ABILENE – The Abilene Christian baseball program and head coach
Rick McCarty announced the addition of a familiar face to join the staff. Daniel Furuto returns to ACU as an assistant coach after spending last season as an assistant at Purdue. Furuto takes over the role vacated by Craig Parry, who departed ACU to join the Toronto Blue Jays as the hitting coordinator. Furuto was on the original staff put together by McCarty back in June 2018 when McCarty was hired at ACU, and he returns as the hitting coach in 2023.
"We are excited to bring Daniel back to Abilene to join our coaching staff," said McCarty. "He was an instrumental part of our original staff here in 2019, so I expect the transition to be seamless. Daniel brings a wealth of experience at collegiate level and has been around some high level coaches and players. He has a great offensive mind and is an elite connector. I am looking forward to watching our players flourish under his guidance."
The former Wildcat volunteer assistant has spent time at Georgia State and UAB the last few years, and joined Purdue baseball as an assistant coach in July 2021, reuniting with Greg Goff after Furuto played for Goff on a Division II College World Series team and also worked with him at Campbell. Furuto served as director of the program's youth and prospect camps in West Lafayette.
Furuto has 12 seasons of coaching experience at the college level. He served as the recruiting coordinator at UAB, GSU and Montevallo. UAB's recruiting class earned a top-100 ranking in November from Perfect Game, the program's first such honor since 2012. Furuto has coached 23 all-conference players, including five All-Americans. He's also seen 21 of his former players become MLB draft picks, highlighted by five big leaguers. UAB outfielder Jess Davis was a national ABCA/Rawlings gold glove winner for the 2021 season.
Furuto and McCarty previously worked together on the staff at Campbell from 2011 to 2012. Their 2012 team finished 41-18, which broke the school record for wins and finished just shy of breaking the NCAA's single-season record for biggest turnaround (Campbell's 2011 record was 17-38).
His coaching career started as in 2009 as an assistant coach for the Lima (Ohio) Locos of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League, and in 2011 he landed his first collegiate assignment with Goff and McCarty at Campbell.
Furuto later helped guide Union (Ky.) College to 30 wins in each of his two seasons (2013-14) prior to returning to his alma mater in time for the 2014-15 school year.
Furuto first served Montevallo as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator before being promoted to associate head coach following the 2016 season. The Falcons additionally are coming off a fantastic 2018 campaign (35-19), which was its best in more than a decade complete with a No. 20 national ranking in the final Collegiate Baseball Newspaper NCAA Division II poll and appearance in the NCAA DII South Region Championship.
A four-year starter for Montevallo and two-time All-Gulf South Conference honoree, Furuto was a key member on some of the Falcons' best teams, finishing his career with a .330 batting average and ranking among the school's all-time leaders in several offensive categories (51 HBP, 637 at-bats).
He led the Falcons (43-18) to the 2006 NCAA DII College World Series semifinals and a No. 3 national ranking, and was named the South Central Regional Championship's Most Valuable Player.
Furuto helped Montevallo break the school record for wins (47-17) the following season en route to the 2007 NCAA DII South Central Region Championship Game, and during his senior year he tied a program single-game record with three home runs vs. West Alabama (13 total bases).
Furuto has been part of all three Montevallo regional postseason appearances in school history. In recent years he's had a hand in coaching 2018 All-American honorable mention Alex Pondick, 2017 Peach Belt Freshman of the Year Sebastian Samuels, 2016 Minnesota Twins draft pick Dane Hutcheon and Tino Martinez Award (DII Player of the Year) semifinalist Taylor Walker. He also coached his younger brother, Matthew, who earned Academic All-America status in 2017.
A reminder that Coach McCarty and the ACU baseball team invite you to ACU baseball's First Pitch dinner, presented by Cedar Gap Wealth Management, on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 6 p.m. on the Brown Family Club Level of Wildcat Stadium to enjoy dinner, meet our student-athletes and hear from Coach McCarty about fall training and the upcoming season. Tickets are $60 per person, $600 to sponsor a full table of 6 or $1,000 for a VIP table of 6. We'll also host a silent auction that evening with ACU baseball gear and memorabilia (items to be announced at a later date.) All proceeds generated from the event benefit the ACU baseball program.
And the first pitch of the 2023 season is set at Crutcher Scott Field on Friday, Feb. 17 against Nevada. Fans can visit
ACUSports.com/tickets or call the ACU Ticket Office at 325-674-CATS (2287) to secure season or single-game tickets.
