Virginia Tech baseball and John Szefc officially announced the hiring of Doug Willey as the program's pitching coach on Friday.
Willey ventures to Blacksburg from Xavier, where he served as the Musketeers' pitching coach for the last three years. He replaces Ryan Fecteau, who parted ways with the program in late May, as Dylan Tefft reported for Tech Sideline.
"We are thrilled to add Doug to our staff," Szefc said in the Hokies' release. "He has a lengthy background in pitching development, having coached at Xavier in the Big East and spent three years as a minor league pitching coach in the Cubs' system. Before that, he both pitched and coached at the University of Arkansas.
"Doug brings a wealth of experience to us, both from the college and pro side. He is very in-depth when it comes to physically working with pitchers and integrating the analytical side of the game. Doug will be a big, big boost to us through his experience as far as getting our pitching staff where it needs to be in the ACC."
As a right-handed pitcher, Willey spent the final year of his college career at Arkansas in 2016 and posted a 3.49 ERA in 26 relief appearances. Prior to that, the Shelburne, N.H., native played at D-II Franklin Pierce (Rindge, N.H.) for four seasons, recording 21 saves and making three NCAA regionals.
He was selected by the Los Angeles Angels in the 32nd round of the 2016 MLB Draft and pitched for the Orem Owlz in Utah, the club's Rookie League affiliate. He also won two Cape Cod Baseball League championships in 2014 and '15 with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.
His coaching career began with the Razorbacks as a graduate assistant in 2019, where he served as the bullpen coach and mentored a unit that had the 12th-best WHIP in the country (1.24) en route to the College World Series.
Willey then moved to Mesa, Ariz., and was a pitching coach for the Arizona Complex League Cubs, a Rookie Level affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. He worked hands-on with pitching lab technologies and managed individualized throwing programs over three seasons while developing young pitchers in the organization, from the Rookie Level to those who progressed to Major League Baseball.
He joined Xavier in 2022 as the pitching coach and was part of three straight 30-win seasons, which included a Big East title and a trip to the Nashville Regional final in 2023. That year's staff ranked sixth in D-I in WHIP (1.28) and 16th in hits allowed per nine innings (8.17). In his time with the Musketeers, six of his pitchers earned all-conference honors while two were drafted — Ethan Bosacker (2023) and Nolan Hughes (2024).
Two Hokies pitchers entered the transfer portal this offseason — Jake Marciano (Auburn) and Griffin Stieg — while Cameron LeJeune and Grant Manning graduated. However, ace Brett Renfrow is back, as are Luke Craytor, Preston Crowl, Mathieu Curtis, Andrew Sentlinger, Madden Clement, Chase Swift, Jacob Exum, Brendan Yagesh and Josh Berzonski — a few of whom were injured this spring.