The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Baseball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
A Division I head coach for 19 seasons, Steve Rodriguez joined the Texas Baseball staff as an assistant coach in July 2022. In Rodriguez’s second season with the program in 2024, he worked directly with the hitters, catchers and infielders and coached third base. Additionally, Rodriguez was part of the Longhorns’ recruiting efforts and coached the short game and base running.
The 2024 Longhorns made their fourth-consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and the team hit the second-most home runs in program history with 112. Infielders Jared Thomas and Jalin Flores were 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 catching duo of Rylan Galvan and Kimble Schuessler also made great strides in 2024. Galvan, a sophomore, started 36 games behind the plate and 14 as designated hitter, batting .287 with 14 doubles, eight homers and 37 RBI. Schuessler returned from injury and caught 22 games with 24 starts at DH, batting .343 with 14 doubles, 10 homers and 30 RBI.
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.
As head coach at Pepperdine (2004-15) and Baylor (2016-22), Rodriguez compiled 598 career wins and made 11 NCAA postseason appearances. His 2014 Pepperdine squad advanced to the program’s first ever NCAA Super Regional and posted a 43-18 record, the program’s most wins since 1999.
Rodriguez was honored three times as a conference coach of the year, including the 2017 Big 12 Coach of the Year award after leading Baylor to their first NCAA Regional since 2012. He was also honored as the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2014.
Rodriguez was the head coach at Baylor from 2016 to 2022 and his 197-146 record marks the third-most wins of any head coach in program history. The 2017 Big 12 Coach of the Year, Rodriguez led the Bears to three-straight NCAA Regional appearances (2017, 2018, 2019), as well as their first Big 12 Tournament title in program history (2018).
During Rodriguez's tenure, eight Bears earned All-America honors and a total of 52 All-Big 12 honors. The Bears had 12 players selected a total of 14 times in the MLB Draft since Rodriguez took over in 2016, including a trio of first-round picks over the last two drafts.
In 12 seasons as the head coach at Pepperdine, Rodriguez led the Waves to a 401-300 record, with eight NCAA Tournament appearances, five West Coast Conference regular-season titles, three WCC Championship Series crowns and a pair of WCC Tournament titles to his credit.
An All-American second baseman on Pepperdine's 1992 NCAA College World Series championship team, Rodriguez was a fifth-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 1992 and reached the majors with both Boston and Detroit in 1995.
Following his professional playing career, Rodriguez enrolled in classes at Riverside Community College and Chapman University before returning to Pepperdine, where he received a bachelor's degree in public relations in December of 2001. He earned a master's degree in educational technology from Pepperdine in 2003.
Rodriguez and his wife, Kimberlee, have a daughter, Julia, and a son, Nolan.
