Legendary Big 12 Pitching Coach to Retire After 2025 Season

After more than a decade as Oklahoma State’s pitching guru and decades in the game, Rob Walton is hanging it up.

The Cowboys’ longtime pitching coach will retire after the 2025 season, closing out a 13-year run in Stillwater that helped reestablish Cowboy Baseball as one of the premiere programs in the Big 12.

Walton, a 2018 inductee into the Cowboy Baseball Hall of Fame, was a star pitcher for OSU in the 1980s and helped lead the Cowboys to four straight trips to Omaha. He returned to his alma mater in 2012 after a dominant run as head coach at Oral Roberts, where he won nine straight conference titles and took the Golden Eagles to a Super Regional in 2006.

Since rejoining the Cowboys, Walton has overseen one of college baseball’s most consistently dominant pitching staffs. Under his watch, the Pokes have captured five Big 12 titles, made three Super Regionals, returned to the College World Series, and produced 41 MLB Draft picks—including two first-rounders. His 2022 staff set the school record for strikeouts in a season. He was also named ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year in 2016.

“Rob and I have been side by side since day one,” head coach Josh Holliday said. “We’ve had some of the best pitching staffs in the country because of him. He’ll forever be celebrated inside these walls.”

Walton’s résumé also includes a gold medal as Team USA’s head coach in 2008 and stints with both the Cleveland Guardians and Baltimore Orioles organizations. His son, Donnie Walton, starred for Oklahoma State and debuted with the Seattle Mariners in 2019.

There’s still baseball left to be played in 2025, and Walton will be a part of Oklahoma State’s Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament journeys, but when it’s over, one of the Big 12’s best coaching careers will come to a close.

Oklahoma State earned the No. 7 seed and will open up the conference tournament against No. 10 Baylor on Wednesday, May 21 at 4:00 p.m. CT.