Report: Texas Baseball parts ways with pitching coach Woody Williams

Texas head baseball coach David Pierce is making a major change to his coaching staff. Pierce is parting ways with pitching coach Woody Williams, according to a report from Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball.

Williams spent just one season at Texas. He was previously an assistant coach at San Jacinto College, helping lead the Gators to the Junior College World Series five times.

Texas finished 42-22 this past season, winning the Coral Gables Regional, before falling to Stanford in a super regional. The Longhorns pitching staff had a team ERA of 4.18 in 2023.

Prior to getting into coaching, Williams spent 15 years pitching in Major League Baseball, including making the All-Star game in 2003. He spent time with the Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros, logging more than 2,000 innings. Williams won 132 games and finished his career with a 4.19 ERA.

As for this past season, Williams led a Texas pitching staff that finished the year with 560 strikeouts in 565 2/3 innings pitched.

The staff was led by Lucas Gordon, who had a 7-2 record with a 2.63 ERA. Gordon pitched a team-high 102 2/3 innings, striking out 103 batters. Opponents hit only .226 against him.

David Pierce reflects on Texas’ special season, ending it with heartbreak

As mentioned, the Longhorns nearly advanced to the College World Series, before dropping a heartbreaking game with Stanford in the super regionals.

After the loss, Texas coach David Pierce reflected on the 2023 season.

“You will always have a heartbreak if you don’t win it,” Pierce said on the radio broadcast after the game. “This team is special. They exceeded any expectations and that’s unusual to say when you’re at the University of Texas. But that was a heartbreaker. I just feel for our guys right now.”

The 2023 Longhorns finished the season with a 42-22, including a 15-9 mark in the Big 12. They won all three of their games at the Coral Gables Super Regional, including two over No. 9 national seed Miami.

Texas even took the first game of the Stanford Super Regional over the Cardinal before losing the last two games of the year. The Longhorns were aiming to make their third straight College World Series appearance.

In time, Texas will likely be able to put the season and its accomplishments into greater context. But it is hard to imagine that reflection can happen so soon after such heartbreak.

“Yeah, it’s pretty sad,” Pierce said. “The kids just battled their tails off all year and if you told me March 15 that we would have an opportunity to go to Omaha in a one-game winner take all I’d take it any day. But at the same time, I hate the way we lost the game. Just losing a ball in the lights right in the center of twilight, just wasn’t meant to be I guess.”