Shawn Stiffler Ready To Embrace The Notre Dame Challenge
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Shawn Stiffler is off and running as Notre Dame’s new head baseball coach. The former Virginia Commonwealth University skipper was introduced by Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick Thursday in front of a crowd that included Notre Dame’s highest profile coach, Marcus Freeman.
“As a head coach he averaged better than 34 wins in his nine full seasons,” Swarbrick said. “And he was successful in the toughest games, in the environments that matter to a program like this.”
Stiffler, 43, choked up while talking about the importance of his family in his career, with his wife, Jen, and children Wade, Scout and Penn sitting in front of him during his opening remarks. He spent the past 15 years at VCU. The first four as an assistant and parts of the last 11 as head coach.
He led the Rams to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past two seasons and inherits a program that’s been to an NCAA Super Regional and the College World Series in that same span.
“I’m very aware of where this program has been over the last three years,” Stiffler said. “I’m very aware of walking into a challenge like that. I’m very aware of what this university means (and) of how prestigious it is. Of maybe what some would call its challenges. I don’t see it that way.”
Swarbrick says he was especially impressed with Stiffler in a few ways, including consistency. He pointed to NCAA Tournament wins last month over Georgia and North Carolina as the most recent examples. Those wins came in Virginia Commonwealth’s second straight NCAA berth.
“Shawn’s teams look a lot like Notre Dame’s teams,” said Swarbrick. “From our perspective, that’s a very high compliment.”
Stiffler’s VCU teams were among the Atlantic 10 Conference leaders in pitching and defense during his tenure. His pitching staff finished in the top-3 in ERA in the league in each of the last seven full seasons (not counting 2020) and were also in the top-3 in fielding percentage in seven of his nine full seasons.
“I’ll never concede on pitching and defense,” said Stiffler. “Over the last three years, I think that is in my evaluation of this program, the biggest jump that this program has made.
“We will always pitch and we will always defend," Stiffler continued. "We will not concede on strikes and we will not concede on being able to catch the baseball.”
VCU’s offenses didn’t offer eye-popping numbers during Stiffler’s tenure, but they have consistently been near the top of the conference standings in on-base percentage, batting average, runs per game and sacrifice bunts.
“We want to be versatile,” Stiffler said of his offensive philosophy. “We want to be able to lengthen our lineup. We’re going to look to shorten and lengthen the field. I want people when they come watch us play to not know where the top of our lineup is and where the bottom is. We’re searching for balance and we’re looking for guys who can control their at-bats.”
The Somerset, Pa. native mentioned growing up in Western Pennsylvania, watching Ron Powlus play football. It turned out, Powlus was among those from the Irish coaching staff in attendance for Thursday’s introduction.
A handful of current Fighting Irish players were on hand as well. They presented him with a green jersey and then took seats behind their new head coach as he stood at the podium. Stiffler plans to attract more like them to continue their success.
“I see attending the greatest university in the country, getting this degree, playing in one of the best baseball conferences in the country with elite athletes as what we are going to sell," explained the new Irish head coach. "That is going to be our strength. Everything that people will look at as something that’s possibly going to hold us back or not get us over the top is what we will sell. That is what we are looking for.”
The coaching search that ended with Stiffler was led by Notre Dame Deputy Athletic Director Jody Sadler. Around 20 members of the Notre Dame community participated in the interview process.
Stiffler says his coaching staff is still taking shape, but he hopes to have at least one assistant coach announced soon.
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