When the East Carolina baseball team plays at Rice on March 28-30, it’ll face a different head coach for the Owls.
Parker Bangs will serve as the interim coach for @RiceBaseball. There are some very obvious candidates for this job, but one thing is for certain, Rice needs someone who is an ELITE recruiter. I’ll have more on candidates very soon. https://t.co/nWrGsCYFUR
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) March 13, 2025
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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