Pierce leaving for Tulane Sports The Huntsville Item
Sam Houston State head coach David Pierce answers questions at a postgame press conference during the Fort Worth Regional. After three highly successful seasons with the Bearkats, Pierce has accepted an offer to become head coach at Tulane. In his three seasons at Sam Houston, the Bearkats posted a combined record of 121 63 in 2012 14 seasons, won outright Southland Conference regular season championships in 2012, '13 and '14, were selected as at large team for NCAA tournament in 2012, '13 and '14, were finalists in the Houston Regional in 2012 and Fort Worth Regional in 2014 and also had eight players selected in Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft from 2012 14.
Joshua YatesLike Willie Fritz, who was swooped up by Georgia Southern in January, baseball head coach David Pierce accepted the head coach position at Tulane late Saturday night.
been three great years, Pierce said. don want the community to think that we let another coach get away. Sam Houston State came to me and were very fair to me and my coaching staff. I very appreciative of that and in baseball, I didn think that a place like this would ever offer what they offered us.
the end of the day, it ends up just being a better situation for me and my family at this stage of my life.
Pierce interviewed for the position last Thursday and was made an offer on Friday. With a new president taking over at Tulane, Pierce wanted to get some assurances that recruits could have access to academic scholarships much in the same way that the baseball program was operated at Rice. Once Tulane athletic department agreed to those terms, Pierce accepted the offer to become the Green Wave next head coach.
some things that been in the making there and in conjunction with the merit scholars, Pierce said about the process. possibility of utilizing some of the other aids within the institution that already in place, that was part of the discussion.
financial aid, the merit scholarships and the cost is a factor to be able to get into communities across the nation. This is going to put me and my staff out on the road nation wide. I was in a program for nine years that had similar types of challenges and interest. I think from spending nine years at Rice, I understand it as well as anybody.
In three years as Sam Houston head coach, Pierce and the Bearkats accomplished quite a bit.
Pierce owns an overall head coaching record of 121 63 after completing just his third season as head coach at Sam Houston State. In his three seasons with the Bearkats, Pierce took Sam Houston to three consecutive NCAA Regional appearances for just the second time in program history. Pierce was named the Bearkats head coach prior to the 2012 season after serving as an assistant coach for nine years at Rice.
The Bearkats won the outright Southland Conference regular season championship three years in a row Cheap Replica Sunglasses and were selected as an at large team to the NCAA tournament in three consecutive seasons, most recently to the Fort Worth Regional in which Sam Houston was one of the final two teams with No. 7 national seed TCU.
Pierce was honored as a Regional Coach of the Year in 2012 by the American Baseball Coaches Association as well as being named Southland Conference Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2013. He became the first Southland coach to earn consecutive honors since UTSA Sherman Corbett (2007 08).
Pierce tutored two of the highest drafted Bearkats in the history of the program. Cody Dickson, taken at No. 119 overall in the fourth round of the 2013 MLB First Year Player Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, is the highest drafted Bearkat baseball player since moving to the Division I level. Caleb Smith was selected in the 14th round of the same draft by the New York Yankees to become just the 19th Sam Houston player selected in the top 15 rounds of the Major League Baseball draft.
The Bearkats most recently had five players drafted, a program record for the most in one year. First baseman Ryan O selected in the eighth round by the Kansas City Royals, was the highest drafted position player from Sam Houston since Glenn Wilson was taken in the first round in 1980.
truly at peace with the fact that we took on a program that was in great shape and we truly made it better, in my opinion, Pierce said. did that because of great players and great support from our athletic department, university and community.
have met so many people that have become great friends, we have made so many new donors and our fan base has increased. What our players have done on the field is second to none from winning three conference championships, three at large bids and to really be in and out of the national rankings in all of the polls for the last three years says a lot about our program.
us to see five guys drafted and none of them being seniors is almost unheard of. I proud of what we were able to accomplish. I confident that can continue because the foundation has been laid.
Pierce also said that what made the decision even more difficult is that his son, Shea, who played second base for most of this season for the Bearkats, has one more year left to play. Cheap Michael Kors
was very tough. That might be the toughest thing that was discussed, the Kats coach said. I was able to coach him for three years and when we were in the locker room with those 35 players, I thought we did a great job of separating dad and son and being a player. All of those guys understood that we were a team. I thought the players handled it well; it was probably harder on me Replica Sunglasses than anybody, but I think the coaches and players will all agree that I handled it well.
really had a hard time all week with my family, this community and the things we done with this program. At the end of the day, it made sense for us to take that job.
With Pierce leaving for Tulane, the Bearkats now have to look for a head coach and that responsibility falls to Sam Houston State athletic director Bobby Williams.
to find another head coach tells me that we hiring good coaches, Williams said. did try to keep Coach Pierce and we made a good, fair offer.
Mark (Johnson) retired (following the 2011 season), we looked to make Michael Kors Outlet the program better. I have a meeting with Coach Pierce tomorrow and we be putting together a transition plan. It be a lot like it was for football. We be looking to fill this position as soon as we can, but we also examine the candidates to make a good, quality decision.
Especially after the last three seasons, Williams expects to get a wealth of qualified applicants.
real proud of the fact that we made the regionals in six of the last eight seasons and we were finalists in three of those regionals. I can say enough about Mark and David and the job they did. The process starts for us and it something we look to hopefully have completed in approximately two weeks or so.