South Carolina baseball alum takes over proud college program

On Thursday, the Rice Owls baseball team fired head coach Jose Cruz, Jr. With the move, the Houston-based institution announced that former South Carolina baseball player and current Rice pitching coach Parker Bangs would serve as the team’s interim head coach.

Bangs’ promotion comes on the heels of the Owls starting the 2025 season with a 2-14 record. That was an unacceptable start for a program that has a national championship and seven College World Series appearances. While in Houston, Bangs’ pitching staff has improved each year.

At this time, it is unknown if Bangs will be a legitimate candidate for the full-time head coaching gig. Rice AD Tommy McClelland revealed that the coaching search will begin immediately. Fellow former Gamecock DC Arendas also is on the current staff at Rice.

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Bangs has been on staff with the Owls since 2022. Before that, he was one of the country’s top up-and-coming pitching coaches at Davidson. He also worked previously at Presbyterian College, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, and Dutch Fork High School.

During his South Carolina baseball career, Bangs was a two-way player for head coach Ray Tanner. In his career, he struck out 94 batters in 74.2 innings and smacked 31 extra-base hits at the plate. As a senior, he tied an all-time, single-game USC record for doubles with three against the rival Tennessee Volunteers.

Bangs earned selection by the Kansas City Royals in the 2010 MLB Draft. He had a three-year professional career with the organization before getting into coaching.

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