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Iowa pitching coach Sean McGrath leaving the program

On3 imageby:Kyle Huesmann•05/26/24•

HuesmannKyle

Sean McGrath speaks at 2023 Iowa Baseball media day. (Photo by Dennis Scheidt)
Sean McGrath speaks at 2023 Iowa Baseball media day. (Photo by Dennis Scheidt)

After a season that fell well short of expectations on the pitching mound, the Iowa Baseball coaching staff will have a big change going into the 2025 season. D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers reports that pitching coach Sean McGrath will leave the program after just two seasons on the staff.

Prior to arriving at Iowa, McGrath made coaching stops at Iona College, UMass Lowell and Elon, while he also spent three seasons as a pitching coach in the Seattle Mariners organization. At the time of his hiring, Rick Heller said that McGrath was one of the top names on his list after former pitching coach Robin Lund took a job with the Detroit Tigers.

In his first season at Iowa, the pitching staff helped the Hawkeyes tie a program record with 44 wins. The staff ranked second in the country in hits allowed per nine innings (6.74), fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.9) and 11th in ERA (4.19). Iowa had three pitchers selected in the 2023 MLB Draft, while Brody Brecht and Marcus Morgan earned All-Big Ten honors. The pitching staff led the Big Ten in four categories and set a program record with 630 strikeouts.

This past season, the Hawkeyes were touted as having one of the best pitching staffs in the country prior to the season. Iowa finished the season with a 31-23 overall record and failed to make the NCAA Tournament after entering the season ranked by several publications. The staff ranked 123rd in ERA, 267th in walks per nine innings and 134th in WHIP. Despite that, they still ranked 5th in strikeouts per nine innings and 13th in hits allowed per nine innings.

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