Kansas coach Dan Fitzgerald repeated as the Big 12’s coach of the year, winning the award for a second straight time in the postseason poll of his fellow coaches that was released on Tuesday.
After leading KU back to the NCAA Tournament in 2025, Fitzgerald tacked on another memorable accomplishment with a rebuilt roster during the 2026 regular season, guiding the Jayhawks to their first conference title in 77 years and fourth in school history. KU is also on the verge of hosting a regional at Hoglund Ballpark for the first time ever, holding a top-16 seed in this week’s projections from Baseball America and D1Baseball.
The Jayhawks, who were picked to finish in a tie for fifth in the preseason poll, have accrued an overall record of 39-16, including 22-8 in Big 12 play, which was good enough to beat out West Virginia for an outright league title (even though KU got swept by WVU in Lawrence during the penultimate weekend of the regular season). Twenty-two league wins is a program record, as is eight conference series wins, and 20 road wins on the year equaled another record — one set last season. This is just the second time that KU has recorded 39 or more wins in consecutive years.
“The coach of the year award reflects the entire work of the staff, team and administration,” Fitzgerald said in a press release. “I’m proud of our guys for their hard work and commitment to doing things right on and off the field. I’m thankful and proud of my staff and our incredible administration for their commitment to moving our program forward. Rock Chalk!”
Fitzgerald will receive a bonus of about $25,962 for his award, as part of what is becoming a lucrative season for the fourth-year head coach. The Big 12 regular-season title has already automatically extended his contract (signed last summer) by an additional year, so the deal now runs through 2032 instead of 2031; he also got a bonus of $56,250 for the accomplishment, and will get $56,250 more when KU makes its second straight NCAA regional on Monday.
Fitzgerald’s high level of success will inevitably lead to his name coming up in coaching searches, and in fact On3’s Pete Nakos wrote on Tuesday that Fitzgerald’s is “one of the two names most frequently mentioned in conversations” around South Carolina’s opening (along with that of Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Schnall). But KU athletic director Travis Goff recently told the Journal-World he is confident in retaining Fitzgerald based on the athletic department’s investment in the program and the coaching staff, as well as Fitzgerald’s family’s attachment to the local community.
Also honored on Tuesday were seven KU baseball players. Tyson LeBlanc and Boede Rahe garnered first-team honors; Cade Baldridge, Josh Dykhoff and Dominic Voegele were named to the second team; and Brady Ballinger and Mason Cook received honorable mentions.
LeBlanc, a junior shortstop who previously played at LSU Eunice, leads KU in batting average (.323), OPS (1.057), home runs (19) and RBIs (53). He has grown significantly as a power hitter in particular, and his hot stretch midway through league play helped the Jayhawks embark on a lengthy winning streak that put them in position to claim the conference title.
Rahe, a redshirt junior from Kirkwood Community College, has served primarily as the Jayhawks’ closer and has been extremely reliable in that role. He can stretch out to multiple innings as needed and even spent a brief stint in KU’s starting rotation. On the season, the 6-foot-6 right-handed pitcher has a 3.97 ERA with 58 strikeouts to 15 walks and is 5-1 with nine saves.
“I’m really happy for Tyson and Boede,” Fitzgerald said in the release. “Being named to the All-Big 12 First Team is an incredible honor in such a talent-rich conference. They are great players and even better men.”
The second team included two additional standouts from KU’s lineup and a resurgent pitcher. Baldridge, from Cowley College, has been a standout in both center field and at second base with a .318 average. Dykhoff, from Division II Minnesota Crookston, is a power-hitting first baseman who ranks second to LeBlanc in home runs (14) and RBIs (50). Voegele, a former Big 12 freshman of the year who is now a junior, bounced around the Jayhawks’ weekend rotation but settled back in as KU’s ace late in the year and at one point had 10 or more strikeouts in four of his five starts.
Ballinger, a junior in his second year at KU, is a team leader batting .286 with 40 RBIs who at one point reached base in 25 straight games. Cook is another member of KU’s rotation, a sophomore from McLennan Community College who has a 3.99 ERA in league games.
“Josh, Cade, Dom, Brady and Mason are all very deserving of their recognition and played huge parts in our team’s regular season championship,” Fitzgerald said in the release. “The strength of our team has been our consistency over the entirety of the season. These guys exemplify that really well.”
KU is the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 tournament, where its run will begin on Thursday in Surprise, Arizona, at 2:30 p.m. Central time, against an opponent yet to be determined.
Kansas’ Tyson LeBlanc celebrates hitting a home run against West Virginia on Saturday, May 9, 2026, at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.
Kansas pitcher Boede Rahe celebrates after earning the final outs of the Jayhawks’ win over Nebraska on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Lawrence.
Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World
Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World