Sports

Duke Baseball Coach Bolts For ACC Rival Hours After Devastating Season-Ending Loss

#Duke Blue Devils
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Duke baseball coach Chris Pollard in the dugout.

© Zachary Taft-Imagn Images


The Duke baseball team fell to Murray State on Monday night in Super Regional action. The loss effectively ended the Blue Devils‘ 2025 season.

The hits kept coming after the dejecting setback. The program will now begin a coaching search after seeing Chris Pollard bolt for an ACC rival.

Duke won 41 games this season, a school-high during Pollard’s 13-year tenure. After digging itself out of an early 4-5 start, the squad racked up 32 victories across its next 45 games.

That finish put the Blue Devils back in contention for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid. They eventually landed the No. 2 seed in the Athens Regional, where they upset top-seeded Georgia to advance.

Duke then won Game 1 of a double elimination Super Regional against Murray State, putting the program one win away from its first College World Series appearance since 1961.

Back-to-back losses at home to the underdog Racers ended those dreams. It was Pollard’s fourth time losing in a Super Regional across the last six seasons. His disappointment showed in his ensuing press conference.

Rather than continue to fight for a chance at history, Pollard opted to move on. Hours after that somber postgame interview, he was announced as the head coach at Virginia.

Duke baseball coach bolts for ACC rival.

Chris Pollard will now take over for the Cavaliers, whose previous head coach left for Mississippi State in the offseason. In many ways, it’s a perfect match.

Pollard is from the area, having grown up about an hour outside of Charlottesville. He now makes his return.

Pollard built the Duke program from the ground up, and while he leaves amid its best string of recent success, his new school offers a better opportunity to win a title.

Virginia is one of the sport’s most notable teams of late. The Hoos have been to seven College World Series since 2009. They won a national championship in 2015, a year after finishing as the national runner-up.

Pollard is expected to take his entire Duke baseball staff with him. The hire is a huge win for the Cavaliers. It was an insult to injury for the Blue Devils after seeing their season come to an end.