Will Davis, who served on staff at one of the nation’s most prestigious programs in LSU for eight seasons before posting a season under Lamar University Hall of Fame coach Jim Gilligan, is in his eighth season at the helm of the Cardinal baseball team and ninth overall with the program. He was hired as the head coach in waiting on Jan. 15, 2016, and replaced Gilligan at the end of the 2016 season.
Already the program’s second all-time winningest coach, Davis was immediately tasked with rebuilding a squad that graduated a talented senior class following his first season. After 33 wins in that year, Davis rebuilt the program with recruiting classes consistently landing among the nation’s best. The results from those efforts are now paying dividends as Big Red has advanced to the conference tournament each of the past three seasons, a run which included a 37-win campaign in the Cardinals’ lone season in the Western Athletic Conference.
Since taking over the program in January of 2016, Davis has coached eight Cardinals that were later drafted by the MLB – most recently 2023 SLC Player of the Year and Buster Posey Award finalist Ryan Snell (7th round pick by the Washington Nationals) – and three others who have gone on to sign free agent contracts. In addition to those who have gone on to further their playing career at the professional level, Davis has also coached 30 Cardinals to all-conference honors – including four first-team selections – five conference all-defensive team selections, a Southland Player of the Year. In addition to the all-conference accolades, Davis has produced an All-American, a freshman All-American, a Buster Posey Award finalist (given annually to the nation’s top collegiate catcher), and the school’s all-time leader in saves and appearances (Jack Dallas – 2022 First-Team All-WAC selection).
In 2017, Davis coached LU to 33 wins, a year highlighted by victories over national powers like Baylor and Rice. Near the end of the season, Davis’ charges traveled to Stillwater, Okla., where they took two of three from the Cowboys.
That 2017 campaign began a trend with Davis’ squads that continues to this day. Davis has built a name for himself by pulling off the “upset” during his time in the Golden Triangle. That was never more obvious than in 2023 when the Cardinals knocked off five Power 5 schools – a list which included No. 5 Texas A&M, Kansas State, TCU, Houston and Baylor.
The 2023 campaign came on the heels of a ’22 season that followed a similar path. The Cardinals recorded another 30-win season – falling just short of a 40-win campaign – a year again highlighted with victories over national powerhouse programs. The Cardinals took a three-game series over Rice in Houston early in the year and followed that up with wins at Oklahoma and against Houston. Big Red also won the first five series of the season, and 10 overall (including four series sweeps).
The 2022 campaign watched as the Cardinals made a return to postseason play, advancing to the winners’ bracket at the WAC Championships. That LU squad put an end to a nine-game postseason jinx with their opening-round win over Seattle University, marking the Cards’ first postseason win since 2013. The Cardinals made a 12-game improvement from the 2021 postseason squad, and that team made an eight-game improvement from 2019 (2020 season was cut short due to COVID).
Davis’ success on the field tells only part of the story. The programs future is even brighter as Davis has been the architect of seven of the highest-ranked recruiting classes in program history. His first full recruiting class as the program’s head coach was ranked tops in the Southland, and 73rd nationally by Perfect Game. Davis merely followed that up with a 2018 early signing class that ranked tops in the Southland and landed another top-100 spot according to Perfect Game. In the past three years alone, Davis’ efforts on the recruiting trail have landed the nation’s 7th, 11th and 9th-best junior college recruiting classes.
Davis’ impact on the Cardinals was immediate. His lone season on staff serving as the head coach in waiting, Davis helped the Cardinals post one of the best single-season turnarounds in the country. Big Red made a 14-game improvement in 2016, a season which included a 15-game win streak and wins over nationally ranked programs such as LSU, Arizona and Texas. He also helped the Cards to six wins over teams that went on to compete in the 2016 NCAA Regionals and earn a four seed in the SLC Tournament, its highest seed since 2009.
During his first season with the program, Davis was tasked to work with catcher development as well as base running. He aided Bryndan Arredondo to first-team All-SLC honors, first catcher to do so since Michael Ambort in 2007. Arredondo was one of four Cardinals on the league’s first team and one of five overall.
Big Red’s success on the field tells only part of the story. LU recorded better than a 3.0 grade-point average both semesters of the 2018-19 academic year and graduated all nine seniors during that time. Under Davis’ directions, 11 Cardinals have been named to academic all-conference including two first-team selections.
The son of former Louisiana Tech head coach the late Randy Davis, he saw tremendous success with his alma mater, including a 2009 College World Series Championship, in which LSU downed Texas in three games. That season wrapped up with a 56-17 record, one of three 50-win campaigns with Davis on staff.
Davis has been a part of four College World Series teams, three Southeastern Conference Championships and five SEC Tournament Championship teams. He advanced to at least the NCAA Regionals every season but one while he was on staff and won five SEC West Division Championships.
He began his coaching career as the director of baseball operations at LSU in 2008 and was quickly promoted to assistant coach just one year later. Since, the Baton Rouge, La., native has coached in both the first and third base boxes along with the catcher and outfield position groups. He was a student assistant and bullpen coordinator in 2007 after his playing career ended.
After he was designated as a recruiter and directed to find Louisiana prospects in 2011, he aided the Tigers to five-straight top-10 ranked signing classes, including the 2014 group that was voted No. 1 by Perfect Game. In that time, he recruited four student-athletes from Louisiana alone that were eventual top 10 round picks in the MLB Amateur Baseball Draft.
Other than the Tigers’ top recruiting class in 2014, they ranked fourth in 2012, seventh in 2011 and 2015 and 10th in 2013.
Davis was a Tiger from 2004-07 and was a letterman on the 2004 College World Series team. He is married to the former Danielle Hall of Bogalusa, La., who was a member of the LSU Golden Girl squad. The two have three children, two daughters and a son. Davis graduated with a bachelors in secondary education (2007) and masters in kinesiology (2010) and was born May 29, 1984.
