Ross Kivett - Baseball Coach - University of Houston Athletics

Ross Kivett

Position:
Assistant Coach

• Coach Ross Kivett on Twitter

Ross Kivett joined the University of Houston Baseball program as assistant coach on June 28, 2021. The 2024 season will be his third with the Cougars. Kivett’s primary responsibilities include serving as hitting coach as well as coaching third base and infielders.

During the 2023 season, Kivett continued to improve on the hitting foundation he had set in 2022. In only one season, the Houston hitters improved their home run count by almost a dozen rocketing 73 home runs for the first time since 2000. Junior third baseman Zach Arnold, who was also named to the All-Conference First Team, led the charge with 13 on the season including a three-home run game against UT Arlington.

With Houston’s best slugging percentage since 2000, the Cougars offense produced the most RBI (321) as well as stolen bases (113) since 2008. With 113 stolen bags, the Cougars were a running threat, surpassing the 100 stolen base mark for the fifth time in school history as five players recorded 10+ stolen bases on the season. After setting the program’s fielding record during the 2022 season, Houston proved to again be a defensive powerhouse. With a .982 fielding percentage, the Cougars posted the program’s second-highest fielding percentage ranking 7^th in the nation while also finishing the season ranked No. 5 nationally in double plays with 56. Arnold was also tabbed as a Gold Glove Finalist.

Kivett played an integral role in Houston's historic turnaround during 2022. The Cougars finished second in The American in batting average (.285) one season after ranking seventh -- and 262nd nationally -- at a .239 clip. Houston set an American Athletic Conference Championship record with 61 hits and established a program record with home runs.

Three Houston players were named ABCA/Rawlings Golden Glove Finalists as the Cougars set a program record and ranked second nationally with a .984 fielding percentage. Under Kivett's offensive watch, three Cougars were named to the All-American Athletic Conference Tournament team following Houston's run to the tournament title game and four were recognized as All-Conference honorees including First-Team selections Ryan Hernandez (first base) and Anthony Tulimero (catcher).

Kivett came to Houston following four seasons as an assistant coach at Tennessee. The Ohio native helped vault the Volunteers to a record-setting 50-18 campaign in 2021, capped by the program’s fifth trip to the College World Series and first since 2005.

Tennessee was ranked for the entire 2021 season and reached as high as No. 2 in the polls on multiple occasions—the program's highest ever ranking. The Vols hit 98 home runs, good for second in program history (107 in 1998). Tennessee's 20 SEC wins were its most since 1995.

Kivett’s main responsibilities at Tennessee included coaching the team's infielders while assisting with baserunning and hitting on top of serving as Tennessee's camp coordinator.

He was part of the coaching staff that helped lead Tennessee to the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional in 2019, the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005. The Vols went 40-21 overall and 14-16 in SEC play to finish third in the Eastern Division, the program's highest finish since 2005.

After finishing the 2019 season as one of the nation's top defensive teams with a .979 fielding percentage, the Vols were even better through 17 games in 2020 before the season was cut short due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) global health crisis. Tennessee ranked 18th in the country with a .981 fielding percentage and its primary starting infielders had committed just five errors at the time of the season being canceled.

Kivett also had a hand in the Vols' impressive offensive numbers in 2020. The Big Orange led the country in total runs (180) and runs per game (10.6) while ranking second in home runs (31), slugging percentage (.556), walks (124) and on-base percentage (.442). The Vols were also among the national leaders in a handful of other statistical categories, including batting average: .320 (fifth), doubles: 43 (sixth) and hits: 193 (third).

Through 17 games, 14 different players on UT's roster hit a home run, more than any other team in the nation. Nine players had multiple homers, led by the trio of Alerick Soularie (five), Zach Daniels (four) and Connor Pavolony (four).

One of the biggest areas of improvement for the Vols from year one to year two under Tony Vitello's staff was the fielding and defense, due in large part to Kivett, who works closely with Tennessee's infielders. UT set a program record and finished 14th nationally with a .979 fielding percentage in 2019 after finishing 140th in the country with a .970 fielding percentage in 2018.

Kivett also helped transform Tennessee into one of the country's most proficient base stealing teams in 2019. The Vols led all Power 5 programs with 108 stolen bases while junior speedster Jay Charleston finished the year with 41 steals, becoming the first SEC player to steal 40-plus bases in a season since Chris Burke (49) and Stevie Daniel (46) both accomplished the feat back in 2001.

In his first season on Rocky Top, Kivett helped lead an offense that saw increases in its season totals in runs, hits, home runs, extra-base hits, RBI, slugging percentage, walks and on-base percentage in 2018 despite losing their top two hitters from 2017. Kivett also oversaw the transformation of shortstop Andre Lipcius, who transitioned to the position in 2018 after starting nearly every game at first base as a freshman in 2017. Despite a rough start to the year defensively, under Kivett's guidance, Lipcius committed only one error over the final 18 games of the season and finished the season as the team's leader in batting average (.315), home runs (seven), RBI (42) and total bases (96).

Kivett was an All-American and Big 12 Conference Player of the Year for Kansas State in 2013 before being drafted by the Tigers in the sixth round of the 2014 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He went on to play 47 games with the Single-A Connecticut Tigers in 2014, tallying 55 hits and 26 RBIs, before being assigned to the West Michigan Whitecaps where he collected 154 hits, 78 runs scored, 30 doubles and 57 RBI over two seasons (2014, 2015). Kivett was named a 2014 New York Penn League Mid-Season All-Star during his stint with the Connecticut Tigers.

In 2016, Kivett played in 118 games for the Single-A Advanced Lakeland Flying Tigers. He recorded 93 hits, including 24 doubles, while being walked 70 times for a .328 on-base percentage. Kivett started 2017 with Lakeland, playing in 41 games, before being promoted to the Double-A Erie SeaWolves in May. He went on to play in 25 games, notching 17 hits, 12 runs scored and four stolen bases during his time with Erie. Prior to joining the SeaWolves, Kivett was named a Florida State League Mid-Season All-Star for Lakeland in 2017. During his professional career, Kivett totaled 362 hits, 77 doubles, 147 RBI and 61 stolen bases.

Prior to the 2014 draft, Kivett saw time at five different positions for the Kansas State Wildcats.

During a breakout junior campaign, he led the Big 12 in hits (94) and runs (57) and finished second in stolen bases (26) and total bases (126). Following the 2013 season, Kivett was tabbed an All-American by three different outlets, earned Big 12 Player of the Year accolades, ABCA Midwest All-Region First Team honors and MVP of the NCAA Manhattan Regional. Kivett decided against turning pro after being drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 2013, and instead returned to Kansas State to play his final season of college baseball as well as earn his degree.

The All-American continued his stellar performance as a senior in 2014, becoming the first K-State player in nearly 17 years (the third in program history) to hit for the cycle when he achieved the feat on March 26 against Nebraska. Kivett cycled in reverse order, hitting a home run in the first, a triple in the second, a double in the third and a single in the sixth. He was named Big 12 Player of the Week following the series for the second time that season. Kivett capped off his career with ABCA Midwest All-Region and All-Big 12 Second Team honors. He also earned CoSIDA Academic All-District 7 Team recognition.

Kivett finished ranked among the Wildcats' top-10 in multiple categories, including first in stolen bases (80), second in games played (225) and games started (215), tied for second in runs scored (181), third in hits (277), fifth in hit by pitch (31), tied for fifth in walks (108) and tied for seventh in triples (11). He also started in 207 consecutive games, the longest such streak in Kansas State history.

A 2014 graduate of Kansas State with a degree in communication studies, Kivett is the son of Mike and Mary Kivett and has two siblings, Juliana and Jake.