Rich Wallace

Biography

Rich Wallace, an Orlando native and former UCF baseball player and Knight assistant coach, brings two decades of experience as a Division I baseball coach with him in his return to Orlando as UCF’s seventh head baseball coach. The 2024 season marked Wallace's first season as UCF's head coach as well as the program's first year of competition in the Big 12 Conference. During his first season at the helm of his alma mater in 2024, Wallace led his Knights to a 37-21 record and the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017—with a trip to the 2024 NCAA Tallahassee Regional. He also led the Black and Gold to six conference series victories in the program's inaugural season of competition in the Big 12 Conference to finish eighth in the league with a 14-15 conference record. With a possible postseason bid on the line, Wallace then led the Knights to a deep run at the 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship by going 2-1 and reaching the semifinal round. UCF then received an at-large selection as a No 3 seed at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional and the Black and Gold went on to record wins over Alabama and Stetson to reach the finals of the regional before falling to the host and No. 8 Florida State Seminoles. Wallace helped his 2024 squad enter the Top 25 national rankings for the first time since February of 2021, as the team spent two weeks in early April in the national rankings. The Knights were ranked as high as 16th by the NCBWA and 17th by D1Baseball. Wallace also guided