Notre Dame baseball to hire VCU coach Shawn Stiffler as Link Jarrett replacement
Notre Dame baseball has reportedly found its next head coach. According to a report from The Athletic’s Matt Fortuna, the Fighting Irish are nearing a deal with VCU head coach Shawn Stiffler. A source confirmed with BlueandGold.com that Stiffler is expected to be made official by the university sometime soon.
Former Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett took over at his alma mater, Florida State, two weeks ago. The Irish have been searching for his replacement ever since. A source told BlueandGold.com around five candidates interviewed for the job. Stiffler stuck out to the administration the most.
Stiffler, 43, had a 353-207 record in 10-plus seasons at VCU. He took the Rams to each of the last two NCAA Tournaments. They won 42 games in 2022, marking the highest total the program has had since Stiffler’s first full season in 2013. VCU won 34-plus games in all of the past eight full seasons. Stiffler was the A-10 Coach of the Year in 2019 when the Rams went 39-19 and finished first in the A-10 with a 19-5 conference record.
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In a way, Notre Dame is following the same approach it did when Jarrett was hired out of UNC Greensboro three years ago. The model is taking a highly-successful mid-major head coach and giving him the chance to succeed at an ACC program that is fighting an uphill battle relative to other schools in the conference.
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Not many ACC schools have to contend with weather disadvantages, for example. It’s hard to recruit to a cold-weather city like South Bend when there are much warmer places like Tallahassee, Miami and others in the league. Jarrett was able to get around logistical obstacles and take Notre Dame to the College World Series for the third time in program history. The hope from Notre Dame’s perspective is Stiffler is the guy who can replicate such success.
A graduate of George Mason, Stiffler started his coaching career there as an assistant in 2002. He made his way to VCU in 2007. After five seasons as an assistant, he took over as the interim head coach in 2012 and has held the reins every year thereafter. He got into the game as a pitcher at Somerset Area High school in Somerset, Pa. He was selected in the 53rd round of the 1997 MLB Draft but decided to pitch at George Mason instead.
As a four-seed in the Dallas Regional in 2015, the Rams beat Dallas Baptist, Oregon State and Dallas Baptist again to reach the first-ever Super Regional in VCU history. The Rams lost to Miami in two games, but Stiffler was recognized as the NCBWA and College Baseball Newspaper Coach of the Year. Jarrett won the former this past season.
Notre Dame is going from one Coach of the Year-caliber skipper to another.
