assistant coach at Rice. He served as hitting coach from 2003-05 before taking over as pitching coach from 2006-11. Under his tutelage, the 2003 Owls hit .313 with 51 homers and 449 RBI en route to the school’s first-ever national title. In six seasons as the Owls’ pitching coach, Pierce helped produce five staffs whose ERAs ranked in the NCAA top 30, peaking with the fourth-best mark in the nation in 2007. On that 2007 squad, two Pierce-coached pitchers received major Conference USA awards as Ryne Tacker was named C-USA Pitcher of the Year and Ryan Berry earned freshman of the year honors. Berry also earned Collegiate Baseball freshman of the year honors. In that year alone, eight Owl pitchers were selected in the MLB Draft, including the 19th overall pick, Joe Savery.

From 2006-11 under Pierce, 27 Owls pitchers were chosen in the MLB Draft, eight of which were selected in the first 10 rounds. In that span, Pierce tutored six NCAA All-America selections, two freshman All-America selections and a pair of CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in Eddie Degerman (2006) and Tacker (2007).

Pierce’s stint at Rice was his second with the Owls, as he also served as an assistant in 1991. Prior to his second stretch at Rice, Pierce spent two seasons as hitting coach at the University of Houston, helping UH to a pair of postseason appearances, including an NCAA Super Regional showing in 2002. The Cougars hit .310 that season, the fifth-best single-season performance in team history.

Pierce's jump-started his head coaching career at Dobie High School in Pasadena, Texas, where he ran the program from 1996-2001. There, Pierce led the Longhorns to three District 23-5A titles and three Region III semifinal berths. While at Dobie, he was named district coach of the year three times and was also named a coach for the United States Junior Olympic trials.

During his tenure in Pasadena, Pierce produced three all-state players, 36 all-district stars and 10 players who went on to perform at the college level, including former college All-American Shane Nance, who went on to pitch for the Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Before Dobie, Pierce was an assistant coach at Episcopal High School from 1992-95 and head coach at St. Pius X High School – where he also played – from 1989-90.

Following his high school playing career, Pierce continued as a student-athlete at Wharton County Junior College (1982-83) before playing two seasons at Houston (1984-85). As a senior in 1985, Pierce helped pace the Cougars to an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. He completed his degree at Houston in 1988.

A native of Houston, Pierce was born on October 13, 1962. He and his wife, Susan, have two children and two grandchildren. Pierce's daughter, Chelsea, graduated from The University of Texas in 2012 and is married to husband Bryan Caffey, and the couple have two daughters, Beckett and Lochlan. David and Susan's son, Shea, played for his father at both Sam Houston (2012-15) and Tulane (2016) and is married to the former Madison Olivarez, who is a 2018 graduate of The University of Texas.

**AS HEAD COACH**
YEAR	SCHOOL	RECORD	POSTSEASON
2012	Sam Houston State	40-22	NCAA Regional
2013	Sam Houston State	38-22	NCAA Regional
2014	Sam Houston State	43-19	NCAA Regional
2015	Tulane	35-25	NCAA Regional
2016	Tulane	41-21	NCAA Regional
2017	Texas	39-24	NCAA Regional
2018	Texas	42-23	NCAA College World Series
2019	Texas	27-27	-
2020	Texas	14-3	-
2021	Texas	50-17	NCAA College World Series
2022	Texas	47-22	NCAA College World Series
2023	Texas	42-22	NCAA Super Regional
2024	Texas	36-24	NCAA Regional
13 Years	3 Schools	494-271 (.646)	11 Regionals, 4 Super Regional, 3 College World Series appearance

**AS ASSISTANT COACH**
YEAR	SCHOOL	RECORD	POSTSEASON
1991	Rice	16-34	-
2001	Houston	29-30	NCAA Regional
2002	Houston	48-17	NCAA Super Regional
2003	Rice	58-12	National Champions
2004	Rice	46-14	NCAA Regional
2005	Rice	45-19	NCAA Super Regional
2006	Rice	57-13	College World Series
2007	Rice	56-14	College World Series
2008	Rice	47-15	College World Series
2009	Rice	43-18	NCAA Super Regional
2010	Rice	40-23	NCAA Regional
2011	Rice	42-21	NCAA Regional
12 Years	2 Schools	527-230 (.696)	1 National Championship, 4 College World Series appearances, 7 Super Regionals, 11 Regionals