Report: Nebraska baseball moves Rob Childress to pitching coach, hires Mike Sirianni as assistant

Nebraska baseball continues to shake up its coaching staff. The Cornhuskers are moving Rob Childress into a new role and hiring an assistant from Wichita State.

Childress, a former Texas A&M head coach, will now become Nebraska’s pitching coach after the program opted to part ways with Jeff Christy earlier this week, D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers reported Friday. To fill out the staff, the Cornhuskers are bringing Wichita State assistant Mike Sirianni aboard.

Childress served as Nebraska’s Director of Player Development the last two seasons after 16 season as the head coach at Texas A&M. With the Aggies, he totaled a 622-336-3 overall record and took the program to the College World Series in 2017. His contract was not renewed after Texas A&M finished last in the SEC in 2021, and he returned to Nebraska shortly after. He previously worked as an assistant for the Cornhuskers from 1998-2005 before accepting the top job at Texas A&M.

In fact, when Childress was in charge of the Aggies, current Nebraska head coach Will Bolt was an assistant coach and third base coach with the program for five years.

Sirianni just wrapped up his fourth season with Wichita State this past year, serving as the Shockers’ recruiting coordinator in addition to his duties as an assistant coach. He previously worked at the Division II level at Regis College in Massachusetts after a stint as a volunteer assistant at Wichita State. An Iowa native, he played college baseball at Arkansas State as a starter in 2004 and 2005 after two years at Creighton.

Bolt announced the decision to part ways with Christy earlier this week after four seasons on the staff. On3 and Husker Online’s Grant Hansen reported Childress was a “strong candidate” to replace Christy after the news came out.

“Jeff and I have a close relationship dating back to our College World Series run in 2005,” Bolt said in a statement. “He played a key role for the last four seasons and helped us earn a Big Ten Championship and NCAA Regional Final appearance in 2021. I wish Jeff and his family nothing but the best moving forward.”

Nebraska finished the 2023 season with a 33-23-1 overall record and a 15-9 mark in Big Ten play. The Cornhuskers saw their season come to an end at the conference tournament with two losses to Maryland, including a 4-2 defeat in what turned out to be the season finale.