Less than a week after news broke that Rice was firing head coach Jose Cruz Jr., the team has found a replacement.
David Pierce, the former head coach of the Texas Longhorns, will take over as the head coach of the Rice Owls. Pierce was an assistant coach at Rice from 1991 to 2003-2011.
He has begun this college baseball season on the staff of head coach Steven Trout in San Marcos at Texas State.
Pierce’s most notable stretch came in 2017 when he was hired as the head coach of Texas. He would finish with 297 career wins in Austin before he was let go and replaced by Jim Schlossnagle in 2024.
Despite being let go, Pierce found success in Texas. He led the Longhorns to six NCAA Tournaments and got them to the College World Series in Omaha three times. He also won three Big 12 regular season championships.
This success makes Pierce a great hire for Rice. Pierce also knows the state well, having coached for several schools in Texas. This will help with recruiting when he begins to bring his own classes to Houston with Rice.
Pierce will get started coaching Rice during their next weekend series. The Owls will travel to Boca Raton to play the Florida Atlantic Owls from Mar. 21-23.
Pierce’s debut will be that Friday game. The first pitch for that matchup is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. EST.
WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
(AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz, File)
