Texas Baseball Coaching Hot Board: Top Candidates to Replace David Pierce in Austin

David Pierce is now gone, and Chris Del Conte likes to act fast. How many coaches from the top teams in the country want to coach in Austin, and which ones are going to accept an offer?

David Pierce out as Texas Baseball HC.mp4 /

AUSTIN - Chris Del Conte has finally ripped the Band-Aid that has seemingly been looming around the city of Austin for the last few weeks, pulling the cord on the tenure of David Pierce as the head coach of the Texas Longhorns baseball team.

Pierce received major backlash over the past year for some of his odd management decisions at the helm of one of the most successful teams in college baseball. Pierce appointed himself as the pitching coach last offseason and saw his pitching staff collapse under his helm. He was not active in the transfer portal and with NIL, which reared its ugly face in the postseason when Texas obviously lacked talent and experience at multiple positions. 

Despite three College World Series appearances in his eight-year tenure, Pierce is out of Austin, and rumblings around the community believe that Del Conte may have already locked in on the team's next head coach. Here are some of the best and most notable candidates for the Texas baseball head coaching vacancy.

Jun 22, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello talks with left fielder Dylan Dreiling (8) after a run scored against the Texas A&M Aggies during the second inning at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports / Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

The Cream of the Crop: Tony Vitello (Tennessee) and Jay Johnson (LSU)

As you are likely reading this, the Tennessee head coach is preparing his Volunteers team for the most important game of their lives, game three of the CWS finals. But somehow the Longhorns have stolen the show, and the most popular topic isn’t that the Volunteers could win, it's that they could lose their coach. 

Vitello is one of the fiercest personalities in the business, but that comes with a fantastic resume as a manager. Tennessee has been in the CWS for three of the last four years but found the bulk of its success in 2024. Tennessee is one win away from a 60-win, national championship season, crowning themselves as one of the best teams in recent history. Vitello is the definition of a winner, and if the Horns can reel the 2022 SEC Coach of the Year to Austin, it’s a win for Del Conte and co.

Not impressed with Vitello? Welcome Jay Johnson to the rumor mill. In 2023, the LSU Tigers won 11 of 13 postseason games, with Johnson leading the talented team to its seventh CWS final in just his second season. Johnson struggled in 2024, especially in SEC play, but at this time last year, he was the most sought-after coach on the planet. He’s taken two teams to the World Series in a row after major success with Arizona from 2016-21, and now could be the next skipper in Austin.

Florida head coach Kevin O'Sullivan celebrates the win of the NCAA Regionals game against Texas Tech, Monday, June 5, 2023, at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida. Florida beat Texas Tech 6-0 and advances to Super Regionals. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2023 / Cyndi Chambers / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Best of the Rest: Tom Walter (Wake Forest), Erik Bakich (Clemson) and Kevin O’Sullivan (Florida)

Saying “the best of the rest” is almost disrespectful to coaches of the caliber of Walter, Bakich, and O’Sullivan. The three coaches have had plenty of recent success, with O’Sullivan being the standout of the group.

In 17 seasons at Florida, O’Sullivan has brought the team to nine CWS appearances, winning the entire tournament in 2017. The Gators have gone to the last two finals, with a weaker 2024 team upsetting Bakich’s Clemson Tigers in one of the most entertaining Super Regional games of all time.

Bakich has been at Clemson for just two years but has given the Tigers a pair of 44-win seasons, winning in an extremely tough SEC conference. Bakich hasn’t made the World Series since his 2019 runner-up season as the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, but Bakich is undeniably one of the most skilled coaches in the game. 

Walter is a 15-year veteran at Wake Forest, but just recently got a taste of success with the Deamon Deacons. Last year’s 54-12 record won him ACC Coach of the Year recognition while taking his team to the CWS, and Walter has brought a mostly mediocre program to one of the winningest in the last three years. All three of these candidates would be fantastic acquisitions by the Longhorns.

Jun 9, 2024; College Station, TX, USA; Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle celebrates after sweeping Oregon in the Bryan-College Station Super Regional series at Olsen Field, Blue Bell Park Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports / Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

The Wildcards: Jim Schlossnagle (Texas A&M) and Skip Johnson (Oklahoma)

Schlossnagle is the true elephant in the room of these discussions. Texas A&M has been the best team so far in the 2024 CWS and is hoping to knock off Vitello’s Volunteers to win the entire tournament. Aggie fans would tell you there’s no way Schloss wears Burnt Orange in 2025, but the former TCU skipper has been suspiciously quiet. Texas fans would have you believe the deal is possible, while many skeptics don’t think reeling Schlossnagle away from College Station is possible.

Either way, Schlossnagle is in for a giant pay-day, whether it's out of the pockets of CDC or A&M athletic director Trev Alberts. The announcement of a Texas hiring likely takes place after the CWS final, so for now A&M fans will have a lot to be nervous about tonight.

Johnson is another wildcard, but his connection to Texas makes this more likely than Sooner fans might think. Another rival head coach, Oklahoma has had Johnson at the helm since 2018, nearly winning the entire tournament in 2022.

Oklahoma has won over 40 games in two of the last three years, which makes them likely to want to retain Johnson, but his 10 years as an assistant in Austin would make an offer enticing. The 2024 Big 12 Coach of the Year would be another wildcard candidate, but there is a world where one of Schlossnagle or Johnson is in the Texas dugout in 2025.