Corey Muscara, the Wake Forest pitching coach, is the new head coach for Duke Baseball, which we can presume got a no from LSU assistant Josh Johnson.
That’s the only way it makes sense that Duke AD Nina King waited 10 days to name the successor to Chris Pollard, who left Durham for the open job with the UVA Baseball program.
Muscara, the pitching coach at Wake for the past four seasons, had been rumored as a target for Brian O’Connor’s staff at Mississippi State.
O’Connor ultimately decided to retain Justin Parker, who served as the interim head coach for the final six weeks of the 2025 season after his boss, Chris Lemonis, was canned in April.
The move by BOC to retain Parker feels like something that was handed down to him from above, but anyway.
Just piecing together things here for you.
Mississippi State fires its coach, O’Connor shows interest, ultimately takes the job, wants to bring Muscara with him, is rebuffed, UVA lands Pollard from Duke, Muscara ends up leaving Wake for Duke.
One other factor here: Tom Walter, the Wake head coach, got in trouble for saying a homophobic slur on national TV during the NCAA Tournament.
A lot going on here, ain’t it?
ICYMI
- For Chris Pollard, who grew up a UVA Basketball fan, the UVA Baseball job is a ‘homecoming’
- Williams had to give Brian O’Connor permission to talk with Mississippi State: Why, then?
“I am incredibly honored and excited to join the Duke community and lead the Blue Devils’ baseball program,” said Muscara, who was a favorite for the Penn State job in 2023, but took his name out of consideration, for probably obvious reasons.
(Big Ten Baseball sucks.)
“This is a truly special opportunity to build on the program’s success and compete for championships at one of the premier academic and athletic institutions in the country,” Muscara said. “I want to thank President Vincent Price, Nina King and Brad Berndt for their trust and belief in me. I’m eager to get to work with our student-athletes and to represent Duke with pride.”
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Chris Graham
