Todd Whitting’s Battlers Fight to Get UH Baseball Back to Where It Belongs — Is This the Bounce Back Team?

Kellen Sampson vividly remembers when Todd Whitting’s baseball program set the tone for the entire University of Houston athletic department. In Sampson’s first year at UH with his dad, when their remarkable resurrection of the basketball program was only starting, baseball stood out as the example. While Houston football sputtered through the final season of Tony Levine’s energy depleting run and Kelvin Sampson began with 13-19 first step, Whitting’s baseball team tied the school record for wins with 48 and advanced to the 2014 Super Regionals.

And followed that up with a conference title, a Regional berth and another 43 wins in 2015. Which certainly caught the attention of a new UH basketball assistant and his baseball-loving dad.

“People don’t get it, but when we first got to Houston, it was baseball that was the bread winner,” Kellen Sampson tells PaperCity. “They were the one that kind of had the established run of success. You couldn’t help but fall in love with what Todd had done with his program.”

Now, Whitting and a team of battlers are fighting to get back to the lofty level UH baseball established for itself after something of a program makeover. After a 6-9 2020 COVID crushed season that ended almost before it even began and a 19-34 2021 step back, Whitting has the Cougars (34-20) winning again, playing important games in May again.

But there is one major step that still needs to be taken. To make this bounce back season a real success, Whitting’s squad must find a way to win next week’s American Athletic Conference Tournament, where East Carolina will be a heavy favorite, to grab the conference’s NCAA Tournament auto bid.

“This is a big part of what the Houston baseball culture has been always,” senior first baseman Ryan Hernandez tells PaperCity. “And after a tough year last year, coming back this year we’re playing with a chip on our shoulder.

“Every game matters for us.”

The Cougars have already been eliminated from the regular season title chase and with their RPI only standing at 89 after a recent four game losing streak (including a loss to East Carolina Thursday night), an at-large NCAA Tournament bid is essentially out of reach. Still, Hernandez and his teammates will try to build some momentum in the last two games of this series against regular season champion East Carolina before the AAC Tournament starts Tuesday.

If this is this group’s last run, they figure to go down swinging. No matter how this season ends, this sometimes seemingly mishmash team just may be the squad that brings the fight back to the University of Houston baseball.

“They’re not going to quit,” Whitting says. “They’re going to keep playing. We’ve had some really tough losses in conference play. But they’re resilient. They bounce back and keep playing.”

This UH baseball team is a blend of the new in Kansas transfer Anthony Tulimero and LSU transfer Zach Arnold and the old in home run force Ryan Hernandez, centerfielder Brandon Uhse, shortstop Ian McMillan and Ben Sears, who’s turned himself into one of the elite closers in college baseball. It’s a group that found its own confidence the hard way.

“We always thought we’d be good and just wanted to have that confidence,” Tulimero tells PaperCity. “But I think with last year not going how guys wanted it to, I think some guys were still iffy (going into the season).

“We’ve got a really strong core group of players, though. And we’re kind of deep. As we got into the season, and into conference, we kept winning games. And when you sweep on the road at South Florida, stuff like that, that put us in a really good spot. That was a big confidence booster for us.”

Tulimero might be the best Kansas transfer since Quentin Grimes for a UH program, a catcher who baserunners fear who is hitting nearly .330. Tulimero is a Buster Posey NCAA Catcher of the Year semifinalist for good reason. But when you ask players on this team about the biggest unexpected standout, Ben Sears’ name is the one that keeps coming up.

“We have some premium players at the top and one of the best players in the country in Ben Sears,” Tulimero says. “He does a really good job. Sometimes we’ve got to hand him the ball three times in one week, but he does his job and doesn’t try to do too much.

“It’s good to have somebody like him who’s always there for you out of the pen.”

Todd Whitting Brings in New Coaching Voices

New assistant coaches Kyle Bunn and Ross Kivett arguably have been even more transformational. Bunn, who handles the pitchers, is a Citadel graduate with 17 years of Division I coaching experience who carries himself like a military man. While Kivett, who serves as the hitting coach, is as fresh faced and enthusiastic as they come, a former volunteer assistant at No. 1 Tennessee’s powerhouse baseball program who always seems to bring new ideas.

But one thing Bunn and Kivett both have in common is that Todd Whitting sought them out, believing they could help him bring the UH baseball program back to where he expects it to be.

“I think Coach Bunn and Coach Kivett have done a tremendous job with their units,” Whitting tells PaperCity. “On both sides of the ball, we’re pretty tough. And that comes from culture and that comes from preparation and how you practice.

“And the expectation level you have on guys.”

“After a tough year last year, coming back this year we’re playing with a chip on our shoulder.” — UH first baseman Ryan Hernandez

After 11 seasons at the helm of UH baseball (three more than Kelvin Sampson’s logged as the school’s basketball coach), Whitting recognized that his program could use some new blood. After all, it’s not just about this season. Even if the Cougars come up short in their seemingly long shot NCAA Tournament push next week, it’s about building for the Big 12 jump that could come as soon as the 2024 season.

It’s about getting UH baseball truly back — and better for the future.

“We use that as fuel,” Hernandez says of reestablishing and reinforcing UH’s longtime winning culture. “We don’t think about it. We don’t talk about it that much. But we play with that in the back of our minds definitely.”

Ryan Hernandez is a big man (6 foot 4, 240) and on the night of my visit to Houston’s Schroeder Park, he hits two big home runs. Still, he mostly wants to talk about his teammates and coaches. This is his last season at Houston, but he’s still excited to see what’s to come for this program.

“I think it comes with the coaching,” Hernandez says of the team’s attitude change. “The two new coaches have installed that in us. I don’t think everyone that comes in here, comes in with that fiery edge. But you develop it.

“Coach Kivett does a great job during practice putting the spotlight on, putting pressure on us during practice so that you know in the game, it’s much easier. Coach Bunn does an absolutely fantastic job. He’s hard on us in practice. Because we expect to be the best.

“It’s built into our character.”

It may be starting to become ingrained again. Rediscovering your identity and ripping off another run of NCAA Tournament berths is not as easy as flipping a switch. This UH baseball program still has some serious work to do.

Looking to UH’s Baseball Future

Todd Whitting has shown he can build an elite program, something that is not lost on the University of Houston decision makers. Kellen Sampson is not the only one who remembers how baseball almost set the pace for the whole athletic department not so long ago. Whitting appreciates the support – and camaraderie — of his fellow UH coaches.

He tells PaperCity that he will bounce ideas off football coach Dana Holgorsen and basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.

“We talk,” Whitting says. “They keep up with the program. Whenever, they have big wins, I text them and vice versa. And it’s not just two guys. It’s all the coaches in the department. . .

“Everybody’s pulling the rope in the same direction, trying to win championships.”

Kellen and Kelvin Sampson still enjoy coming out to baseball games, particularly at the University of Houston’s renovated Schroeder Park. Kelvin Sampson recently threw out the first pitch before a game and tells PaperCity that “This is probably a bigger deal for me than the people that asked me.”

Houston’s most successful coach smiles. Everyone is rooting for Todd Whitting and UH baseball. Whitting has his Cougars playing important games in May again. Now, they just have to try and win a bunch of them in an AAC Tournament where they have no margin for error.

“Attitude and confidence is what makes a good player,” Tulimero says. “Obviously everyone at this level has skill. But it’s all about the work you put in, having the right attitude.

“You’ve got to come to the field and want to get better everyday.”

UH baseball has the want to again. Now, it needs a few more wins when it counts most.

For more of Chris Baldwin’s extensive, detailed and unique insider coverage of UH sports — stories you cannot read anywhere else — bookmark this page. Follow Baldwin on Twitter here.