Rob Vaughn excited to knock down the doors to Omaha at Alabama

It has been nearly 25 years since Alabama baseball has reached the College World Series. New head coach Rob Vaughn plans to change that during his tenure.

Vaughn was hired away from Maryland as the head coach of the Crimson Tide last month.

The 35-year-old has high expectations as he takes over the program.

“I’m very, very excited to be here. My wife is thrilled to be here. … We are excited as a family to make Tuscaloosa home,” Vaughn said at his introductory press conference. “I think that’s one thing that we’re really excited about. This program has laid the foundation. Now it’s time for us to knock down the gates to Omaha. And we’re going to do that here real soon. So thank you, and Roll Tide.”

Rob Vaughn replaced former head coach Brad Bohanon, who was fired amid a betting scandal during this past season. Interim coach Jason Jackson took over and led the Crimson Tide to a Super Regional this year.

Vaughn is set to make $900,000 per year over the next five years.

Vaughn was 183-115 overall as a head coach with the Terrapins. He coached the team as the head coach starting in 2018 and was an assistant with the Terps from 2013-17. He also served as an assistant at Kansas State from 2011-12.

Rob Vaughn explains how he plans to approach recruiting at Alabama

In order for Rob Vaughn to get Alabama back to Omaha, he is going to have to recruit well. Vaughn recently spoke about how he plans to approach recruiting at Alabama.

His answer should make Crimson Tide fans smile ear to ear.

“When we look a recruiting, you know the obvious question is, you know I’m a Texas guy, I grew up in Houston, Texas, I’ve spent my last eleven years out in Maryland. I haven’t recruited the State of Alabama. We don’t usually get kids to come North,” prefaced Vaughn. “It’s a little bit of a challenge out there. So we’re going to just jump into building relations. That’s why having a guy like JJ here is so incredible valuable to what we’re doing, because we’re going to build relationships. We’re going to grow these things.

“We’re going to recruit guys that it matters to wear the Alabama logo on their chest. That’s one thing that’s really important to me, and it was very easy sitting in those exit meetings, there’s some guys on that team that goodness gracious man, it means something to them. When it means something like that, they’re willing to run through a brick wall for you. We’re going to have guys in our program that that matters to, and they really care about that.”