People are the Focus for new Alabama Baseball Head Coach Rob Vaughn
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Wise beyond one’s years is not a phrase often heard when describing a 36-year-old, especially in sports. It fits perfectly, though, for new Alabama Crimson Tide baseball coach Rob Vaughn.
On the cusp of his first fall exhibitions in the Southeastern Conference, Vaughn, who was dubbed the youngest head coach in all of “Power Five” baseball when promoted at his previous job (Maryland in 2017), maintains the same focus he had upon taking the job this past June. Hired in the immediate aftermath of a run to the supers that will go down in program history, the Maryland transplant immediately set about laying the groundwork for more future success.
All the talk of a long and decorated future at the Capstone for Vaughn and those around him is not to dim recognition of what he’s already accomplished. Since taking over as a head coach for the first time during the 2018 season, he has amassed two 40-plus win campaigns, hosted a regional (for the first time in school history) and won a Big Ten double crown last season (the second straight conference title).
What, then, enticed the young Terrapins coach to move on to the opening at the Capstone?
“Our [myself and my wife] conversations had been, any job that we want to look at from Maryland, the only thing that would really move us, is something that we feel like is a career-type changer for us,” Vaughn said. “One where we could potentially finish off our career there if we do our job right.”
Alabama obviously had such an opening, but also a character issue that needed to be addressed and quickly rectified. It had acted swiftly when a widespread investigation into suspicious betting activity found that baseball coach Brad Bohannon had been in contact with someone gambling on the Crimson Tide. The subsequent hiring, his replacement, would be incredibly important in order for the entire athletics program to move forward.
It didn't take long for Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne to zero in on Vaughn, and he contacted him after the Terps clinched the Big Ten regular-season title against Penn State. Byrne is primarily known for basketball, but he's also something of a baseball guy, having served as Mississippi State’s athletic director during the legendary tenure of John Cohen. He also hired Jay Johnson, the current LSU head coach who just won a national title in June, when he was at Arizona in the same capacity. Vaughn was not completely sold on making the move to Tuscaloosa until that initial phone call with Byrne.
“For me, it’s always been about people,” Vaughn said. “From the coaches I’ve hired, to the players I’ve recruited, it’s always been about the right people, and feeling supported… We built that at Maryland, and it was gonna take something really special to leave. Ultimately, after spending some time talking to Greg and learning more about the University of Alabama and what they have going here, my wife and I talked.”
They decided it was the right time. Byrne, with his investment in athletics as a whole and the type of impression he made on Vaughn as a person, had successfully drawn in his man.
“I watched Greg pouring into baseball, pouring into golf, pouring into track, and traveling all over the place, just being present with those athletes. I said, ‘If we’re gonna leave a place we love, and a place we’ve spent most of our adult life, and this and that, it’s gonna have to be to work for a guy like this,’” Vaughn said. “We’ve been here now for a couple of months, and it couldn’t be more of the right fit for my family and I.”
The two men share the same vision Byrne espoused in the summer that this ship is one Vaughn can help steer for a significant period of time. While this past spring was a breath of fresh air, the Crimson Tide baseball program had not experienced that level of success in more than a decade. Vaughn knows Alabama has been on the big stage before, and can be again. Not only does he want to guide his players and staff to those goals, he also wants to put a product on the field that all associated with the program can be proud of.
“As soon as I sat down with him, I could tell he exudes positive energy and enthusiasm,” Byrne said. “He and I both feel that at Alabama, with the history of our program, the interest in our program, young men wanting to be part of our program, that we have an opportunity to go out and compete in [the] postseason, all the way to Omaha. We both want that for our program.”
“One thing we’re really confident in is building a really good foundation and a culture that lasts the ups and downs of college athletics,” Vaughn said. That doesn’t mean 10 consecutive trips to Omaha, but it does mean that the community is able to rally around the teams and resonate with them.
"People want a consistent winner. We do that from consistency of our culture and what we really care about and believe in. That’s how we’re going to build this thing here. That’s how we’re gonna make this a destination-type place, where recruits can come and get a first-class education, a great experience, [and] get a chance to play in Omaha and compete to win at the highest level.”
From a day-to-day standpoint, that includes Vaughn taking an involved on-field approach to practice and training. He’s skilled in the offensive arena, with his share of defensive prowess as a former catcher in his playing days. He doesn’t want to be a CEO–type coach and said as much when he first took the job. Instead, his goal is to help each individual develop into the best version of themselves, while not diverting from the primary focus of winning baseball games.
A major component of that is his “Pack” offense, emphasizing teamwork, creating runs and impacting the baseball. Each wolf in the pack has to do its job to take down the animal it’s after. Each person in the offense has to do their part to create against opposing pitchers. That focus allows individual players to really understand what they need to be good at.
“A lot of my day-to-day skill instruction revolves around the hitters, and making sure we have a good plane and building an offense,” he said. “When it comes to team stuff, us playing good defense falls on me. Team defense falls on the head coach.
"Once we collectively come together as a team, it’s my job to be on the field making sure we are a team that is gonna give those other guys 27 outs and not one out more.”
For him, getting in the middle of things means shoring up all aspects of the roster and making sure the unit is sound in all facets. That fits in well with Byrne's ideology. Add in Vaughn’s enthusiasm and belief that Alabama can accomplish major accolades, and he seems to be exactly the kind of coach his athletic director covets in coaching searches.
“To have success at the highest level, it’s not just one thing. It’s a combination of what takes place on the field and off the field,” Byrne said. “He has a good balance of paying attention to every aspect.
"He has the work ethic and history of building a culture that translate to wherever you go. We think it particularly will translate to what we’re trying to accomplish here at Alabama.”
Everybody really wants to win in the SEC. That’s no secret. The games are intense, sometimes emotional. Most SEC baseball teams are ranked at some point of the season and have aspirations for a midsummer excursion to Nebraska before the regular season even starts. Byrne believes that this past season’s run showed that Alabama can regularly compete on that level, again. Vaughn seeks to find the appropriate emotional meter for his players to orchestrate that success: “playing with emotion, but not being emotional.” Part of that is conducting himself in a way that sends the right message to the players.
“I think your players take on the personality of the head coach,” he said. “If I’m gonna go out there and be super reactionary, and every time we make an error, I’m throwing a clipboard, or kicking the dirt, or arguing with the umpire after every single pitch that’s not going our way, the message I send to our players is that we need everything to go right for us to have a chance to win. In reality, I think we have a group of really talented, tough, gritty kids. We can withstand some adversity… I had to learn as I moved into that [head coach’s] role, the team’s gonna take on the pulse of me.
"Sometimes we have to look in the mirror as a head coach and understand that we’d better put some faith in our kids, and we’d better be ready to believe that those guys are ready to step in no matter what the situation is.”
Nevertheless, Vaughn is not short on intensity. Just because it doesn’t always show in his actions doesn't mean he doesn't get fired up around the diamond. Consistent winners are steady, and they understand what their teams need. That’s one of the biggest lessons Vaughn has learned.
Ever a people person, Vaughn will be among the last to ever diminish the importance of those around him with regard to building and maintaining a program. Former interim head coach Jason Jackson, who led Alabama’s 2023 team to the supers and stayed on after Vaughn was hired, was described by his new head coach as a superstar and an elite pitching coach. However, that’s not what impressed him the most about Jackson. When the two first spoke, the initial half hour of the conversation was about their respective families. Family is a big part of the Alabama coaching staff. Vaughn, himself the father of two boys, talks of his desire to support his close people win or lose, and what it means to him to see his coaching staff interact with their respective family members. He trusts his assistant coaches and regards them as top-of-the-line people.
“I’m only as good as those three dudes around me. Beyond that, one thing I love about every dude on my staff is, they love their family. That matters. I want good people. The first part of [the mission of Alabama baseball] is to be a character and leadership development program,” he said. “Those are people that, if I’m a family and I’m vetting where I want my son to go spend four years and develop as a person and as a player, I want my guys around people that are great husbands, great dads, that understand those things.”
Vaughn describes his wife Kayleigh as both an absolute rockstar, and his rock who hadn’t been far from home before moving with him to College Park, Maryland. “We can’t do it without the women in our lives,” he said. “There’s a lot of opinions in college athletics. I understand why. There’s a lot of people that voice their opinions. There’s days that you start to doubt yourself. That’s where you have people like them here to remind you that you’re more than a baseball coach. That they believe in you. That they support you.
"J.J. has that in Katie, his wife. [Assistant coach Mike Morrison] has that in Jordan, his wife… Same thing with [assistant ]coach [Anthony] Papio, his fiancee Ally.”
Baseball is hard, as Vaughn has said many a time. A strong support staff on the home front is essential in dealing with the pressures that come with being college coaches.
It all comes around to the same thing, like a baseball diamond starting and finishing at the same place: People are the focus.
