Deck McGuire came on board as Missouri State’s pitching coach in June 2024.
Year one with the Bears included plenty of highlights for the pitching staff, which ranked 32nd nationally and third in school history with 9.51 strikeouts per nine innings, the program’s best figure since 1969.
Individually, Max Knight was an NCBWA Third-Team All-American as a two-way player and the Missouri Valley Conference co-Newcomer of the Year. Knight (first team) and Jason Schaaf (honorable mention) each earned postseason recognition from the league, Schaaf and Curry Sutherland were all-tournament selections at the conference meet for their exploits on the mound, and Tyler Charlton set the school’s single-season record by striking out 12.87 batters per nine innings. Jackson Holmes signed a free agent deal with the Oakland Athletics after the season.
McGuire brought a strong pedigree to the Bears from Georgia Tech, where he played from 2008-10 and returned in 2024 to work as an undergraduate assistant coach for Danny Hall, who retired a year later ranked ninth on the all-time coaching wins list. He was inducted in the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 2020, and completed his degree in general management in 2024.
Originally from Richmond, Va., McGuire was the 2009 Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year and a two-time first-team all-ACC selection for the Yellowjackets, posting a career 28-7 record and 3.28 ERA over 291 innings. McGuire started against Missouri State in the 2010 season opener in Atlanta, throwing seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
The 2009 Golden Spikes Award semifinalist and national pitcher of the year finalist was the No. 11 overall pick in the 2010 MLB Draft by Toronto. He pitched in 48 Major League games with Cincinnati, Toronto and the Los Angeles Angels in 2017 and 2018, and played in the Korean Baseball Organization in 2019, where he threw the 14th no-hitter in league history as a member of the Samsung Lions. McGuire retired from professional baseball in 2022.
McGuire and his wife Kayla have two children, son Jaxson and daughter Parker.
