Texas baseball takes a risk in parting ways with pitching coach Sean Allen

On Sunday afternoon the Texas baseball program and head coach David Pierce unceremoniously bowed out of the College World Series with a 10-2 defeat at the hands of the Texas A&M Aggies.

Just over 24 hours later it was announced that the program had decided to part ways with pitching coach Sean Allen.

Allen had served on Pierce’s staff for the last ten seasons at Texas, Tulane, and Sam Houston State. Allen had held the title of recruiting coordinator since 2017 and was named pitching coach ahead of the 2020 campaign.

Is Texas baseball making a wise move by parting ways with pitching coach Sean Allen?

In 2021 the Longhorns compiled an era of 2.93, good for best in the nation.

The 2022 season was a different story as the pitching staff was plagued with an early injury to day three starter Tanner Witt that they never seemed to recover from. 2021 closer Aaron Nixon suffered a sophomore slump and former Saturday starter Tristan Stevens was designated to a bullpen role.

The power arms on this Texas roster struggled to find consistency and failed to show signs of proper development over the 69-game season.

Starters Pete Hansen and Lucas Gordon aside, the Longhorns could not seem to find consistent arms to get them through games. And, of course, Hansen and Gordon did not have their best stuff in Omaha, giving up a combined 10 earned runs in seven innings pitched.

Allen was not a pitching coach by trade and that showed in the lack of development of talented arms on this roster. Is it fair to say Allen was shoehorned into a position with unrealistic expectations? Possibly.

With all that said, Allen’s recruiting success paired with having statistically the best staff in the country in 2021 makes this move somewhat of a surprise.

At just 43 years of age, Allen has a proven track record as a top assistant coach in college baseball. In 2021 he was named the Assistant Coach of the Year by D1Baseball.

Yes, the Texas pitching staff was not up to championship level this season, but it was not their only downfall in 2022.

Getting rid of Allen seems like a very risky move from Pierce as he enters his seventh season as the Texas skipper.

Allen will most certainly land on his feet at another top collegiate baseball program. The question to be asked is did Pierce make a calculated decision in letting Allen go or did he hastily react to an 0-2 performance in Omaha?