UA parts ways with assistant coach Dave Lawn after Wildcats' pitching regresses

As expected, Arizona baseball has parted ways with longtime assistant coach Dave Lawn.

Lawn held the title of associate head coach under Chip Hale and was in charge of the pitching staff, which struggled the past two seasons.

Lawn tweeted a farewell message Monday morning, two days after the Wildcats were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament:

“8 great years! 5 regionals, 2 Supers, 2 CWS, 1 P12 Championship. ... Thanks to Greg Byrne/Jay Johnson for bringing me here and Dave Heeke/Chip Hale for keeping me here. ... Thanks to all the staff/players for their support and effort. #BearDown.”

Lawn came to Arizona with Johnson in the summer of 2015. The Wildcats made it to the College World Series finals the following season, posting a 3.18 team ERA — the program’s best mark since 1976 (3.25).

The team pitched respectably each of the next two seasons (4.36, 3.95) but backslid in 2019 (6.21). At that point, Johnson decided to make a change, moving Lawn out of the role of pitching coach but keeping him on staff as defensive coordinator.

Lawn served in that capacity for two seasons, 2020 and ’21. The ’20 season lasted only 15 games because of the pandemic; the Wildcats made it to the CWS again the following season.

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When Johnson left for LSU that summer, Lawn remained on staff as the interim coach. He helped keep the roster together before Arizona hired Hale, who retained Lawn and elevated him to the associate head coach role.

The Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament last year, but their ERA ticked up to 5.04. Arizona lost to Ole Miss 22-6 in its final game of 2022.

The Wildcats snuck into the tournament again this year with a late-season surge despite continuing struggles on the mound. They allowed a combined 21 runs in a pair of losses in the Fayetteville Regional over the weekend and finished with an ERA of 5.97.

“When you don’t get to where you want to get, which is Omaha and winning national championships, you’re always searching for what you need,” Hale said after Saturday’s season-ending loss to Santa Clara. “We’ll re-evaluate our coaching. That’s my job. I’m the leader of the staff, and I have to decide; I have to make tough decisions.”

It’s unknown whether Hale already has someone in mind for the job. Possibilities include former UA pitcher Mathew Troupe, who recently left his post as the pitching coach at Hawaii; Pima Community College head coach Ken Jacome, whose program has become a pipeline for Arizona; and former Wildcat pitcher Nathan Bannister, who just completed his first season as the pitching coach at Grand Canyon.