Maryland baseball coach Rob Vaughn will become Alabama’s next head coach, the Terps announced Monday.
Maryland will promote associate head coach Matt Swope to head coach.
“I want to thank Rob Vaughn for his 10 years at Maryland as he has lifted the Terrapin program to heights we have never seen before,” athletic director Damon Evans said in a release.
Vaughn spent 11 seasons with the Terps, the last six as head coach. The 35-year-old was the youngest coach in Power Five this season and pushed Maryland to new heights during his tenure.
The coach led the Terps to their first Big Ten Championship in 2022 while winning a program-record 48 games and hosting the program’s first ever regional. In 2023, Maryland again claimed the conference title and won its first Big Ten tournament championship.
Swope joined the coaching staff in 2013 as director of operations before becoming hitting coach in 2018.
“Matt has been a vital part of the most successful era in Maryland baseball history, one where we set numerous records,” Evans said. “He has been directly responsible for our offensive explosion over the last three years. … Being a hometown guy, I know what this means to Matt.”
The 43-year-old, who played for the Terps from 1999 to 2002, is credited with the development of multiple Maryland hitters during his tenure and turned the Terps into one of college baseball’s premier power-hitting teams — Maryland slugged a program-record 137 home runs in 2022 and hit 131 last season, third most in Division I.
[From new entrants to two-time champs, Maryland baseball rises to Big Ten prominence]
“This is truly a dream come true,” Swope said in a release. “Growing up just down the road from College Park, then playing for the Terps, returning to join the staff, and now being able to lead the Terps is something that means the world to me. I love this place and will work tirelessly to continue the winning ways we have made the standard for Maryland baseball.”
Vaughn, who was named Big Ten coach of the year each of the last two seasons, signed a contract extension last July that paid him $300,000 per year in base salary through 2027.
He’ll replace Brad Bohannon, who the Crimson Tide fired in May amid a gambling investigation. Interim head coach Jason Jackson, who will remain on Vaughn’s staff as his top assistant, led Alabama to a super regional in Bohannon’s absence.
Bohannon made $500,000 last season, a figure that made him the lowest paid coach in the SEC but still well above Vaughn’s salary.
Vaughn becomes Maryland’s third consecutive coach to leave the program. Erik Bakich departed after the 2012 season for Michigan and is now at Clemson. John Szefc, Vaughn’s predecessor, took over Virginia Tech following the 2017 season.
This story has been updated.
