Louisville's Roger Williams Transitioning to New Role, Additional Staff Moves Coming

Williams has been the pitching coach for the Cardinals under head coach Dan McDonnell since day one.

Jun 12, 2022; College Station, TX, USA; Louisville pitching coach Roger Williams looks on during the first inning against Texas A&M at Blue Bell Park. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Following a 2026 campaign in which the Louisville baseball program missed out on the NCAA Tournament, head coach Dan McDonnell is making some slight changes to his staff.

Pitching coach/associate head coach Roger Williams, who has been with McDonnell ever since his hiring at UofL back in 2007, will be transitioning to a new pitching coordinator role, the program announced Friday.

“Roger Williams established a standard of pitching excellence here at Louisville that rivaled any program in the country,” McDonnell said in a statment. “The last few years, we have not met that standard and that starts with me as the head coach. As we evaluate what’s next for our program, we are making a commitment to provide Roger with all the necessary resources to get this program back to where it belongs on the mound.”

Per the release, Williams will be "shifting his primary focus to the developmental side." Additionally, McDonnell plans on hiring two to-be-determined staff members to assume pitching coach roles.

“For years, this program established a consistent standard of excellence on the mound,” Williams said in a statment. “Our sole mission is to restore that standard. Forming new partnerships to better serve our pitchers should enhance our ability to achieve this objective.”

From 2007 until the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Williams played as an integral of a part in Louisville's meteoric rise as McDonnell did. During his time with the Cardinals, he has hd a hand in has producing 22 All-Americans, seven conference Pitcher of the Year winners, 41 All-Conference selections and 58 MLB Draft selections.

However, since that COVID-shortened season, Louisville's efforts on the mound have taken a catastrophic nose dive. It has been the main reason why the Cardinals - despite making their sixth College World Series in 2025 - have missed four of the last six NCAA Tournaments since then.

In those four seasons that the Cardinals missed the NCAA Tournament, their team ERA has been 5.00 or worse and ranked outside the top-100. This past season was the worst pitching performance of the McDonnell era, with their 6.81 team ERA ranked 222nd out of the 304 teams in Division I. It spoiled an offense that not only was 12th in scoring (8.6 runs per game) and 17th in batting average (.309), but featured a Baseball America National Player of the Year finalist in Tague Davis.

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(Photo of Roger Williams: Chris Jones - Imagn Images)