K-State hires former OU, Virginia Tech coach to lead baseball program
Pete Hughes is Kansas State's new baseball coach.
K-State athletic director Gene Taylor announced the hiring of Hughes to a five-year contract on Friday morning. He will be paid $375,000 in the first year at K-State, then will receive $10,000 increases annually for the remainder of the contract.
Hughes, 50, served last season as a volunteer assistant coach at Georgia, which finished 39-21 after losing to Duke in the NCAA regionals. He joined the Bulldogs after resigning as head coach at Oklahoma following the 2017 season, the only year he took the Sooners to the NCAA Tournament. His OU teams went 128-107-1 in four seasons.
In 21 years as a head coach, Hughes has led his teams to three NCAA regionals and has a record of 652-492-3. Before Oklahoma, Hughes coached at Virginia Tech (2007-13), Boston College (1999-2006), and Trinity University (1997-98). Five of his seven seasons at Virginia Tech were above .500, including two 40-win NCAA Tournament teams. At Boston College, he was chosen Big East Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2002.
Hughes replaces Brad Hill, who resigned in May.
"I am beyond excited to continue the winning tradition of Kansas State baseball that Coach Hill tirelessly created over the past 15 years,” Hughes said in a news release. “It will be a privilege to wear the Purple and White."
Hughes, a Brockton, Mass. native, is a 1990 graduate of Davidson, where he played third base on the baseball team and quarterback on the football team. As a coach, his teams have finished .500 or better in 19 of 21 seasons and 74 of his players have selected in the MLB Draft, including 15 picks in the top 10 rounds.
"When we set out to hire our next baseball coach, we concentrated on finding someone with a proven track record of building and developing a successful program at the Power Five level. That is our need at this time — rebuilding a competitive program,” Taylor said in a release. “His record of success is impressive, and he operates his program the right way. Combine all these factors and we felt we had the right man to help lead our program back to the level of success we want to achieve at K-State.”
Hughes will be formally introduced at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Vanier Complex’s Steel & Pipe Team Theater.
This story was originally published June 8, 2018 at 11:32 AM with the headline "K-State hires former OU, Virginia Tech coach to lead baseball program."