Rob Childress

A veteran of college baseball with 32 years of experience, Childress is no stranger to Lincoln, as he served as an assistant coach at Nebraska from 1998 to 2002 and as associate head coach from 2003 to 2005 prior to his director of player development role in the last two seasons.

Prior to his return to Lincoln, Childress spent 16 seasons as the head coach at Texas A&M. He led the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament a school-record 13 consecutive times (2007-19), including six regional titles and a pair of trips to the College World Series in 2011 and 2017. Childress, who posted a 622-336-3 record with the Aggies, won two regular-season conference titles and four conference tournament championships during his stint at Texas A&M.

Texas A&M’s pitching staff set a school record with 673 strikeouts in 2019. They led the NCAA in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.33), ranked second in strikeouts per nine innings (10.9), third in ERA (3.21) and eighth in WHIP (1.21).

During his eight seasons on staff in his first stint at Nebraska, the Huskers produced five of the top six single-season strikeout totals in school history, including a school-record 538 strikeouts in 2005, while issuing fewer than three walks per game in his final five seasons in Lincoln. The Huskers went to the NCAA Tournament six times in a seven-year span, including three CWS appearances. The Big Red won three regular-season Big 12 titles (2001, 2003 and 2005) and four Big 12 Tournaments (1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005).

Under his tutelage, 79 pitchers were drafted or signed as free agents during his time at Nebraska and Texas A&M.  Childress’ pitching staffs have finished in the top 15 in the country in ERA eight times since 2000, including top three finishes on three occasions. Five of his pitching staffs have finished in the top 25 nationally in strikeouts per nine innings since 2010, including four times in the top 10.

Before his first stint at Nebraska, Childress served as an assistant coach at Northwestern State from 1995 to 1997 after stops at Texarkana College and Northwood. He coached former major leaguer Brian Lawrence, who became the first Demon baseball player to reach the Major Leagues since 1954.

Childress graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northwood in 1990, earned a master’s degree of science from East Texas State (now TAMU-Commerce) in 1994. He and his wife Amanda have a daughter, Hannah, and a son, Maxwell.