Kansas hires Dan Fitzgerald as Jayhawks’ new head baseball coach on 6-year deal

LAWRENCE — Kansas baseball has its next head coach, as the Jayhawks announced Wednesday that Dan Fitzgerald will take over the program.

Fitzgerald joins Kansas after spending on year at LSU, where he was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Tigers. A Jayhawks release detailed that Fitzgerald signed a 6-year deal.

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“Dan Fitzgerald is a man of exceptional integrity, proven leader, developer of men, tremendous baseball mind, elite recruiter and the perfect fit for Kansas Baseball,” Travis Goff, Kansas’ athletic director, said in the release. “When we set out to find the next leader of this program, we talked to current student-athletes, alumni, and baseball leaders across the nation to help inform our search.  In countless conversations, Dan Fitzgerald’s name and background — along with the attributes in which he leads with every day — were highlighted as the ideal fit for KU Baseball. Dan clearly articulated his vision for the future of Kansas Baseball and passionately demonstrated his desire to be at the University of Kansas. We could not be more excited about the outlook for our program with Coach Fitzgerald at the helm. We are ecstatic to welcome Dan, his wife, Kelly, and their three boys, Will, Max and Ben, to the Jayhawk family.”

Fitzgerald spent nine years at Dallas Baptist prior to taking the position he held at LSU. During his time at Dallas Baptist, he served as a recruiting coordinator, assistant coach and associate head coach. He has served as a head coach before, from 2008-12, at Des Moines Area Community College in Iowa.

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Fitzgerald reached a NCAA regional this past season with the Tigers, and seven in the nine years before that with the Patriots. While a head coach at DMACC, he won five-straight conference titles and reached the Junior College World Series four times. It’s been a string of success for a man who first entered the coaching ranks as a volunteer assistant with Iowa in 2000.

“I would like to thank Travis Goff and the leadership team at KU for entrusting me with this amazing opportunity to be the head baseball coach at the University of Kansas,” Fitzgerald said in the release. “In my conversations with Travis and the search committee, it became crystal clear that our visions aligned regarding the future of this program. There is a passion for KU that permeated from each individual I met with and that shared partnership will be vital to the program’s future success. I have been very diligent in waiting for the right opportunity to lead a program and this was the perfect destination for me and my family. I look forward to developing these student-athletes as baseball players as well as men, and putting a program together that all Jayhawks can be proud of.”

Fitzgerald, who has a wife and three children, is from Edina, Minnesota. He played baseball in college at both the University of St. Thomas and University of Wisconsin-River Falls, prior to graduating from the University of Minnesota.

Fitzgerald takes over after the retirement of Ritch Price, who retired earlier this year after 20 seasons leading the program. Price, the winningest coach in program history, reached three NCAA regionals and won one Big 12 Conference tournament title across those two decades.

“Kansas Baseball just made a monumental step toward the top of the Big 12 and college baseball and couldn’t have hired anyone better than Dan Fitzgerald,” Jay Johnson, LSU’s head coach, said in the release. “Dan is elite. He is a person of the highest character, has great leadership skills, is a terrific on the field coach, and is one of the best recruiters in college baseball. The players and future players at Kansas should be elated that Dan will be their Head Coach. He is beyond deserving and in short order will have Kansas competing at the top, and will do it exactly how it should be done. Kansas absolutely made the best decision it possibly could.”

Dan Heefner, Dallas Baptist’s head coach, added: “Dan Fitzgerald is a winner! Every program he’s been a part of has won at a very high level and I have no doubt he will do the same at KU. Dan has developed the reputation as being one of the top recruiters in the nation but he is so much more than that. He has a passion for player development, is a great in-game coach, and sees the big picture of everything it takes to have a great program on and off the field. But the thing that really makes Dan special is that as good a coach as he is, he’s an even better person. Dan will make a positive impact on the program and the lives of everyone associated with Jayhawk Baseball."

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas baseball hires Dan Fitzgerald as new head coach