Houston hired Will Davis as its ninth baseball head coach, with the move still pending approval by the UH System Board of Regents. The decision sends a coach who spent 10 seasons building Lamar into a Southland power into a new job that could reshape the Cougars’ program once the board signs off.

Davis leaves Lamar after winning 289 games there and becoming the second-winningest coach in Cardinals baseball history. He guided the Cardinals to the 2024 Southland regular season title, then capped his tenure with the 2026 Southland Conference Tournament Championship and an NCAA Regional berth after Lamar’s fifth straight 30-win season.

That surge at Lamar gave Houston a coach with a long track record of turning roster depth into results. In 2025, Davis led the Cardinals to consecutive 40-win seasons for the first time since 2003-04, and Lamar finished 40-17 while going 27-2 at home during the regular season, the program’s best home winning percentage at Vincent-Beck Stadium since 1993.

Houston athletic director Eddie Nuñez praised Davis’ résumé and said he believes the new coach can help the Cougars return to the NCAA tournament and contend in the Big 12. Nuñez also said the team could not be in better hands, though Davis cannot be considered fully installed until the regents approve the hire.

The approval step is the one open checkpoint left in a move that has already changed two programs. Houston gets a veteran coach with championship experience from LSU, where Davis was part of the staff that won the 2009 national title, and Lamar now has to replace a coach whose teams finished in the Southland’s top three in each of the last four seasons.

For Houston, the timing matters because the hire gives the program a clear direction now, not later. For Lamar, it closes a 10-year run that produced 38 all-conference players, an NCAA Regional appearance and one of the most sustained stretches of success in the school’s recent baseball history.