Report: Four names in the mix in search for next Notre Dame baseball head coach

There could be less than a handful of candidates remaining in the search for the next Notre Dame baseball head coach according to a report from D1Baseball.com. The site’s Kendall Rogers said a decision is expected to be made by the end of this week.

Here are the candidates listed in Rogers’ report.

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Notre Dame pitching coach Chuck Ristano

A 12-year mainstay on the Fighting Irish’s coaching staff, Ristano lasted through the entirety of Mik Aoki and Link Jarrett‘s respective tenures. He oversaw a pitching staff that finished the 2022 season with the No. 10 team ERA (3.91) in the country.

There are currently five Notre Dame pitchers in the transfer portal, including possible rising ace Jack Findlay. Promoting Ristano to head coach could entice a few of them to stay in South Bend.

Ristano’s wife is on the Notre Dame softball coaching staff. The two got married in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame’s campus. The New Jersey native has turned Notre Dame through and through over the last decade. Irish athletics director Jack Swarbrick could have another internal hire on his hands.

Wofford head coach Todd Interdonato

Interdonato has been the head coach at Wofford for 15 seasons. He has compiled a 415-402-1 record there. The early going was rough with six-straight losing seasons, but Wofford has only had one losing year since 2014. In 2022, the Terriers had their best year yet under Interdonato in going 42-16-1 with a first-place finish in the SoCon.

Wofford has never been to the NCAA Tournament during Interdonato’s tenure, though. The Terriers lost in the SoCon Championship Game to miss out on this past postseason. If Swarbrick is looking for someone with head coaching experience in an NCAA Regional, Interdonato wouldn’t be the guy. Then again, Ristano wouldn’t either. But Ristano was side-by-side with Jarrett in Notre Dame’s last two trips to the postseason, a run that consisted of a finish in the Starkville Super Regional in 2021 and the College World Series in 2022.

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Milwaukee Brewers bench coach Pat Murphy

Murphy, 63, began his coaching career at Maryville College in 1983. Then he was the head coach at Notre Dame from 1988-1994. He had a 318-116-1 record with the Irish in seven of the most successful seasons in program history. The Irish won at least 45 games in six-straight seasons and won 39 games in the other campaign. Murphy took Notre Dame to four NCAA Regionals, including three-straight from 1992-94.

Paul Mainieri picked up where Murphy left off and took Notre Dame to eight NCAA Regionals in a row from 1999-2006. But since then, the Irish have only been to the NCAA Tournament three times including when Jarrett took them there in the past two seasons. Going back to grab Murphy, who went from Notre Dame to Arizona State where he went 629-284-1 in 15 seasons, would be Swabrick banking on someone who has been there, done that.

At Arizona State, Murphy guided the Sun Devils to the NCAA Tournament in 12 of 15 seasons. Arizona State finished as the College World Series runner-up in 1988. Murphy took the program to Omaha in 2005, 2007 and 2009, too.

Murphy resigned after the 2009 season. The Arizona Republic reported he had been given an ultimatum — resign or be fired. Murphy was being investigated for illegal student-athlete employment and recruiting. The NCAA found him innocent, but he was reprimanded for treating investigators with a “cavalier attitude.” The Arizona State athletics department was punished for a lack of institutional control, and the baseball program was banned from the 2012 postseason.

Murphy had already been with the San Diego Padres since 2010. He was the organization’s Single A affiliate manager in 2011 and 2012. He was the Triple A affiliate manager from 2013-15. He was appointed the interim manager of the Padres on June 16, 2015. He went 42-54 in his only games as a Major League Manager. Murphy has been a bench coach with the Brewers since 2015. He coached Brewers manager Craig Counsell at Notre Dame.

VCU head coach Shawn Stiffler

Stiffler, 43, fits the mold of what Swabrick should be theoretically looking for. He’s a young, proven head coach of a small school who’s ready to take a leap to a bigger program — like Jarrett was three years ago. In 10-plus seasons at VCU, he has a record of 352-207 with three NCAA Tournament appearances. He took the Rams to a Super Regional in 2015.

This past season was Stiffler’s best in terms of total wins. The Rams went 42-20. They advanced to the Chapel Hill Regional Final but were bested by North Carolina in two games. VCU had two chances to advance to a Super Regional for just the second time ever. Both occurrences would have come under Stiffler’s watch.

The 2019 A-10 Coach of the Year, Stiffler was a pitcher at George Mason from 1998-2001. He was an assistant at his alma mater from 2002-06 before arriving at VCA as an assistant in 2007. He was promoted to interim head coach in 2012 and has held the job ever since.