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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS BASEBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 30, 2016

Austin, Texas

THE MODERATOR: Thanks everybody for coming today. I'm going to let Mike Perrin introduce our new coach. The floor is yours.

MIKE PERRIN: Welcome, everyone, and thank you for being here today. I'd like to extend a special welcome to Susan and Shea, David's wife and son who are here with us today and other members of his family and friends. Thank you.

I appreciate your patience through what was a very important process to find exactly the right man to lead our proud and storied baseball program. And thank you to everyone, many of you in this room, who advised me and helped me along the way.

I couldn't be happier with the decision we've made. I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to visit with many people over the last few weeks. And I told the folks that helped me that those conversations made me feel great about the state of today's collegiate baseball world. Baseball is in good shape at this time in our colleges and universities.

The main reason for that in my mind is the man I'm introducing to you today. The success that David has had as an assistant at Rice for many years, as head coach at Sam Houston State, and as head coach at Tulane has gone before him. He has an outstanding record as a coach, and when we had a chance to meet and visit, he impressed me mightily and throughout the search his name came up time and time again. As I said yesterday, he is clearly well-respected in the world of college baseball.

You'll see that David is a tireless worker. He has a passion for baseball, for the study of baseball, the game, his players, his coaches, his staff and fans. We know that he loves his players and his number one priority is to help them achieve success on the field and in the classroom and in life.

He's also a die-hard Texan. David grew up in Houston. He knows this state, the baseball hot beds backwards and forwards, the Gulf Coast, Metroplex, all the club teams around the state. He's tireless on recruiting. He's well known by players and coaches and others who support our fine youth baseball here in Texas.

He's someone who in our visits clearly understands the pride and tradition of the Texas Longhorns. He respects and appreciates as I do the importance of his position in what we all know as the finest program in college baseball.

Today is a great day for the University of Texas as we celebrate and introduce you to the 13th head coach in the 122-year history of Texas Longhorn baseball, and only the fifth coach since 1911, coach David Pierce.

DAVID PIERCE: Good morning, thanks for coming. It's a special day and it's been a special journey. We had some opportunities to go out to Los Angeles coaching with the Collegiate National Team, and I get a phone call, and Mike and I have been back and forth all week, and I had the fortune to be standing in centerfield at Dodger Stadium as I was talking about the University of Texas job. So that was pretty special, very special.

I hope you can handle a slow talking Texan, because that's what you got. Very excited, very thankful to be here.

I've been waiting to come back home and to do that right there. It's really an awesome feeling to be back home. I want to quickly thank Tulane University and the great things that we did there for two years. I want to be thankful and appreciative to Rick Dickson, my former athletic director, and Troy Dannen, our current outgoing director. Their staffs as well as President Fitts at Tulane University.

I have great respect for Tulane University and great respect for the people that I worked with. I have great respect for our teams and support staff and coaches. I have special thanks for those people, our coaching staff, our support staff, and especially our team.

These guys were outstanding for two years, and they did an excellent job of accepting our guidance, and we've built some great relationships with them. I'm really proud of those accomplishments.

I really want to thank president Fenves. I want to thank Mike Perrin for the diligent work that you did in the search, and the understanding of making sure that you turned every rock over and made it important to me to feel like I was a special person to have this opportunity, because that's exactly how I feel. Thanks for giving me that opportunity.

I want to recognize two great men that helped mold and build this university's baseball program. In Coach Gustafson and Coach Garrido. In the past, I think it's 49 years, the wonderful job that they've done of doing the same thing that I hope to do. I'm privileged and honored to have the right to follow them and hopefully lead this program to great things.

I've been blessed to have so many people in my life that have been a part of everything that's happened to me. So many friends, family, my mom -- stand up, mom. I didn't even know you were coming. My sister-in-law, Kim, ton of great friends, Gene, Scott, you'll find out Scott's the general manager everywhere I go.

I want to thank all the coaches and former players that have done so many things for me and helped mold my life and allowed me to be in this position. The players that I had from every place that I've had the opportunity to coach, three different high schools in the city of Houston, two colleges, the University of Houston in Rice, and then 70 miles up the road at Sam Houston State. This is a wonderful experience with great people.

I've got to thank my wife who has given so many sacrifices for our family. She's truly the quarterback of our team, Susan, stand up. I love you.

My daughter is a UT grad from 2012 from the dance program, and you'll be proud to know that she works for a company in Los Angeles as a representative of the University of Texas. She went to Germany a week ago, and from Germany she's in Spain for her last tour. She's getting married, and how great is this, in Dripping Springs, Texas, right up the road. Don't ask me how we figured that out, because being in New Orleans and her being in L.A. is a tough choice, but we get it done.

I started out by trying to help in the wedding, and I eventually made my way out of it and started just writing the checks and I eventually got out of that as well.

Just understand how wonderful these guys have been in my family. My son, Shea played for me at Sam Houston State, and then came over to Tulane and played his fifth year, and he's going to receive his masters in August from Tulane University, so that's a special thing for our family as well.

I have special thanks for one gentleman, coach Wayne Graham who is also a Texas ex that allowed me to work with him and grow with him for nine years at Rice University and I have such great success, and I have such great respect for him and the Rice University program. I spent more time with Coach Graham than any other spot, and how ironic, we open up with Rice University this coming season. Really appreciate that.

Well, it's been well documented with my roots and how special it means to my family and I to come back home and be not only to come back home to Texas, but to come back to the University of Texas, the greatest university in the country, and I truly believe that.

I played high school baseball and college baseball in the state. It's been documented as well that I've coached in the state. I've recruited the state very hard. I've got great friends in the state. I was a director in the high school association. That is another part of my backbone that truly means a lot to me. The time that I had coaching in the high school levels and understanding the things that our high school programs go through and the restrictions that they have and how wonderful they do the same thing I try to do in molding young men, and I just have a great amount of respect for all of them.

I still go to Waco every year which is our Texas High School Coaching Association, so I'll still make my way there.

So it's been great being back home, but all these stops along the way truly set me up for this day. Starting at my alma mater at St. Pius High School. I had the opportunity to just turn 25, I was offensive backs coach, I was the head baseball coach, and I had five history classes. I was usually two pages ahead of the kids on the history.

I had to learn how to do everything from dragging the dirt, to washing the uniforms to throwing batting practice which has become a very passionate thing of mine.

So just so many things that I'm so thankful for. But I think what you want to know is now where do we start, where are we today? And the thing that I want you to understand is that I coach baseball but I really coach people and baseball is my platform. It's my opportunity to see young men grow as the day they walk in and become first-rounders and all aspects of life.

It's not just about baseball first rounders. It's about becoming great citizens, it's about becoming great young men, business men, lawyers, doctors, and just be great family men. That's what I cherish, and that's what I love to look back at and see how well all these guys are doing. And we have so many successes and we'll continue to have that success. We've got such a great foundation to start with.

Our recruiting, we'll utilize every resource we have from our Major League scouts to our high school coaches to our select and club teams. We'll start from the inside and we'll work out through the state and we'll work out from there nationally when we need to. We have plenty of resources to make sure we can handle that and take care of that. So we'll work inside to out.

Our development is so key and we touched on it a little bit. We want to be successful in the classroom. We definitely want to be successful on the field, and we want to be successful in the community. We want to be very supportive and reciprocate the things that are happening from our front office, President Fenves' office, all the way to the baseball department. We'll support all the sports, and we'll earn their respect as well.

I really look forward to meeting our current team. I look forward to seeing the incoming recruits. I need to get some sleep, but I can't wait to get here. I'm excited about, really, this is one part that's really interesting to me. I'm very excited about cultivating the relationships with all of our alumni, with all of our former players, and to have every opportunity to have them on campus and to be at the stadium and share their experiences with our current team.

I know this question's going to come up. Our staff is going to be something that's going to be molded shortly. What I'm looking for, let me just back up. I've been fortunate to coach pitching and I've been fortunate to coach hitting, and I've done it at the Division I level. So what I'm trying to do is make sure that I get the right guys that fit my philosophy that fit the best for the University of Texas.

I want guys that have the ability to recruit, develop, and mold young men with me. I'm truly honored to represent this university and represent this program. I will embrace the history, the traditions of this great program, and I can't wait to get to work, Hook 'em Horns.

Q. You've had a great track record at your previous stops as head coach. No waiting as far as building a program and getting it into the NCAAs. What kind hopes do you bring in and should there be any wait for this program?
DAVID PIERCE: No, there's absolutely no wait. We've had great expectations everywhere we've been. So my intent is to jump right in it. I think we have some good young players, some very good returning players coming back. I think we'll just try to continue with what Coach Garrido and his staff has taken the program and try to build on these young men.

Q. Coach, you had a long flight and probably did a lot of thinking yesterday. Do you reflect on when you talk about the best from Augie Garrido and now you're the guy that's going to run this storied program?
DAVID PIERCE: It's unbelievable. To be honest with you, growing up here and watching especially those two and playing against Coach Gus and his great teams and a lot of his players were really good friends of mine. Then to coach against Coach Garrido, really some tough battles back in the day at Rice, and we just have a lot of respect for both of them.

But we've become really good friends with different coaches throughout the country, but Coach Garrido has been a good supporter. And Coach Gus, I can't wait to see him.

Q. Did you talk to Wayne Graham much throughout this process, and what did he tell you? Second, will you wear the number 22 and what is the significance?
DAVID PIERCE: Well, I wore 28 the first year I went to Rice and we won the National Championship, so I'm not very smart because I changed. 22 is an interesting number for me and my family. My dad passed away when I was very young and he was born on the 22nd. My wife and I got married on the 22nd. My son was born on the 22nd. So I figured I want to wear number 22, but I may want to go back to number 28.

Q. What about Wayne Graham?
DAVID PIERCE: Oh, coach has been -- we don't talk that much in season. We have opportunities out of season every year to get caught up. But when I called him, I actually talked to him yesterday and I just told him how much I appreciated what he's done for me and the opportunities that that time there has given me. But he gives me great advice and just said, basically he said, Coach, you're the head coach at the University of Texas. I'm proud of you.

Q. (Indiscernible) do you feel like they were somewhere else? Do you feel like the first choice?
DAVID PIERCE: I definitely feel like it's the first choice. And what concerns me is I'm not working and I'm not recruiting, and fortunately I was in Los Angeles and had the opportunity to coach with Team USA, so I was very preoccupied. Whether I was or wasn't, it doesn't matter to me. What my concern is, it's not where you start, it's definitely where you finish.

Q. Why are you here? What ingredient puts you here, 16 straight NCAA Regionals as an assistant, as the head coach? What is it?
DAVID PIERCE: Well, you know what? We talk about expectations, we talk about pressure. I don't feel any of that. Really, what I feel is the day-to-day process to go get better every day, and we're going to have talented players. We've been fortunate, and we've had some opportunities that we've earned and we've earned those opportunities because we've been very consistent. We haven't won every series, but we've been very consistent. When we've lost a game, we've had the ability to bounce back.

We had a lot of turns that were thrown at us, but when I talk about mental toughness, I talk about being consistent on every aspect of your game. It's tough to play on Sundays after Friday, Saturday, but we've got to figure out how to win on Sunday. Tuesday, mid-week games, you know, we're a target. So we have to make sure that we're prepared.

So if we're prepared and we're consistent, we're not guaranteed anything, but we're guaranteed an opportunity to go out there and compete, and that's what we look forward to.

You've got to understand, our season's a very long drive. You can walk out and have a great first two weekends and then struggle the next two or three. What we want to try to do is eliminate some of those periods where we're struggling and try to get back on track. And we've done a very good job of being consistent on that.

Q. How would you describe in detail your ideal offensive philosophy? And also, how would you like to arrange the role of your pitching staff?
DAVID PIERCE: Well, first of all, our offensive philosophy is very simple. We want to try to have the abilities to score multiple ways. We really, truly feel like we've we're prepared to score against multiple types of pitchers and have that ability to score with the running game, with the short game, with the hit-and-run game. We've been fortunate to drive the ball out of the park last year.

So how do you consider driving the ball out of the park? Those in the gap changes the game. So we want to make sure we're freed up and we're confident in our swings and we go out there and do everything possible to be successful.

Your second part was about pitching and the structure of our pitching. That's a good question. Because we spent a lot of time in the fall cultivating a four to six-man starting rotation. We'll start with six or seven guys that's trying to create a four-man rotation, and that's Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. Then those other two guys find roles and it usually tends to be a couple year better pitchers.

One thing that's been very unique is in the college game being different from the pro game is that we play six to seven games in the professional level, and there's always those opportunities for that closer.

If you look at the stats of most of my back-end guys, we're not a team that has a lot of saves because we consider our closer our stopper. And if the game's on the line in the 7th, it's usually when we go there because we max out at four games a week. So we utilized that a little differently than maybe some others.

Q. Every coach at this school understands expectations. Can you just sort of process the platform, the expectations here? And your predecessor (Indiscernible)?
DAVID PIERCE: I've never seen this many people at a press conference. I'll tell you that, and we have great coverage in New Orleans. I think if you do it the way it really is, it's going to control you, and I never have viewed that as something that I have to do. We convince players every single day, if you get in the box and you feel like you have to hit, you have to drive the run in, you have to make the great pitch. Well, you're not going to be successful.

So we want their minds clear, we want them to have the ability to maximize what their capabilities are.

If we start looking at the big picture, that's when it affects it. So we want to be very good in the process. Very good in our work ethic every day, and then relax and go out and play. We have a saying that we're going to give you all the information and we're going to work you as hard as we can and then we're going to give you the game back and let you go for it. That's what we intend to do.

So, yeah, it's magnified, but I truly believe from the beginning of when I started coaching, I actually went in the business world the first three years. Once I got behind an L-screen and started working with players, I knew that's where I wanted to be and I had just turned 25 years old.

So I think from that day all the way until the day and moving forward into the spring, I really feel like it's been part of the preparation of this great journey. I like the destination so far.

Q. (Inaudible)?
DAVID PIERCE: This time of the year I speak with coaches a little bit. But I think I use more than just Augie. I use every available resource, and Coach Garrido is one of those. I wouldn't do that unless he offered it and he had become very receptive to me because we've had some chances to spend some time together in the off-season. So in the right place and the right time, I think he's more than willing.

But like I said, it's not just Coach Garrido. I had a great opportunity when I was in Dodger Stadium and working with Team USA of working with four or five other great coaches that we bounce stuff off of each other every day. When you have that, it's better than a coach's clinic, because you're right in the middle and hands on. So you never stop learning, and you never stop working, and that's what we try to do.

Q. Coach, had a chance to evaluate the talent? You've seen them during the season a little bit, and also it's a team that's really underachieved the last couple of years. Does that play into your mind at all?
DAVID PIERCE: Not at all. I have not had a chance to see them much since of course we played them. There are some talented young men and some talented pitchers. I think they're going to grow. They're going to grow with what their capabilities are. They're going to grow within themselves. They'll grow as a team and they're a year older.

I think what we have to do is go in there and build their trust, and once you get their trust, then you can coach them. That's my job to earn that.

Q. How involved will you be in (Inaudible)?
DAVID PIERCE: That's a good question. We as head coaches always get asked that. But my involvement is every day with my staff, and I may not be at the same amount of games that they go to, but I'll pick and choose the places that I need to go to or see the person that I need to see.

But the recruiting is not just at the stadium. Most of my recruiting is networking. If there's a player in the northeast, I usually have contacts, so I usually make that contact and reach out before ever going to watch a player. So we utilize our networks and try to be as efficient as possible. I like doing stuff on campus, and I'll do that as well. But when you start, like in this position, I'll hit the ground running and I'll be at some stadiums shortly. But not as much as the assistants, but I'm involved.

Q. I'm guessing you saw at the bottom line when you were watching the selection show that they were making a change. Does the light go off? Can you compartmentalize when you've got a team to coach? My goodness, the Texas job is opening, how do you process all that?
DAVID PIERCE: Compartmentalize. You know, that's one of those things that we've always got an ear out and we've always got to peak. But you do try to grind it out and pay attention to everything. But your focus at that point is going to the Regional, getting your team ready, trying to work through scouting reports and get ready to go to Oxford this year. So maybe just a peek, but that's about it.

Q. You said you're molding your staff right now. Does that include Sean Allen? Will he come with you?
DAVID PIERCE: Oh, well, he's definitely a guy that's a great coach. Sean has been with me for the five years as a head coach. He's been a Division I coach for 15 years. So he's definitely a guy that I'm still interested in.

I don't have a tie on for a reason today. I flew straight from Los Angeles and my wife came in from New Orleans and got here about ten minutes ago. So Drew was great to give me a shirt, so that's why I don't have a tie on. I needed to make sure I clarified that. Thank you all very much.

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