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Duke hires Wake Forest pitching coach Corey Muscara as new head coach

Danby: Daniel Hager06/19/25DanielHagerOn3

Duke will hire Wake Forest pitching coach Corey Muscara as its next head coach, D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers reported on Thursday. Muscara was D1Baseball’s 2023 Assistant Coach of the Year. The school has since confirmed the hire in a release.

The coaching search was down to Muscara and Murray State‘s Dan Skirka, per Rogers. LSU assistant coach Josh Jordan was also reportedly a strong candidate, but it never came to fruition.

“I am incredibly honored and excited to join the Duke community and lead the Blue Devils’ baseball program,” Muscara said in a press release. “This is a truly special opportunity to build on the program’s success and compete for championships at one of the premier academic and athletic institutions in the country. I want to thank President Vincent Price, Nina King and Brad Berndt for their trust and belief in me. I’m eager to get to work with our student-athletes and to represent Duke with pride.”

With Muscara’s hire at Duke, the head coaching carousel set off by the firing of Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis mid-season has come to an end. The Bulldogs poached head coach Brian O’Connor from Virginia, leading to Virginia poaching Duke head coach Chris Pollard. Muscara now leaves his position at Wake Forest, which he had held since 2022.

With Muscara on the staff, the Demon Deacons compiled a 172-75 record over four seasons and made an appearance in the 2023 Men’s College World Series. In Omaha, Wake Forest won two games before being eliminated by the eventual National Champion, LSU.

Muscara brings pitching expertise to Durham

Prior to joining the Wake program in 2022, Muscara was St. Johns‘ pitching coach/recruiting coordinator from 2013-17 before serving as Maryland‘s pitching coach from 2018-21. His coaching career began in 2010 at Southern New Hampshire before moving to Binghamton in 2011.

During his time at Wake Forest, Muscara had six arms drafted with more coming in the upcoming 2025 MLB Draft. This list includes:

  • RHP Chase Burns (No. 2 to Cincinnati in 2024 MLB Draft)
  • RHP Rhett Lowder (No. 7 to Cincinnati in 2023 MLB Draft)
  • LHP Sean Sullivan (No. 46 to Colorado in 2023 MLB Draft)
  • LHP Josh Hartle (No. 83 to Pittsburgh Pirates in 2024 MLB Draft)
  • RHP Seth Keener (No. 84 to Chicago WS in 2023 MLB Draft)
  • RHP Teddy McGraw (No. 93 to Seattle in 2023 MLB Draft)

The Franklin Pierce graduate now heads to a Duke program which has made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, won four NCAA Tournament Regionals and appeared in three Men’s College World Series (1952, 1953, 1961). The Blue Devils won the Georgia Regional this season and hosted a Super Regional in Durham, but were upset by Dan Skirka and the Murray State Racers.