Will Davis named ninth head coach of Houston baseball

Houston baseball has named Lamar coach Will Davis as the program’s ninth head coach, Houston athletics announced Tuesday. 

“I am thrilled and honored to be the head baseball coach at the University of Houston,” Davis said in a statement. “I have spent my whole coaching career at both LSU and Lamar competing against them and have seen firsthand what a special place this is. In my time in college baseball they have come so close to making it to Omaha on several occasions and I am excited to take on the challenge of getting the program over that hump.”

Davis will enter the helm at Houston coming off his 10th season as head coach at Lamar, in which he led the Cardinals, off a 19-11 league campaign, to their first Southland Conference tournament title and a selection to the College Station Regional, their first NCAA regional appearance since 2010.

From Davis’ recruiting track record, a top-25 national transfer portal class bolstered the Cardinals’ regional run as the 23rd-rated class from 64Analytics in the 2025-26 offseason.

Davis is also expected to bring Lamar associate head coach and recruiting coordinator Scott Hatten with him to Houston, along with pitching coach Jace Hutchins, a rising star in the role.

In 2024, Davis was named Southland Conference Coach of the Year after guiding Lamar to a program-record 44 wins and its first regular season conference championship since 2004. The Cardinals followed with a 40-17 mark in 2025 for their second consecutive 40-win season.

Davis currently holds a 289-231 overall record as head coach prior to the Cardinals’ regional run, which he began compiling after succeeding Texas Baseball Hall of Fame coach Jim Gilligan, who spent 38 total seasons with Lamar across two stints. 

Davis became an assistant in Gilligan’s final season at Lamar in 2016 before his promotion to head coach in the wake of his retirement. 

Prior to Lamar, Davis served a seven-season tenure as an assistant to coach Paul Mainieri at his alma mater, LSU. After serving as coordinator of baseball operations, Davis began his assistant role in 2009 as part of the Tigers’ run to their sixth College World Series national championship in program history.

With his catcher pedigree in his playing career from 2004 to 2007 with the Tigers, Davis has coached six catchers into MLB Draft picks over his tenures at LSU and Lamar, including former Houston Astros draft pick Michael Papierski. 

Davis shared his entire career with the Tigers with UH athletic director Eddie Nuñez’s administrative tenure at LSU, which included his promotion to deputy athletic director.

Now, the two reunite at Houston, where the Cougars need a boost in resources to compete for a regional bid in the Big 12 Conference, as the program dealt with one of lowest-figure NIL situations in the league under previous coach Todd Whitting. 

The hire also makes Davis Houston’s first head coach hired without previous program ties since Lovette Hill in 1950, who went on to coach two College World Series teams in his 25-season tenure.