Report: Texas parts ways with pitching coach Woody Williams
According to Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball.com, the Texas Longhorns baseball program and pitching coach Woody Williams have parted ways after only one season together. The former San Jacinto (Texas) College assistant replaced Sean Allen, who left Texas after the 2022 season after spending five years on Pierce’s staff.
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Pierce will be looking for his fourth pitching coach as head coach of the Longhorns and third in three years. When Pierce began in 2017, he installed Phil Haig as pitching coach. After the 27-27 campaign in 2019, Allen moved into the role. Allen left after 2022, eventually landing with Ohio State. Williams was tabbed to replace him but lasted just one season.
In addition to Texas’ 4.18 team ERA, the Longhorn pitching staff logged a 1.40 WHIP and allowed opponents to hit just .245. Lucas Gordon was the staff ace, earning All-American and All-Big 12 honors during a 7-2 season with a 2.63 ERA in 19 appearances. He was joined by Lebarron Johnson, who surged during his redshirt sophomore season with an 8-4 record and a 2.91 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 20 appearances, logging the best UT performance of the season with a complete game versus Miami in the Coral Gables regional.
The bullpen was up and down at times, with Johnson, Heston Tole, David Shaw, Charlie Hurley, and Zane Morehouse leading the team in appearances.
Prior to Texas, Williams spent seven seasons with San Jac and helped lead the Gators to the Junior College World Series on five occasions. He had a 20-year MLB career, pitching over 2,000 innings and winning 132 games with a 4.19 ERA.
Texas just completed a 42-22 season, winning a share of the Big 12 regular season title and earning the top seed in the Big 12 Tournament. Texas was a game away from making the College World Series for the third consecutive season before dropping Game 3 of the Stanford super regional to the Cardinal.
In seven seasons at Texas, Pierce is 261-138.
