Rob Vaughn leaves Maryland, joins Alabama as baseball coach

Former Maryland baseball coach and back-to-back Big Ten Coach of the Year Rob Vaughn has left for the same position at Alabama, the school announced Monday.

He replaces Brad Bohannon, who was dismissed in May after he was linked to suspicious betting on the Alabama baseball team. Sources told ESPN’s David Purdum that Bohannon was seen on surveillance communicating with the person who made the bets in question.

Pitching coach Jason Jackson was elevated to interim coach after Bohannon’s dismissal and led the team to a 13-6 record. Alabama hosted its first regional since 2007, winning all three games to advance to the super regional round, where it lost at Wake Forest.

Jackson was retained and elevated to associate head coach. He will continue to serve as pitching coach as well.

“I could not be prouder of the job coach Jackson did in serving as our interim head coach for the final six weeks of the season,” Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said in a statement. “He was incredible at managing a tough situation and ultimately leading this team somewhere it had not been in quite some time. He has great relationships with our team, the department, our fans and beyond, and we are thrilled to keep JJ here in Tuscaloosa and elevate him to associate head coach.”

In a statement, Vaughn said, “I cannot wait to get started and help get this group … back to Omaha.”

Vaughn spent the past six seasons at Maryland, where he compiled a 183-117 record. He was an assistant on staff for the Terps 2013-17.

In 2022, he led the school to its first Big Ten championship.

“We are thrilled to welcome Rob Vaughn as the next head baseball coach at The University of Alabama,” Byrne said. “I talked to a number of people throughout this process and was so impressed with Rob from the start. He is one of the young, bright talents in college baseball and has done an excellent job leading Maryland’s program. The success on the field speaks for itself, but even more impactful were the conversations with those who have played for Rob.”

Vaughn, who is from Humble, Texas, played college baseball at Kansas State and was a 30th-round pick of the Chicago White Sox.

He spent two years in the White Sox organization before returning to Kansas State, first as a student assistant in 2010, then as a volunteer assistant coach 2011-12.