University of Houston Athletics
Will Davis Introduced as Head Coach
6/16/2026 4:36:00 PM | Baseball
Cougars newest leader addresses fans, meets with media Tuesday
HOUSTON - Will Davis was officially introduced as the University of Houston Baseball's newest head coach on Tuesday afternoon inside Houston Baseball's Player Development Center.
Davis was joined on stage by UH Vice President for Athletics Eddie Nuñez. A full video and transcribed quotes are available below.
Davis Introductory Press Conference Transcript
VP FOR INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS EDDIE NUÑEZ
"Welcome to the new era of Houston Baseball. Hopefully, you're as excited as I am. This is a great time for Houston Baseball. Before I go forward and introduce Will, I want to take a moment to acknowledge and recognize some individuals. First, I want to thank Todd Whitting and his family for everything they did for this program.
I also want to take a moment to recognize– well, first of all, we wouldn't be where we are today and have the chance to be great at this institution if it isn't for our administration and our board. I know we have some regents here today. Regent [Bryan] Clark and Mr. Rose here. Lynden Rose. We wouldn't be able to to have the success without a president like Dr. Renu Khator. Unfortunately, she's not here today. She's traveling. But to have the alignment that we have at this university gives us a chance not just to compete, but compete at the highest level. So thank you to them and to those that are making this possible.
I do want to give a special thanks to two of my staff members that throughout this process were instrumental in helping guide, but also give me the resources during a crazy time. As many of you know, this was the second coaching search this year and now we're at four. So it's been a whirlwind of a month and a half, but without Dave Williams and in particular Alvin [Franklin] in this search, I wouldn't have been able to get where we are today. So thank you to both of them for helping me through this process.
Lastly, I do want to welcome officially Danielle, and I'm going to try to get all the names right. We've got Everly. That's you. We've got Coco, Crash and the best of all, and I'm not trying to say just because of where we are, but Houston. I think we're set up for success with that name.Welcome. Officially. Welcome to our family.
You know, as we embarked on this opportunity and I thought about how this journey went, like anything else, you find a lot of interest. But it's our responsibility to make sure that we do what's right for this institution, for this program, for our student-athletes to find the right person to lead this this program. And as I continue to go through this process, one of the things that I thought about was when we embarked, I wanted to find out more about what Will was doing, and I've been watching them from a distance.
See, the relationship that we have had, we've known each other for a long time. I got to know him when I was a young administrator and he was a student-athlete going into the the world of coaching, and what I noticed from him then was the attention to detail, the commitment to excellence, all the things that you look for and somebody who can help build a program around you.
I thought he was a little crazy when he decided to go to Lamar. I'm not going to lie. You know, you sit there and see the success we're having at LSU at the time, but he took a risk. And you look back today and you've seen the success and what he built was a program that was not just recognizable in a conference but across the nation. When we went through this process, they were playing the start or part of their tournament, and so we had to wait a little bit to have that conversation. But the more we spoke and the more we went through, the more I realized how right he was for this opportunity. So I'm excited and honored to have him lead our program."
HOUSTON BASEBALL HEAD COACH WILL DAVIS
"I've always wanted to pull out a piece of paper from the breast pocket of a nice jacket. So it's first time I've ever done that. First off, I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I would not be here if it wasn't for for him. And I want to thank God for helping guide me through the tough times and also keeping me humble in the great times, because they're both equally as important. I hope he can continue to guide me as I lead this program.
I want to thank my wife, Danielle, who is a superstar. If you can find an NFL cheerleader to move to Beaumont, Texas, with you and let you chase your dream, you probably should marry her. So that's what I did. She's been awesome and supported me every step of the way.
I want to thank my family as well, because Eddie already did that. Acknowledging my daughter, Everly, who thought it was very important to get acknowledged. So my daughter, Everly, Coco, Crash, Houston, who we named in anticipation of this job. No, I'm just kidding. And my mom and dad, my dad up in heaven, who paved the way for me as a coach and want to build on his legacy as well. And then my in-laws, Don and Donna Hall, who are here to help out with everything when I'm gone all the time, so I can't thank them enough.
I also want to thank the people at Lamar, Dr. Jaime Taylor and Jeff O'Malley, who have really helped me make that job so much better over the last several years and made my job a lot easier. I also want to thank Jason Henderson and David Bernsen. To allude on what Eddie said earlier, I wanted to – I'm hard headed if you don't know me – and I wanted to be a head coach very young. So at 31 years old, I left the comfort and the success at LSU, and I went to the place that would have me and made me the youngest head coach in the country and that was Lamar and that was Jason Henderson and David Bernsen, who took a chance on me. And what they allowed me to do is stand in front of you, still a fairly young man, but with ten years of head coaching experience, which I personally think is a very rare combination to find out there, and I wouldn't have that with if it wasn't for those guys taking a chance on me and believe in me, believing in me at 31 years old to to lead that program.
I also want to give a congratulations to Todd Whitting, a brother in this game and a good friend who had a great career here. I hope to do nothing more than to build on the success that he had here as well.
I also want to thank Dr. Khator and all the board members that are here. It's an honor to be here and to have so many people that support the program in attendance. It means the world to me and shows you what this what this job means to so many.
I want to thank Eddie Nunez. A lot of people always asked me over the last few years, where would you go from Lamar? It was important to me to leave a good job to take a better job or what was certainly a great situation. You learn through this, and that's where I go back to the experience factor, that if you don't have the people in your corner supporting you, then any job can become a tough job pretty quick. And you know, Eddie, is someone that I believe in. I've also watched him from afar, I guess from 70 miles away. Well, I guess New Mexico is a little further than that. But watching his career and I knew what kind of person he was going to be when he got the chance to be an athletic director, and I think the results really speak for themselves. We used to play pickup basketball together over ten years ago, and if I would have known he was going to be my future employer, I would have set a lot more screens for him. So to the kids out there. Make sure you set those screens.
I also want to thank Dave Williams and Alvin Franklin in the process that we went through for this job and then more importantly, through the process since we've taken over, Alvin has been awesome to deal with as our sport administrator and so helpful and just a partner in this whole thing.
You know, everybody talks about winning the press conference. And as much as I want to walk out of here today and have everybody be really inspired and have everybody like me and think that it's going to go so well here, I'm very well aware that's not the kind of winning that I'm going to be judged on. You know, we're going to have to go out there daily – and we're doing it now – but obviously once we get on that field, we're going to have to get out there and produce results. And so as much as I would love to know I won the press conference, I know that there are there are bigger games ahead. So we're going to live every day with that mantra and we're going to really work hard to make you proud on the field.
Why did I want to take this job? In addition to having the support from the top down, I think this is an unbelievable opportunity. You can see the facility renovations that Eddie, the staff and the University have put in place here over the last couple of years. You can see the success with Coach Fritz and Coach Sampson. I think this is on the verge of being one of the best, most awesome athletic departments in the country with producing those kind of results.
And, you know, it's not hard to see that the baseball talent in this city is amazing. Just this very year, our Lamar team made the NCAA Tournament with 14 players from the city of Houston on the roster, so the formula doesn't really have to change too much. We are able to get a different caliber of player here. We've already begun to do that, but both the talent and the transfer portal that goes off to junior college and in the high schools here in this city is amazing. It's what makes the job so attractive. I don't know that we can get our entire roster from here, but it's certainly a great place to start, and I look forward to to doing that and putting that plan into action.
The truth of the matter is, though, we have our work cut out for us. It's going to be very, very tough and we know that, but the challenge will be fun. It has been fun so far and we're going to fight daily with our staff to get to the point where we are winning championships. I could come up here with a big rah-rah speech and tell you we're going to be in Omaha next year, but the truth is, when you've done this long enough, you don't know when it's going to happen. But I do know that our level of success will be directly correlated to the effort level that our staff puts into this, and that gives me great hope that we are going to turn this thing around and turn it around rather quickly and that's the goal. That's what we're fighting for every day.
There are many wonderful people that care a great deal about Houston Baseball. I've already met and spoken to so many. My only goal, instead of putting tangible goals like going to Omaha out there, is that next year we can field a product that's going to make all those people very, very proud. Proud with the way we play the game, with the way we hustle, with the way we compete, with the way we don't back down from a challenge, with the way we represent the university, both in the classroom and in the community. I can guarantee that our our guys will do that next year. I know the winning will come and I very well believe that it will come next year. But I know that's one thing that we can control, and we will make sure that that's a product that very quickly, that all of the fans, all of the alumni, all of the baseball alumni, all the supporters can be really, really proud of and I can promise you that. Go Coogs."
Q&A
On the facilities and short-term projects…
WILL DAVIS: "I think the facilities are good. I think we have everything we need at first glance. Once I get more into the weeds and out of this recruiting cycle, we can pinpoint a couple of things here or there that could make our life easier. There's already some plans for some upgrades. I think we're good for for now from that standpoint. Obviously we'll continue to work to make it better and hone in on specific things that can help our program.
On balancing the transfer portal and high-school recruiting...
WD: Right now the only thing we can really do is recruit kids out of the transfer portal for next year. However, I think this city affords you some really high caliber players that you can get and come in as freshmen. Finding that blend will be really important, but also finding the right type of kid that is not trying to use this as a springboard to the SEC or elsewhere is important. Having those conversations in the recruiting process early on with the kids, the parents and anybody involved in the decision making process, I think is key because we love developing players.
I miss the days when that's all it was. Unfortunately, that's not the reality of the the situation we're in with college baseball – to have to have your entire roster for multiple years. I think it's going to be key to identify not only guys that have the caliber of talent to help us here and to help us win a championship, but also the kind of kid that is willing to stay for the right reasons and see it out over a number of years.
On familiarity with Houston-area recruiting helping...
WD: I think it's very key. For me, when you see that the coach from Jacksonville State just went to Grand Canyon. I can't imagine making that move and going to a completely different part of the country. We're very fortunate here that we deal with it every night on the phone. When we're dealing with these recruits or these decision-makers, we feel very comfortable that we treated our players at Lamar very well. And so constantly, if we don't know the travel ball coach or the high school coach or the decision-maker, it's, 'hey, I spoke to so-and-so and he loves you guys.'
That has been a great, great help. Having those connections in the city and in the area, in the state, with junior colleges, travel ball, high school, all that stuff has been very nice. There's not a big learning curve in learning the the recruiting footprint or anything like that. It's been a very nice, pleasant plus to taking this job.
On setting the culture...
WD: I get asked that question all the time on recruiting visits and stuff, and for me, culture is set from our coaching staff and from the vibe that we create, and we create a pretty good vibe. We're approachable people that like to talk to our kids. I love people. This is kind of the way my dad did it. I just like talking to everyone. I like coaching the players. I like seeing how they're doing.
I also recognize how important my interactions are with each and every one of them. I might have a 90 interactions in one day, but the one that they had with me is the most important for them, and that's not lost on me. I really do try to be present when I'm here. If I'm walking through the hallway, I'm not down on my phone. I'm saying hello because you hear that all the time when you talk, 'coach would walk right by me in the hallway and didn't even say, hey.' It might seem like something so flippant to us, but it means the world to them.
It's just little stuff like that, really. But if you're organized and you communicate well and you constantly communicate and you treat the players really well and you have an expectation of working hard and trying to win, but also having fun, I think it creates a great culture, and that's what we've experienced in our time at Lamar, and we kind of had that when I was at LSU, quite frankly.
I think it's something that and we have had experience in the last few years of, of dealing with the transfer portal and bringing in a lot of one-year guys. I was worried about that at first from a culture standpoint, but what we found is people are so appreciative to come from the situation they were in and have a coaching staff treat them well that our culture has never been better. I think it will be a day one thing, honestly, because we're recruiting a bunch of guys that are that want to come here to play for us right now. If you just do the things you're supposed to as a coaching staff, those boxes will be checked pretty easily.
On the brand of baseball he wants to play...
WD: We certainly want to play hard. We want to run everything out. We want to fight. We want to be tough outs in the box. But more generically, we don't have a style. We're not in any given year going to say that we're going to steal 150 bases or we're okay with hitting 75 home runs and striking out 550 times. We want an offense that's built for any occasion. What I mean by that is we want to blend of left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters. We want some guys with power and some with speed. If they have power and speed together, that's great.
But what you don't want is to have a team where you face a guy with a good right-handed slider and then you have eight right-handed hitters in the lineup and you have no chance. Or if the wind's blowing in and you have a bunch of sluggers and you can't do anything when the wind's blowing in, I don't want that. I want to be built for any occasion.
On the mound, we want to, as [pitching coach] Jace [Hutchins] would say, dominate the zone. We're going to try to get the guys with great stuff that also pound the strike zone. We're not really interested in too many projects at this point. We want guys that have high floors and we're going to try to make their ceiling higher.
On his favorite thing about being a head coach...
WD: It's very gratifying when you when you get to lead and you see everyone, including the assistant coaches and all the players and staff, buying in and enjoying the ride. Then when the guys come through, man, when they come through and they dogpile and stuff, there is no feeling like that. I tell the guys that before the season every year that we do this for the brotherhood, one, but also that we're going to make all these memories and guys are going to hit walk-off doubles and guys are going to strike the guy out with the bases loaded to win the game and make a diving catch to save the game. For me, that's the most awesome thing, to see the kids put the work in and then come through. There's no feeling in the world like that.
On his staff members joining him from Lamar...
WD: I think they're both great at what they do, obviously. That's part of it. I've been on a lot of staffs in 19 years and you learn the lessons that the talent that they bring to the table is equally important with how they fit, because we are a team as much as the the players are a team. If we are misaligned on that, and I've been on staffs where that's the case, the players pick up on that and then you don't reach your full potential. If you've got everybody clicking on all cylinders and and on the same page, that can be that can be a great thing for your program and everything you're trying to do. For me, those lessons have been learned over the years and the people that we brought in were fairly easy decisions.
On making Taylor Dugas his recruiting coordinator...
WD: It's been it's been really good. I mean, obviously, Taylor is someone I've known for a long time from following his career at Alabama and then playing in the big leagues and the ties here. People might not know, but Taylor's father-in-law, Mitch Gaspar, played here. It's a nice in with all of the guys from the 80s. That's certainly not the reason we hired him, it's just a plus, but I knew Taylor was a really, really hard worker, just like Jace. I knew they were. They were people on the verge of getting the big job, so I wanted to make sure I was the one who game them the big job before somebody stole them.
Davis was joined on stage by UH Vice President for Athletics Eddie Nuñez. A full video and transcribed quotes are available below.
Davis Introductory Press Conference Transcript
VP FOR INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS EDDIE NUÑEZ
"Welcome to the new era of Houston Baseball. Hopefully, you're as excited as I am. This is a great time for Houston Baseball. Before I go forward and introduce Will, I want to take a moment to acknowledge and recognize some individuals. First, I want to thank Todd Whitting and his family for everything they did for this program.
I also want to take a moment to recognize– well, first of all, we wouldn't be where we are today and have the chance to be great at this institution if it isn't for our administration and our board. I know we have some regents here today. Regent [Bryan] Clark and Mr. Rose here. Lynden Rose. We wouldn't be able to to have the success without a president like Dr. Renu Khator. Unfortunately, she's not here today. She's traveling. But to have the alignment that we have at this university gives us a chance not just to compete, but compete at the highest level. So thank you to them and to those that are making this possible.
I do want to give a special thanks to two of my staff members that throughout this process were instrumental in helping guide, but also give me the resources during a crazy time. As many of you know, this was the second coaching search this year and now we're at four. So it's been a whirlwind of a month and a half, but without Dave Williams and in particular Alvin [Franklin] in this search, I wouldn't have been able to get where we are today. So thank you to both of them for helping me through this process.
Lastly, I do want to welcome officially Danielle, and I'm going to try to get all the names right. We've got Everly. That's you. We've got Coco, Crash and the best of all, and I'm not trying to say just because of where we are, but Houston. I think we're set up for success with that name.Welcome. Officially. Welcome to our family.
You know, as we embarked on this opportunity and I thought about how this journey went, like anything else, you find a lot of interest. But it's our responsibility to make sure that we do what's right for this institution, for this program, for our student-athletes to find the right person to lead this this program. And as I continue to go through this process, one of the things that I thought about was when we embarked, I wanted to find out more about what Will was doing, and I've been watching them from a distance.
See, the relationship that we have had, we've known each other for a long time. I got to know him when I was a young administrator and he was a student-athlete going into the the world of coaching, and what I noticed from him then was the attention to detail, the commitment to excellence, all the things that you look for and somebody who can help build a program around you.
I thought he was a little crazy when he decided to go to Lamar. I'm not going to lie. You know, you sit there and see the success we're having at LSU at the time, but he took a risk. And you look back today and you've seen the success and what he built was a program that was not just recognizable in a conference but across the nation. When we went through this process, they were playing the start or part of their tournament, and so we had to wait a little bit to have that conversation. But the more we spoke and the more we went through, the more I realized how right he was for this opportunity. So I'm excited and honored to have him lead our program."
HOUSTON BASEBALL HEAD COACH WILL DAVIS
"I've always wanted to pull out a piece of paper from the breast pocket of a nice jacket. So it's first time I've ever done that. First off, I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I would not be here if it wasn't for for him. And I want to thank God for helping guide me through the tough times and also keeping me humble in the great times, because they're both equally as important. I hope he can continue to guide me as I lead this program.
I want to thank my wife, Danielle, who is a superstar. If you can find an NFL cheerleader to move to Beaumont, Texas, with you and let you chase your dream, you probably should marry her. So that's what I did. She's been awesome and supported me every step of the way.
I want to thank my family as well, because Eddie already did that. Acknowledging my daughter, Everly, who thought it was very important to get acknowledged. So my daughter, Everly, Coco, Crash, Houston, who we named in anticipation of this job. No, I'm just kidding. And my mom and dad, my dad up in heaven, who paved the way for me as a coach and want to build on his legacy as well. And then my in-laws, Don and Donna Hall, who are here to help out with everything when I'm gone all the time, so I can't thank them enough.
I also want to thank the people at Lamar, Dr. Jaime Taylor and Jeff O'Malley, who have really helped me make that job so much better over the last several years and made my job a lot easier. I also want to thank Jason Henderson and David Bernsen. To allude on what Eddie said earlier, I wanted to – I'm hard headed if you don't know me – and I wanted to be a head coach very young. So at 31 years old, I left the comfort and the success at LSU, and I went to the place that would have me and made me the youngest head coach in the country and that was Lamar and that was Jason Henderson and David Bernsen, who took a chance on me. And what they allowed me to do is stand in front of you, still a fairly young man, but with ten years of head coaching experience, which I personally think is a very rare combination to find out there, and I wouldn't have that with if it wasn't for those guys taking a chance on me and believe in me, believing in me at 31 years old to to lead that program.
I also want to give a congratulations to Todd Whitting, a brother in this game and a good friend who had a great career here. I hope to do nothing more than to build on the success that he had here as well.
I also want to thank Dr. Khator and all the board members that are here. It's an honor to be here and to have so many people that support the program in attendance. It means the world to me and shows you what this what this job means to so many.
I want to thank Eddie Nunez. A lot of people always asked me over the last few years, where would you go from Lamar? It was important to me to leave a good job to take a better job or what was certainly a great situation. You learn through this, and that's where I go back to the experience factor, that if you don't have the people in your corner supporting you, then any job can become a tough job pretty quick. And you know, Eddie, is someone that I believe in. I've also watched him from afar, I guess from 70 miles away. Well, I guess New Mexico is a little further than that. But watching his career and I knew what kind of person he was going to be when he got the chance to be an athletic director, and I think the results really speak for themselves. We used to play pickup basketball together over ten years ago, and if I would have known he was going to be my future employer, I would have set a lot more screens for him. So to the kids out there. Make sure you set those screens.
I also want to thank Dave Williams and Alvin Franklin in the process that we went through for this job and then more importantly, through the process since we've taken over, Alvin has been awesome to deal with as our sport administrator and so helpful and just a partner in this whole thing.
You know, everybody talks about winning the press conference. And as much as I want to walk out of here today and have everybody be really inspired and have everybody like me and think that it's going to go so well here, I'm very well aware that's not the kind of winning that I'm going to be judged on. You know, we're going to have to go out there daily – and we're doing it now – but obviously once we get on that field, we're going to have to get out there and produce results. And so as much as I would love to know I won the press conference, I know that there are there are bigger games ahead. So we're going to live every day with that mantra and we're going to really work hard to make you proud on the field.
Why did I want to take this job? In addition to having the support from the top down, I think this is an unbelievable opportunity. You can see the facility renovations that Eddie, the staff and the University have put in place here over the last couple of years. You can see the success with Coach Fritz and Coach Sampson. I think this is on the verge of being one of the best, most awesome athletic departments in the country with producing those kind of results.
And, you know, it's not hard to see that the baseball talent in this city is amazing. Just this very year, our Lamar team made the NCAA Tournament with 14 players from the city of Houston on the roster, so the formula doesn't really have to change too much. We are able to get a different caliber of player here. We've already begun to do that, but both the talent and the transfer portal that goes off to junior college and in the high schools here in this city is amazing. It's what makes the job so attractive. I don't know that we can get our entire roster from here, but it's certainly a great place to start, and I look forward to to doing that and putting that plan into action.
The truth of the matter is, though, we have our work cut out for us. It's going to be very, very tough and we know that, but the challenge will be fun. It has been fun so far and we're going to fight daily with our staff to get to the point where we are winning championships. I could come up here with a big rah-rah speech and tell you we're going to be in Omaha next year, but the truth is, when you've done this long enough, you don't know when it's going to happen. But I do know that our level of success will be directly correlated to the effort level that our staff puts into this, and that gives me great hope that we are going to turn this thing around and turn it around rather quickly and that's the goal. That's what we're fighting for every day.
There are many wonderful people that care a great deal about Houston Baseball. I've already met and spoken to so many. My only goal, instead of putting tangible goals like going to Omaha out there, is that next year we can field a product that's going to make all those people very, very proud. Proud with the way we play the game, with the way we hustle, with the way we compete, with the way we don't back down from a challenge, with the way we represent the university, both in the classroom and in the community. I can guarantee that our our guys will do that next year. I know the winning will come and I very well believe that it will come next year. But I know that's one thing that we can control, and we will make sure that that's a product that very quickly, that all of the fans, all of the alumni, all of the baseball alumni, all the supporters can be really, really proud of and I can promise you that. Go Coogs."
Q&A
On the facilities and short-term projects…
WILL DAVIS: "I think the facilities are good. I think we have everything we need at first glance. Once I get more into the weeds and out of this recruiting cycle, we can pinpoint a couple of things here or there that could make our life easier. There's already some plans for some upgrades. I think we're good for for now from that standpoint. Obviously we'll continue to work to make it better and hone in on specific things that can help our program.
On balancing the transfer portal and high-school recruiting...
WD: Right now the only thing we can really do is recruit kids out of the transfer portal for next year. However, I think this city affords you some really high caliber players that you can get and come in as freshmen. Finding that blend will be really important, but also finding the right type of kid that is not trying to use this as a springboard to the SEC or elsewhere is important. Having those conversations in the recruiting process early on with the kids, the parents and anybody involved in the decision making process, I think is key because we love developing players.
I miss the days when that's all it was. Unfortunately, that's not the reality of the the situation we're in with college baseball – to have to have your entire roster for multiple years. I think it's going to be key to identify not only guys that have the caliber of talent to help us here and to help us win a championship, but also the kind of kid that is willing to stay for the right reasons and see it out over a number of years.
On familiarity with Houston-area recruiting helping...
WD: I think it's very key. For me, when you see that the coach from Jacksonville State just went to Grand Canyon. I can't imagine making that move and going to a completely different part of the country. We're very fortunate here that we deal with it every night on the phone. When we're dealing with these recruits or these decision-makers, we feel very comfortable that we treated our players at Lamar very well. And so constantly, if we don't know the travel ball coach or the high school coach or the decision-maker, it's, 'hey, I spoke to so-and-so and he loves you guys.'
That has been a great, great help. Having those connections in the city and in the area, in the state, with junior colleges, travel ball, high school, all that stuff has been very nice. There's not a big learning curve in learning the the recruiting footprint or anything like that. It's been a very nice, pleasant plus to taking this job.
On setting the culture...
WD: I get asked that question all the time on recruiting visits and stuff, and for me, culture is set from our coaching staff and from the vibe that we create, and we create a pretty good vibe. We're approachable people that like to talk to our kids. I love people. This is kind of the way my dad did it. I just like talking to everyone. I like coaching the players. I like seeing how they're doing.
I also recognize how important my interactions are with each and every one of them. I might have a 90 interactions in one day, but the one that they had with me is the most important for them, and that's not lost on me. I really do try to be present when I'm here. If I'm walking through the hallway, I'm not down on my phone. I'm saying hello because you hear that all the time when you talk, 'coach would walk right by me in the hallway and didn't even say, hey.' It might seem like something so flippant to us, but it means the world to them.
It's just little stuff like that, really. But if you're organized and you communicate well and you constantly communicate and you treat the players really well and you have an expectation of working hard and trying to win, but also having fun, I think it creates a great culture, and that's what we've experienced in our time at Lamar, and we kind of had that when I was at LSU, quite frankly.
I think it's something that and we have had experience in the last few years of, of dealing with the transfer portal and bringing in a lot of one-year guys. I was worried about that at first from a culture standpoint, but what we found is people are so appreciative to come from the situation they were in and have a coaching staff treat them well that our culture has never been better. I think it will be a day one thing, honestly, because we're recruiting a bunch of guys that are that want to come here to play for us right now. If you just do the things you're supposed to as a coaching staff, those boxes will be checked pretty easily.
On the brand of baseball he wants to play...
WD: We certainly want to play hard. We want to run everything out. We want to fight. We want to be tough outs in the box. But more generically, we don't have a style. We're not in any given year going to say that we're going to steal 150 bases or we're okay with hitting 75 home runs and striking out 550 times. We want an offense that's built for any occasion. What I mean by that is we want to blend of left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters. We want some guys with power and some with speed. If they have power and speed together, that's great.
But what you don't want is to have a team where you face a guy with a good right-handed slider and then you have eight right-handed hitters in the lineup and you have no chance. Or if the wind's blowing in and you have a bunch of sluggers and you can't do anything when the wind's blowing in, I don't want that. I want to be built for any occasion.
On the mound, we want to, as [pitching coach] Jace [Hutchins] would say, dominate the zone. We're going to try to get the guys with great stuff that also pound the strike zone. We're not really interested in too many projects at this point. We want guys that have high floors and we're going to try to make their ceiling higher.
On his favorite thing about being a head coach...
WD: It's very gratifying when you when you get to lead and you see everyone, including the assistant coaches and all the players and staff, buying in and enjoying the ride. Then when the guys come through, man, when they come through and they dogpile and stuff, there is no feeling like that. I tell the guys that before the season every year that we do this for the brotherhood, one, but also that we're going to make all these memories and guys are going to hit walk-off doubles and guys are going to strike the guy out with the bases loaded to win the game and make a diving catch to save the game. For me, that's the most awesome thing, to see the kids put the work in and then come through. There's no feeling in the world like that.
On his staff members joining him from Lamar...
WD: I think they're both great at what they do, obviously. That's part of it. I've been on a lot of staffs in 19 years and you learn the lessons that the talent that they bring to the table is equally important with how they fit, because we are a team as much as the the players are a team. If we are misaligned on that, and I've been on staffs where that's the case, the players pick up on that and then you don't reach your full potential. If you've got everybody clicking on all cylinders and and on the same page, that can be that can be a great thing for your program and everything you're trying to do. For me, those lessons have been learned over the years and the people that we brought in were fairly easy decisions.
On making Taylor Dugas his recruiting coordinator...
WD: It's been it's been really good. I mean, obviously, Taylor is someone I've known for a long time from following his career at Alabama and then playing in the big leagues and the ties here. People might not know, but Taylor's father-in-law, Mitch Gaspar, played here. It's a nice in with all of the guys from the 80s. That's certainly not the reason we hired him, it's just a plus, but I knew Taylor was a really, really hard worker, just like Jace. I knew they were. They were people on the verge of getting the big job, so I wanted to make sure I was the one who game them the big job before somebody stole them.
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