Robert Alexander Childress (born September 26, 1968) is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

coach and former

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

, who is the current director of player development for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

at Northwood from 1987 to 1990. He then served as head coach of the

Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M Aggies refers to the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname "Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Aggi ...

(2006–2021).

Playing career

Childress attended

Harmony High School Harmony High School (often abbreviated to HHS) is located in Harmony, Florida, United States. It is one of nine schools in the Osceola County School District. Academics Harmony offers a large array of courses in regular, honor, and Advanced ...

Harmony, Texas Harmony is an unincorporated community in Nacogdoches County, located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is referenced in the novel RoseBlood by A.G. Howard, as well as by Jodi Thomas Jodi Thomas (born Amarillo, Texas) is the pen name of Jodi Kouma ...

. He was then recruited to

Northwood University Northwood University (NU) is a private university focused on business education with its main campus in Midland, Michigan. Opened in 1959, more than 33,000 people have graduated from the institution. History Northwood University opened as North ...

, where he would continue his athletic career as a pitcher, twice earning all-conference honors.

Coaching career

Assistant coach

During his eight years as pitching coach with

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

(1998–2005), the Cornhuskers advanced to the NCAA Tournament five times, reached the Super Regionals four times, and the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

three times. He helped construct the Nebraska pitching staff into one of the best in the nation, posting the top five single-season strikeout records in Nebraska history. His last season at Nebraska, his staff finished with an

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

of 2.69, ranking in the top five nationally and best in the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

. Before joining the Nebraska staff, he served as pitching coach at

Northwestern State University Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSU) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the Univer ...

from 1995 to 1997.Rob Childress bio
. ''Texas A&M Athletics''.

Texas A&M

Childress was hired in 2005 by Texas A&M to be the head coach of the Aggie baseball team. His second season as head coach, Childress led the Aggies to a Big 12 Tournament Championship and a trip to the NCAA Super Regionals. His team continued to improve in the 2008 season, as the Aggies won the Big 12 Championship and returned to the NCAA Super Regionals, earning Childress the Big 12 Coach of the Year award. In his fourth season, however, the team began the season ranked #1 nationally in a few preseason polls, though were eliminated in regional play. In 2011, Rob Childress led the Aggies to a Big 12 regular season co-championship and a Big 12 Tournament championship. The Aggies would advance through the NCAA Super Regionals against Florida State to advance to the

. Following a 2021 season that saw the Aggies finish in last place in the SEC, Athletics Director

Ross Bjork Ross Bjork (born October 22, 1972) is the current athletics director for Texas A&M University. He previously served as the director of athletics for University of Mississippi and Western Kentucky University, where he was the youngest athletic dire ...

, announced that the school would not renew Childress' contract for 2022. Childress's 622 victories ranked 3rd in school history at the time of his dismissal.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Rob Childress bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Childress, Rob 1968 births Living people Texarkana Bulldogs baseball coaches Northwestern State Demons baseball coaches Northwood University alumni Northwood Knights baseball coaches Northwood Knights baseball players Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball coaches Texas A&M Aggies baseball coaches Texas A&M University–Commerce alumni People from Gilmer, Texas