Rice parts ways with baseball coach; Pirates to face Owls March 28-30

by | Mar 13, 2025

When the East Carolina baseball team plays at Rice on March 28-30, it’ll face a different head coach for the Owls.

Rice announced it had fired baseball coach Jose Cruz Jr. after 3 1/2 seasons with the program, according to D1Baseball.com’s Kendall Rogers. The move was made on Thursday and comes after the team recorded a 2-14 start to the season.

Cruz is one of the program’s greatest players but was never able to turn his success as a player into being a head coach. Rogers reports Parker Bangs will serve as interim coach, including when the Owls host the Pirates.

Cruz, 50, went 63-126 (.333) overall. He was 29-58 in AAC play.

Photo credit: Jose Cruz Jr. (D1Baseball.com photo)

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