Notre Dame hires VCU's Shawn Stiffler as next baseball head coach
Winning became a habit for VCU baseball under head coach Shawn Stiffler.
The Rams won at least 34 games in each of the last eight full seasons, a number only matched by six other teams in Division I.
Stiffler will be challenged to continue those winning ways at Notre Dame. On Tuesday, Notre Dame announced it would be hiring Stiffler as the 22nd head coach in the history of its baseball program.
Stiffler will be officially introduced in a press conference Thursday at 1:30 p.m. EDT.
“We are excited to welcome Shawn (Stiffler) and his family to our Notre Dame community,” said athletic director Jack Swarbrick in a statement released by the athletic department. “He’s a perfect fit to lead our nationally-respected program both on and off the field as his approach to coaching and culture mirrors that of our Institution.”
SUBSCRIBE TO INSIDE ND SPORTS TO STAY IN THE KNOW ON NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS
JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON THE INSIDER LOUNGE MESSAGE BOARD
Notre Dame was forced to replace Link Jarrett after he left to become the head coach at Florida State, his alma mater in his hometown of Tallahassee. Jarrett led the Irish to an 86-32 record in his three seasons in South Bend including trips to an NCAA Super Regional in 2021 and the College World Series in 2022.
Stiffler, 43, is no stranger to early success as a head coach. In just his third season as VCU’s head coach in 2015, Stiffler led the Rams to their first Super Regional appearance in program history. VCU hasn’t advanced to a Super Regional since then, but it did play in the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons.
Last month, VCU won its first two NCAA Regional games, but it lost two in a row to host North Carolina, the No. 10 seed in the tournament.
“Notre Dame is the finest university in the country.” Stiffler said in part of a released statement. “It challenges everyone to become the best version of themselves and I cannot wait to continue recruiting, developing and working with student-athletes with that type of mindset."
VCU gave Stiffler his first head coaching role. During his sixth season as an assistant coach for VCU, Stiffler was promoted to interim head coach to finish the 2012 season. He shed the interim title ahead of the 2013 season and kept winning from there. Under Stiffler, the Rams won the Atlantic 10 Tournament in 2015, 2021 and 2022 and the conference regular season championship in 2017 and 2019.
Stiffler was named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 2019, but his players received many more accolades at VCU. During Stiffler's head coaching tenure, the Rams had four All-Americans, five Freshman All-Americans, 19 ABCA All-Regional honorees and 43 All-Atlantic 10 selections including three Rookies of the Year and two Players of the Year. Seven former VCU players were MLB Draft picks under Stiffler.
VCU’s best teams under Stiffler were often carried by pitching. The Rams finished the season ranked among the top 15 in Division I for ERA three times: 2015 (2.92, 13th), 2019 (3.42, 9th) and 2022 (3.91, 9th). The 2021 team was led offensively with the fifth-best scoring average (8.6 runs) and seventh-best on-base percentage (.414).
Stiffler’s coaching career started at George Mason, his alma mater, in 2002. The Somerset (Pa.) Area High School product pitched at George Mason for four seasons before serving as an assistant coach for five more seasons. Stiffler received honorable mention All-America honors from USA Today following his senior season for the Patriots.
Notre Dame assistant coaches Chuck Ristano and Rich Wallace will reportedly follow Jarrett to Florida state. While the Irish completed its search for Stiffler, Notre Dame's roster also became in flux.
At least nine players entered the transfer portal, which had to be done by July 1 in order for players to be eligible to play right away by completing a one-time, penalty-free transfer. Five of the Irish players in the transfer portal are pitchers: Jack Findlay, Austin Temple, Alex Rao, Roman Kimball and Caden Aoki.
Findlay, a left-handed freshman, was incredibly valuable for the Irish in the NCAA Tournament with six appearances as a reliever, including four saves and one win. He finished the season with a team-low 2.17 ERA in 49.2 innings in 20 appearances. Temple, a graduate senior, was Notre Dame’s No. 2 starter last season. As a senior, Rao led the Irish in bullpen appearances (25). Kimball, a righty-handed reliever, finished his freshman season with a 4-0 record in 25 innings of work. Righty Aoki, also a freshman, made all four of his relief appearances before the end of March.
Four other Irish players are in the portal, but they didn’t play in any games: freshmen infielders Karson Bonaparte and Ben Loyd, sophomore outfielder Tony Watson and sophomore infielder Brock Murtha. Only Murtha was listed on Notre Dame’s roster at season’s end.
Former Butler pitcher Derek Drees, who previously committed to transfer to Notre Dame, has since redirected his future to Arizona during the Irish staff transition.
This weekend’s MLB Draft should influence Notre Dame’s 2023 roster. Signee Owen Murphy could be selected in the first round. Junior third baseman/pitcher Jack Brannigan and pitcher Liam Simon could be lured into starting their professional careers depending on their draft destinations.
---------------------------------------------------------------
• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.
• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND, @TJamesND and @ByKyleKelly.
• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports
• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.