On Wednesday evening, D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers broke the news that Virginia Tech would be hiring Xavier's Doug Willey as it's new pitching coach.
SCOOP: @HokiesBaseball is hiring Doug Willey as its new pitching coach, I'm told. Willey has spent the last three seasons as the pitching coach at #Xavier, and replaces Ryan Fecteau, who was let go at the end of the season. #Hokies
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) June 18, 2025
UPDATED CAROUSEL: https://t.co/EyUwuSUIqR pic.twitter.com/rfe24kNN1P
Willey spent three years at Xavier, starting in 2023. He also spent three years as a Minor League pitching coach in the Chicago Cubs organization.
In his first year at Xavier, the team had a 4.55 ERA and set a school record with 491 strikeouts. Two players posted over 100 strikeouts on the year. Xavier also made a regional in 2023, more recently than Virginia Tech has.
He is a graduate of Arkansas, where he played baseball and was a graduate assistant of the 2019 Arkansas team that went to the Men’s College World Series.
Prior to Arkansas, Willey played for Franklin Pierce University and pitched for a team that made the DII College World Series in 2013.
Willey is a young coach with a lot of experience for his age. The biggest thing on his resume is that he worked with Matt Hobbs at Arkansas for three years. Hobbs is one of the top pitching coaches in the country, winning the 2024 Assistant Coach of the Year Award.
Another big thing is that he had a pitching lab and was a very analytical guy where he has a pitching lab and some very advanced technologies, similar to what the team has out beyond the left-field wall.
