The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Baseball adds Rupp and Gordon to staff
09.01.2022 | Baseball
Former Longhorn great to join the baseball staff as a student assistant for the 2023 season.
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Baseball has added former Longhorn great Cameron Rupp as a student assistant and former Duke pitching coach Chris Gordon as Coordinator of Hitting and Pitching Development, head coach David Pierce announced.
Rupp played in 180 games at Texas with 172 starts behind the plate from 2008-10, blasting 25 career home runs and helping lead the Longhorns to the College World Series in 2009. Following his Texas career, he was selected in the third round of the 2010 MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies and played 10 seasons of professional baseball, including five seasons in Major League Baseball.
"After a great career in burnt orange and in the major leagues, we're excited to welcome Cameron to our team as a student assistant," Pierce said. "Our players, and especially our catchers, will really benefit from the experience he is going to bring back to the Forty Acres."
In 2010, Rupp was a first team All-Big 12 selection after batting .304 with 13 doubles, 10 homers and 54 RBI. He started all 63 games, including 61 starts at catcher and also received ABCA All-Region recognition.
Rupp helped lead Texas to a runner-up finish at the 2009 College World Series and was named to the CWS All-Tournament Team and the NCAA Austin Regional All-Tournament Team along the way. He batted .292 with 13 doubles and led the team with 11 homers and 46 RBI, while being named Honorable Mention All-Big 12.
As a freshman in 2008, Rupp played in 54 games with 51 starts at catcher and earned First Team Freshman All-America honors. He hit .309 with 17 doubles, two triples and four homers.
Rupp made his MLB debut for the Phillies in 2013 and saw his playing time increase over the next few years. He was the Phillies starting catcher in 2016, playing in 105 games and batting .252 with 26 doubles, 16 homers and 54 RBI.
Gordon served on the Duke baseball staff from 2017-22 and was elevated to the program's pitching coach in February 2021. Gordon's first season as the pitching coach was a historic one, helping lead the Blue Devils to the 2021 ACC Tournament Championship title, the first in program history. As a team, Duke's pitching staff broke the school record in strikeouts per nine innings (9.81) and ranked third in strikeouts per walk (2.62). In 2022, Gordon led the pitching staff to break the program record in strikeouts per nine innings set the season before, producing 10.60 strikeouts per game to rank third in the ACC and in the top 15 nationally.
"Chris will be an asset to our team and our program," Pierce said. "He comes to us with years of experience as a pitching coach in the ACC and his knowledge of baseball and baseball analytics is top-notch."
Gordon moved to Duke from East Tennessee State University, where he served four seasons as the program's pitching coach and recruiting coordinator (2014-17). Prior to his time at ETSU, Gordon served as an assistant coach at Milligan for five seasons. Gordon played at Milligan College from 2003-07 and completed his Bachelor of Art's degree in history in 2007. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, C.J.
