Kevin O’Sullivan announces hiring of new Florida pitching coach
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Florida will have a new pitching coach in 2027. Gators head coach Kevin O’Sullivan announced Monday that Rich Dorman has joined the staff.
Dorman replaces David Kopp as pitching coach. Kopp was dismissed after Florida was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the Regional round.
“Coach Dorman represents one of, if not the best, veteran pitching minds in all of college baseball and has a tremendous track record of recruiting and mentoring the top pitchers in the country,” O’Sullivan said in a released statement. “His addition ensures that the most elite pitchers in our sport will be developed in Gainesville while being provided with all the tools necessary for continued success at Florida and beyond. Rich instantly makes our program and our players better, and we are thrilled to add someone of his caliber and national notoriety to the Gators.”
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Dorman joins the UF staff after spending the past 7 seasons at Oregon State. In 2026, Dorman’s staff led the entire country in ERA (3.22), hits allowed per nine innings (6.94) and walks plus hits per inning with a WHIP of 1.14. OSU ranked second nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.55) and third in strikeouts per nine (11.8).
The Gators earned the No. 8 national seed for the NCAA Tournament, but did not make it out of the Gainesville Regional. Florida won games over Rider and Miami, but the Gators dropped two games to Troy, ending their 2026 season.
The Gainesville Regional was particularly rough on the UF hurlers.
Aidan King, the 2026 SEC Pitcher of the Year, gave up 6 earned runs in 3+ innings against Miami. Though the Gators beat the Hurricanes 22-10, they needed 3.2 IP from Jackson Barberi, who threw 61 pitches.
Liam Peterson, a highly touted Class of 2024 signee and projected first-round pick in the MLB Draft, was lit up for 9 earned runs over 5 innings in the 16-11 loss to Troy.
In the winner-take-all game against Troy, 4 Gator pitchers were tagged for 10 earned runs. Three were charged with 8 earned runs after 4.1 scoreless innings from Caden McDonald.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
