LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas Baseball head coach Dan Fitzgerald earned the 2026 Baseball America College Coach of the Year award, the publication announced Wednesday.
Fitzgerald has now been named the College Coach of the Year by Baseball America and Perfect Game for the 2026 season. KU Baseball never had a National Coach of the Year prior to Fitzgerald.
This year, Fitzgerald led the program to three separate championships for the first time in school history. Kansas won the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles, along with the Lawrence Regional Championship.
Kansas finished the 2026 season as the only Division I program with at least 45 overall wins, 20 conference wins and 20 road wins. The Jayhawks were also one of two teams nationally to win their conference’s regular season title outright, conference tournament title and advance to Super Regionals.
KU participated in its second straight NCAA Tournament in 2026, marking only the second time doing so in school history. The trip to the NCAA Tournament came after winning the first regular season conference championship for Kansas since 1949 and the second Big 12 Tournament title in program history. Kansas became the first team to win the Big 12 regular season title outright and the Big 12 Tournament title since 2009.
Fitzgerald, the first back-to-back Big 12 Coach of the Year in program history, guided Kansas to tying the school record of 45 overall wins. That included a second straight season with at least 20 conference wins for the first time ever. The Jayhawks also won seven consecutive Big 12 series for the first time in program history this season.
Kansas set new school records this year in conference wins (22), road/neutral wins (24), conference series wins (eight), home runs (112), slugging percentage (.507) and pitching strikeouts (610). The Jayhawks finished the season 11th in the nation in both home runs and walks (340), 16th in winning percentage (.714), tied for 21st in the country in batters struck out and tied for 23rd nationally in runs scored (475).
KU was one of five teams nationally to have multiple double-digit winning streaks in 2026. Both of those winning streaks came during a 30-game stretch from March 15-May 3 where Kansas posted a 27-3 record, including a nation’s best .937 winning percentage in the month of April.
When Fitzgerald was hired at Kansas on June 15, 2022, he inherited a last place team. In four seasons since taking over, Kansas has posted a 144-90 (.615) overall record and turned into a national contender. Over the last two seasons, Kansas has accumulated 81 regular season victories. That is the most regular season wins of any Big 12 team and is one of eight Division I programs to compile that many victories.
In Fitzgerald’s first three seasons, Kansas had 19 Jayhawks move on to play professional baseball. With the 2026 MLB Draft approaching, that number is poised to grow with players from the 2026 roster.
The Baseball America College Coach of the Year was first awarded in 1981. Fitzgerald is the 40th different coach to receive the honor in its history and the fifth from the Big 12 (Dave Van Horn, Augie Garrido, Jim Schlossnagle, David Pierce).
Baseball America College Coach of the Year Recipients
1981 Ron Fraser, Miami
1982 Gene Stephenson, Wichita State
1983 Barry Shollenberger, Alabama
1984 Augie Garrido, Cal State Fullerton
1985 Ron Polk, Mississippi State
1986 Dave Snow, Loyola Marymount
Skip Bertman, Louisiana State
1987 Mark Marquess, Stanford
1988 Jim Brock, Arizona State
1989 Dave Snow, Long Beach State
1990 Steve Webber, Georgia
1991 Jim Hendry, Creighton
1992 Andy Lopez, Pepperdine
1993 Gene Stephenson, Wichita State
1994 Jim Morris, Miami
1995 Rod Delmonico, Tennessee
1996 Skip Bertman, Louisiana State
1997 Jim Wells, Alabama
1998 Pat Murphy, Arizona State
1999 Wayne Graham, Rice
2000 Ray Tanner, South Carolina
2001 Dave Van Horn, Nebraska
2002 Augie Garrido, Texas
2003 George Horton, Cal State Fullerton
2004 David Perno, Georgia
2005 Rick Jones, Tulane
2006 Pat Casey, Oregon State
2007 Dave Serrano, UC Irvine
2008 Mike Fox, North Carolina
2009 Paul Mainieri, Louisiana State
2010 Ray Tanner, South Carolina
2011 Kevin O’Sullivan, Florida
2012 Mike Martin, Florida State
2013 John Savage, UCLA
2014 Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt
2015 Brian O’Connor, Virginia
2016 Jim Schlossnagle, Texas Christian
2017 Dan McDonnell, Louisville
2018 David Pierce, Texas
2019 Mike Martin, Florida State
2021 Chris Lemonis, Mississippi State
2022 Mike Bianco, Mississippi
2023 Jay Johnson, Louisiana State
2024 Tony Vitello, Tennessee
2025 Kevin Schnall, Coastal Carolina
2026 Dan Fitzgerald, Kansas