Kansas baseball makes home run hire in Dan Fitzgerald

For the first time in nearly 20 years, Kansas baseball has a new skipper at the helm.

Dan Fitzgerald was announced as the new head coach on Wednesday, following the recent retirement of long-time Kansas coach Ritch Price.

This is the third coaching hire for Travis Goff as athletics director at KU, and he appears confident that he found the right guy.

"“Dan Fitzgerald is a man of exceptional integrity, proven leader, developer of men, tremendous baseball mind, elite recruiter and the perfect fit for Kansas Baseball,” Goff said."

Fitzgerald comes from LSU, where he was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for one year – helping lead the Tigers to a 40-win season and an NCAA Regional final appearance. He also helped reel in the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class for this upcoming season, according to perfectgame.org. The Tigers are already listed in the top five for 2023 as well.

Current LSU head coach Jay Johnson applauded the hire, saying, “Kansas baseball just made a monumental step toward the top of the Big 12 and college baseball and couldn’t have hired anyone better than Dan Fitzgerald.”

Prior to LSU, Fitzgerald spent nine years at Division I Dallas Baptist as an assistant coach, associate head coach, and recruiting coordinator. During his tenure there, the Patriots played in seven NCAA Regionals, won three conference championships, and won three conference tournaments.

His recruiting efforts at Dallas Baptist resulted in 30 Major League Baseball draft picks (11 of those being top-10 picks), nine All-Americans, eight freshman All-Americans, 69 all-conference selections, and two conference players of the year.

It appears to be a perfect match for Fitzgerald too as he called the Kansas job a perfect fit for he and his family.

"“I have been very diligent in waiting for the right opportunity to lead a program and this was the perfect destination for me and my family,” Fitzgerald said. “I look forward to developing these student-athletes as baseball players as well as men, and putting a program together that all Jayhawks can be proud of.”"

Fitzgerald’s track record screams elite recruiter and player development – both of which are something Kansas desperately needs in order to turn around a program that has never won a Big 12 regular-season conference championship, hasn’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 2014, and hasn’t been to the College World Series since 1993.

Kansas isn’t a hotbed for baseball talent and the state isn’t located where baseball can easily be played outdoors year-round. That, plus the lack of any recent success, makes recruiting challenging.

Fitzgerald will need to bring the recruiting skills he established at Dallas Baptist and LSU to find the diamonds in the rough and develop players who are overlooked by other schools.

Time will tell if Fitzgerald is up to the task. But for now, based on his proven success and the words of his peers, it appears that Goff and KU have made a home run hire.