University of Houston Athletics
Staff Directory
Will Davis
- Title:
- Head Coach
| WILL DAVIS | |
| Hometown | Baton Rouge, La. |
| College | LSU '07 (B.A. Secondary Education) LSU '10 (M.S. Kinesiology) |
| Wife | Danielle |
| Children | Two daughters and a son |
| PLAYING EXPERIENCE | |
| Level | School |
| College | LSU (2004-07) |
| COACHING EXPERIENCE | |
| Year | School, Position |
| 2027 - | Houston, Head Coach |
| 2017-26 | Lamar, Head Coach |
| 2016 | Lamar, Assistant Coach |
| 2009-15 | LSU, Assistant Coach |
| 2008 | LSU, Director of Baseball Operations |
Davis joined the Cougars following 10 years as skipper at Lamar, where he amassed 289 wins while also tutoring 38 All-Conference Cardinals and 10 MLB Draft picks – most recently 2023 SLC Player of the Year and Buster Posey Award finalist Ryan Snell (7th round pick, Washington Nationals), 2024 SLC Pitcher of the Year and third-team Baseball America All-American selection Brooks Caple (9th round pick: Chicago Cubs) and 2025 first-team All-SLC pitcher Riely Hunsaker (16th round pick: Chicago Cubs) – along with four additional Cardinals who signed free agent contracts.
Davis led Lamar to the 2026 Southland Conference Tournament Championship crown in his 10th season at the helm. The title sent Lamar to an NCAA Regional behind its fifth-straight 30-win season. Davis has the Cardinals rolling having won six in a row entering the College Station Regional where they will take on Texas A&M on Friday at 3 p.m.
In 2025, Davis guided the program to consecutive 40-win seasons for the first time since 2003-04, steering the squad to a 40-17 record. Under his direction, the Cards compiled a 27-2 mark at home during the regular season, representing the finest winning percentage at Vincent-Beck Stadium since 1993. The team strung together 11 consecutive home victories, a streak that ranked tied for second longest in the entire country. Additionally, Lamar stood as one of only two mid-major programs nationwide to reach the 40-win threshold by the end of the regular season.
During the 2024-25 season, Davis tutored a Brooks Wallace Award watch list honoree, three first team All-Southland Conference selections, the SLC Hitter of the Year and a second team All-Southland Conference recipient.
Lamar won the 2024 Southland regular season title after winning 44 games for the first time since 2004 and finished in the top three of the league in each of the last four seasons. In Lamar’s lone season in the WAC, Davis led the Cardinals to a second-place finish in the Southwest Division.
The 2024 campaign resulted in the Cardinals being crowned Southland Conference regular-season champions after posting an overall record of 44-15 and a 17-7 league mark. The 44 wins were the fourth-most in program history, also marking the first time the Cardinals posted 40+ wins since 2004. Davis was named Southland Conference Coach of the Year while Brooks Caple earned Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year honors. The Cardinals swept No. 25 Oklahoma on the road to highlight a season where they also won 13 games in a row.
The 2023 campaign came on the heels of a ’22 season that followed a similar path. The Cardinals recorded another 30-win season – falling just short of a 40-win campaign – a year again highlighted with victories over national powerhouse programs. The Cardinals took a three-game series over Rice in Houston early in the year and followed that up with wins at Oklahoma and against Houston. Big Red also won the first five series of the season, and 10 overall (including four series sweeps).
In 2023, Ryan Snell became Lamar’s first All-America selection since 2014 and was named the Southland Player of the Year, the program’s first since 2006. Davis, who played four seasons at LSU, helped the Tigers to the 2004 College World Series as a freshman.
The 2022 campaign watched as the Cardinals made a return to postseason play, advancing to the winners’ bracket at the WAC Championships. That LU squad put an end to a nine-game postseason jinx with their opening-round win over Seattle University, marking the Cards’ first postseason win since 2013. The Cardinals made a 12-game improvement from the 2021 postseason squad, and that team made an eight-game improvement from 2019 (2020 season was cut short due to COVID).
Davis’ success on the field tells only part of the story. His first full recruiting class as the program’s head coach was ranked first in the Southland, and 73rd nationally by Perfect Game. Davis followed that up with a 2018 early signing class that again led the Southland and landed another top-100 spot according to Perfect Game. In the last three years alone, Davis’ efforts on the recruiting trail landed the nation’s seventh, 11th and ninth-best junior college recruiting classes.
The former College World Series winning assistant coach at LSU helped lead the Tigers to the 2009 title, seven SEC championships and four trips to Omaha in his seven seasons as an assistant in Baton Rouge. During his time at LSU, 48 Tigers were drafted in the MLB Draft including six First Round selections – among them, Alex Bregman and Aaron Nola – both MLB All-Stars.
The son of former Louisiana Tech head coach the late Randy Davis, he saw tremendous success with his alma mater, including a 2009 College World Series Championship, in which LSU downed Texas in three games. That season wrapped up with a 56-17 record, one of three 50-win campaigns with Davis on staff.
Davis has been a part of four College World Series teams, three Southeastern Conference Championships and five SEC Tournament Championship teams. He advanced to at least the NCAA Regionals every season but one while he was on staff and won five SEC West Division Championships.
He began his coaching career as the director of baseball operations at LSU in 2008 and was quickly promoted to assistant coach just one year later. Since, the Baton Rouge, La., native has coached in both the first and third base boxes along with the catcher and outfield position groups. He was a student assistant and bullpen coordinator in 2007 after his playing career ended.
After he was designated as a recruiter and directed to find Louisiana prospects in 2011, he aided the Tigers to five-straight top-10 ranked signing classes, including the 2014 group that was voted No. 1 by Perfect Game. In that time, he recruited four student-athletes from Louisiana alone that were eventual top 10 round picks in the MLB Amateur Baseball Draft.
Other than the Tigers’ top recruiting class in 2014, they ranked fourth in 2012, seventh in 2011 and 2015 and 10th in 2013.
Davis was a Tiger from 2004-07 and was a letterman on the 2004 College World Series team.
He is married to the former Danielle Hall of Bogalusa, La., who was a member of the LSU Golden Girl squad. The two have three children, two daughters and a son. Davis graduated with a bachelors in secondary education (2007) and masters in kinesiology (2010) and was born May 29, 1984.
| HEAD COACHING RECORD | ||||
| Year | School | Overall | Conference | Notes/Postseason |
| 2026 | Lamar | 34-27 | 19-11 (2nd) | NCAA Regionals, SLC Tournament Champions |
| 2025 | Lamar | 40-17 | 20-10 (3rd) | SLC Tournament |
| 2024 | Lamar | 44-15 | 17-7 (1st) | SLC Regular-Season Champions, SLC Tournament Semifinals |
| 2023 | Lamar | 32-23 | 13-11 (3rd) | SLC Tournament Second Round |
| 2022 | Lamar | 37-21 | 20-10 (2nd) | WAC Tournament Second Round |
| 2021 | Lamar | 25-23 | 17-19 (8th) | SLC Tournament First Round |
| 2020* | Lamar | 7-10 | 0-3 (13th) | Tournament Not Held Due to COVID |
| 2019 | Lamar | 18-36 | 9-21 (13th) | None |
| 2018 | Lamar | 19-36 | 13-17 (10th) | None |
| 2017 | Lamar | 33-25 | 16-14 (7th) | SLC Tournament First Round |
| Career (10 Seasons) | 289-233 (.554) | 144-123 (.539) | ||
Monday, April 20
Monday, April 20
Monday, April 20
Sunday, April 19
