A Virginia native with an impressive track record has been tapped to lead the University of Virginia baseball program.
UVA Director of Athletics Carla Williams on Tuesday announced Chris Pollard, a native of Amherst County and alumnus of Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, as the 16th head baseball coach in school history. Pollard comes to UVA after 13 seasons at Duke University, where he became the program’s all-time winningest coach and led the Blue Devils to seven NCAA Tournaments, four NCAA Super Regionals and two Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championships.
Pollard ended Duke’s 55-year NCAA Tournament drought in 2016 and, on several occasions, had the team on the brink of a College World Series berth, including this season and in 2023, when the Blue Devils fell in the NCAA Charlottesville Super Regional to the Cavaliers.
On X, national college baseball reporter Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball called UVA’s acquisition of Pollard “the correct hire” and added Pollard “should continue a high-level winning tradition with UVA.”
Aaron Fitt, Rogers’ colleague at D1Baseball, called Pollard the “perfect candidate for this job.”
Quick turnaround on this one - but it felt inevitable. Just a no-brainer hire for Virginia, the perfect candidate for this job. Chris Pollard is an incredible coach, and I think UVa is his dream job, given his Central Virginia roots and everything that job has to offer. https://t.co/0cMv6CEdZB
— Aaron Fitt (@aaronfitt) June 10, 2025
Pollard is 806-614-3 over 26 seasons as a collegiate head coach. In addition to Duke, he’s led Appalachian State University (2005-12) and Pfeiffer University (2000-04). In his final year with Appalachian State, he took the Mountaineers to the NCAA Charlottesville Regional, where they upset the top-seeded Cavaliers.
