David Pierce took over the Texas baseball program following the retirement of Longhorn legend and College Baseball Hall of Fame head coach Augie Garrido. Pierce lasted eight seasons as the Horns' head coach and failed to secure a national title despite appearing in three College World Series.
After an early exit from the 2024 NCAA postseason, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte announced that the Longhorns and Pierce had parted ways. Then, the Horns' latest head coach Jim Schlossnagle took control.
Pierce took a trip south, just a few hours, to become an assistant for the Texas State Bobcats and now, the former Texas head coach is heading east to become the new head coach of the Rice Owls.
BREAKING: @RiceBaseball is hiring former long-time #Rice assistant and @TexasBaseball head coach David Pierce as its new head coach, sources tell @d1baseball. Pierce most recently spent eight seasons at Texas, where he guided the #Horns to three College World Series appearances. pic.twitter.com/q3K0YZIJJl
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) March 17, 2025
Over his eight seasons with the Horns, Pierce led Texas to a 297-162 overall record (a 64.7 winning percentage). He took the Longhorns to three College World Series, one Super Regional, and two Regionals.
In 2019, the Horns missed the postseason and in 2020, the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pierce was the Baseball America Coach of the Year in 2018 and was a two-time Big 12 Coach of the Year (2018, 2021).
The former head coach helped the Horns win three Big 12 regular-season titles (2018, 2021, 2023) but failed to lead Texas to a Big 12 Tournament title during the postseason.
During his one (partial) season as an assistant for Texas State, the Bobcats are currently sitting with an abysmal 8-11 overall record. Before becoming the Longhorns' head coach in 2017, he spent two seasons as the Tulane HC after three years as the Sam Houston HC.
From 2003 until 2011, Pierce was an assistant coach for the Rice Owls, after spending a year with the program in 1991. The Houston local played college ball for the Houston Cougars.