Oklahoma State Pitching Coach Rob Walton to Retire After This Season

After 13 seasons as the Cowboys pitching coach, Rob Walton is set to retire when the Pokes’ season comes to an end.

Oklahoma State announced on Monday that Walton, a 2018 inductee into the Cowboy Baseball Hall of Fame, will retire.

“We still have games to play this season and we’re going to finish the right way,” said Walton in OSU’s release. “The game has given me so much, and I’ll be forever grateful for the people and the experiences that it has brought into my life.”

Walton pitched for the Cowboys back in the day, going 20-3 in 54 career appearances while OSU made the College World Series in each of his four seasons as a player.

He went onto play in the Baltimore Orioles organization before working with the Cleveland Indians.

He retuned to the college game in 1999 as an assistant at Oral Roberts. Walton then became the Golden Eagles’ head coach in 2004 and would lead ORU to the NCAA Tournament in all nine of his seasons as the Golden Eagles’ head coach. Walton coached 16 All-Americans, 14 conference players of the year and a dozen conference pitchers of the year while at ORU. He led the program to its first Super Regional in program history in 2006.

He left ORU after the 2012 season, electing to join Josh Holliday’s staff in Stillwater when Holliday got hired as the Cowboys’ head coach. Since, OSU has won five Big 12 titles and earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament field every season. At OSU, Walton coached 41 All-Big 12 pitchers, seven All-Americans, two Big 12 pitchers of the year and 41 MLB draft picks.

“Rob and I have been side by side since day one,” said Holliday in OSU’s release. “What an amazing ride it has been the past 13 seasons working together at our alma mater with the players and staff to put Cowboy Baseball back among the very best. Rob’s passion for Oklahoma State — both as a hall of fame player in the 1980s and his contributions as a coach the past 13 years — make him one of the most significant figures in our rich baseball history. …

“We have had some of the best pitching staffs in the country during Rob’s time and the individual development alongside the team success that our pitchers experienced was simply fantastic. He will forever be celebrated inside these walls and I’m going to miss him dearly. What a competitor, teacher, and friend. His family is also a huge part of ours. We can’t thank Rob and Michelle, Davis, Donovan and Cassie enough for coming to Stillwater and making this home!”