Alabama baseball head coach Rob Vaughn coaches during a game against Mississippi State on April 11, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, AL.
CW / Sarah Munzenmaier
Alabama baseball head coach Rob Vaughn coaches during a game against Mississippi State on April 11, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, AL.
Following Alabama baseball’s exit from the Hattiesburg Regional and an end to its season, head coach Rob Vaughn said that his team would bounce back stronger in 2026.
“They poured their heart and soul into Alabama baseball,” he said. “There’s a lot of kids that laid the foundation for what Alabama baseball is going to be. … It’s been a really fun ride with them, I love them, and we’ll be back.”
In this second season as head coach for Alabama, Vaughn has made noticeable improvements to the program following thefiring of Brad Bohannon. Vaughn coached Alabama to a 41-18 record in 2025, including a 16-14 record in SEC conference play. It’s the first time Alabama finished with a 40-win regular season since 2002 and the second time the team finished above .500 in SEC play since 2015.
Alabama went undefeated in midweek matchups for the first time in program history under Vaughn., finishing with a 10-2 win over Troy on May 6. The win put Alabama at 24-1 on the season in non-conference play, another noticeable achievement.
Following the 2024 season, Vaughn used the transfer portal to bring in newer talent, and it paid off. Vaughn recruited names such as right fielder Bryce Fowler, closing pitcher Carson Ozmer, catcher Brady Neal and third baseman Jason Torres. Fowler and Torres started every game for Alabama, Ozmer led the SEC in saves and Neal took over for an injured Will Plattner midseason.
For Fowler, his motto is similar to Vaughn’s, which is to leave it all out on the field and give effort every play.
“We talked about it before the game, just give it everything we got,” Fowler said after the team’s loss to Southern Miss. “I told everybody in the dugout that I would have to get carted off before we lose, and unfortunately we came out on the wrong side, but I don’t have any regrets.”
The one noticeable problem for Vaughn was the bullpen. Despite having one of the best closers in the country with Ozmer, Alabama struggled with bullpen consistency and blown leads that cost the team down the line. Some of these losses include one against Florida on May 15, when the Crimson Tide got out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth before losing 7-6. Another example is May 4against Vanderbilt. Alabama led 7-2 before allowing seven runs in the final two innings to lose 9-7.
With preparations for the 2026 season underway, Vaughn has to get his team over the hump and find some success in the postseason. The team is 1-2 in the SEC tournament the last two years and has yet to find a win in NCAA regional play in his tenure. But with Vaughn entering year three of his five-year contract, and an extension announced on June 4, Vaughn will have plenty of time to find solid ground for years to come.