Texas reached an agreement Wednesday with Tulane baseball coach David Pierce to take over the Longhorns' program, a person with knowledge of the decision said.
Terms of Pierce's pending contract were not immediately available. His deal will likely need approval from the school's board of regents.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the hire.
The decision to hire Pierce comes a month after Texas pushed longtime coach Augie Garrido into an advisory role within the athletic department after a losing season that saw Texas miss the NCAA postseason for the third time in five years.
Pierce has been at Tulane two seasons. He was previously the head coach at Sam Houston State for three seasons and spent several years as an assistant at Rice.
Pierce takes over a Texas program that is a historical powerhouse but has fallen on hard times.
Garrido, the winningest coach in college baseball history, won two national championships in his 20 seasons at Texas and had six 50-win seasons from 2002-2010. Reaching the postseason had become an unexpected hurdle in recent years, and the 77-year-old Garrido was relieved of his duties with one year left on a contract that paid him more than $1 million per year.
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While Garrido racked up more than 1,975 victories dating back to 1969 and won five national titles overall, Pierce has an overall record of 197-109 in his five seasons as a head coach.
Pierce has led his teams to the NCAA postseason in every year as a head coach but has not yet advanced to a super regional. Tulane won the American Athletic Conference regular-season championship this past season.
