Column: David Pierce is a winner

Texas has a winner in David Pierce.

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Pierce took over for the late, great Augie Garrido after the 2016 season. His resume from his time at Sam Houston State and Tulane, which caught the eye of then-athletic director Mike Perrin, included postseason appearances in every one of his campaigns as head coach, plus four regular season conference titles leading the Bearkats and the Green Wave.

At Texas, he has continued to bring home trophies and prove Perrin’s selection to be an astute one. UT brought home its 80th conference championship on Saturday and its third Big 12 title since 2017. Pierce took over the winning program in college baseball, and amidst a variety of challenges, he has only maintained the successful status quo typically seen at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

The 2023 Longhorns had to replace a number of MLB draft picks like Ivan Melendez, Murphy Stehly, Skyler Messinger, Silas Ardoin and Pete Hansen. The players that replaced them, notably Lucas Gordon, Lebarron Johnson, Peyton Powell, Dylan Campbell, and Porter Brown, accomplished something under Pierce’s leadership the 2022 Horns could not in winning a conference title.

If you expected that, I’d like to see proof.

The way to overcome that type of loss? Having a winner in charge.

Seeing that much talent depart for professional opportunities would put most programs into a brief lurch, if not into a full-blown rebuilding cycle.

Texas? It went through that process with the roster and still took home a trophy. The Longhorns replaced much of that production with developed or freshman talent, Brown and Garret Guillemette serving as notable exceptions.

The success is a testament to the players, of course, but it’s also a testament to the coaching acumen of the man leading the program.

Pierce’s winning attitude is also evident in how the program’s strength manifested itself even after a rebuild of the staff. The Longhorns saw assistants Troy Tulowitzki and Sean Allen depart, while Philip Miller left the bench for a different role. Texas brought in three new coaches in Woody Williams, Steve Rodriguez, and Caleb Longley to oversee various aspects of the program along with student assistant Cameron Rupp.

Other uber-valuable members of the program like Carli Todd, Chris Gordon, Matt Couch, Tom Mendez, and Chris Quinn worked alongside those newcomers under Pierce to put the 2023 product on the field.

Under Pierce’s direction, that group crafted a winner. Why? Because a winner was at the top.

Pierce is not a perfect coach. Every coach has their strengths and weaknesses, and Pierce is no different. But in spite of the weaknesses he possesses, his team was able to outshine eight other teams in the league to win a share of the Big 12 title and earn the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 tournament.

I don’t know of a perfect coach in any sport. I don’t think one exists. Not even Eddie Reese, or Darrell Royal, or Garrido, or Cliff Gustafson, or Billy Disch, or Bibb Falk fits the criteria of perfect. Pierce isn’t a perfect coach either, as he has his fair share of flaws.

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But even with those flaws, he has a track record of winning throughout his career. He has continued to win at Texas, even in years like 2023 where he wasn’t expected to continue to win at a conference-leading clip.

It’s because he’s a winner. That’s what he was when he was hired. That’s what he was in 2018 during his first Big 12 title. That’s what he was in 2021 during his second Big 12 title. And that’s what he was this year in 2023 during his third Big 12 title.

The 2023 Longhorns may not be a national championship team, but after watching the 2022 Ole Miss Rebels run to the title after sneaking into the field of 64, there’s no reason to count them out before the bracket is even set.

They’ll have to overcome the bottom of the order being in a state of flux, plus the inconsistency often shown by the bullpen, in order to make a run.

But they’ll have Pierce leading the way looking for the right buttons to press in a postseason that begins on Wednesday.

Pierce was hired to continue the winning tradition of Texas Longhorns baseball. There may not have been bigger shoes in the sport to fill than the ones he stepped into.

But he stepped into them confident in his ability to maintain Texas’ winning tradition, and he has done that in recent years because he is a winner.