Staff Directory
Taylor, Rucker
Rucker Taylor
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- Phone:
- 2772
7th Season (13th overall at Davidson)
Vanderbilt '06
After four seasons as associate head coach and six total years on the Davidson staff, Rucker Taylor took the reins as head coach of the Wildcats program in July, 2018. The 2025 season is his seventh as head coach.
In six years, he compiled a 166-114 (.592) record and climbed to second on the program's wins list.
Named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 2022, Taylor led the Wildcats to a single-season school record 43 wins and the 120-year-old program’s first outright regular season conference championship. The Wildcats finished 43-13 (.768), were 20-4 (.833) in A-10 play, and Taylor was named to Baseball America’s Coaches to Watch List.
The 30-24 campaign of 2023 was the program's fourth 30-win season. Taylor has been a part of all of them.
Taylor has made an impact at every stop. His instruction helped lead Samford to its first NCAA Regional in 2012, then Davidson to its first Regional and Super Regional in 2017. As a player at Vanderbilt, he was a member of the Commodores’ first Super Regional team. His promotion to head coach quickly garnered some national attention, as Baseball America listed Taylor in its list of Top 10 Coaches Under 40 (here).
With Taylor filling a key role on staff, Davidson has posted its top five single-season win marks (29, 30, 33, 35, 43) and reached the Atlantic 10 Tournament seven out of eight times, including making back-to-back championship game appearances in 2016 and 2017. The Wildcats have ranked in the top of the league in multiple offensive categories since Taylor’s tenure began and have earned national rankings in slugging and on-base percentages, home runs, and walks.
His expertise has helped 19 former players to be selected in the Major League Baseball Draft.
Taylor resides in nearby Cornelius with his wife, Victoria, and son, Beau.
Atlantic 10 Success, Etc.
The 2022 Davidson campaign was one for the record books, as Taylor’s Wildcats went a program-best 43-13 and secured the regular-season A-10 crown.
The Wildcats swept the major A-10 postseason awards, with Taylor being honored alongside A-10 Player of the Year Michael Carico, Pitcher of the Year Blake Hely and Rookie of the Year Ryan Feczko. In July, junior pitcher Nolan DeVos was selected in the fifth round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Houston Astros, pick No. 163, the second-highest Wildcat ever drafted.
Carico, a catcher, led the nation with a .559 on-base percentage, earned All-America honors from four media outlets, was the lone recipient of the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove and was a finalist for two national awards. After the season, Carico became the first Wildcat player to participate with USA Baseball, earning a spot in the Collegiate National Team Training Camp.
Taylor also participated in USA Baseball over the summer as an assistant coach with the Player Development Pipeline League. It was his second stint with USA Baseball after serving with the inaugural 13U/14U Athlete Development Program in 2019.
In his first season as head coach, Taylor led the 2019 Wildcats to 29 wins, a second-place regular-season finish and to three wins in the A-10 Tournament.
Taylor’s tutelage helped the Wildcats turn in a breakthrough season in 2017, when they went 35-26, captured the A-10 championship for the program’s first conference title and advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals by sweeping the Chapel Hill Regional. The Wildcats, who beat nationally ranked host North Carolina twice to advance to face Texas A&M, became just the second No. 4 seed to ever sweep an NCAA Regional.
In 2017, senior outfielder Will Robertson became the most decorated player in school history, earning four All-America honors, being named an NCAA Breakout Player of the Year finalist, and being taken by the Baltimore Orioles in the 30th round of the MLB Draft. Taylor’s knowledge of hitting helped the Wildcats blast 71 homers, led by Robertson’s single-season record of 18. Fellow senior Brian Fortier added 15, as both sluggers were named National Players of the Week during the season and finished as All-Conference honorees.
The Wildcats followed up that historic campaign with a 33-21 record in 2018, which included the most regular season wins in school history (32) and the program’s highest winning percentage in the modern era (.611).
The 2018 Wildcats ranked in the top 20 in the nation and finished the season with a league-best 60 home runs, led by the junior duo of Eric Jones and Justin Lebek, who launched 11 each.
The 2016 season also included a breakthrough for the Wildcats, as Davidson became the first No. 6 seed to ever reach the A-10 final. In the inaugural A-10 season in 2015, Davidson earned the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament before falling in the semifinals.
SoCon Success
With Taylor overseeing the offense, the 2014 Wildcats hit .303, which ranked 14th in the nation and second in the Southern Conference. The boost at the plate led Davidson to its then-winningest season, as the Wildcats set program records for overall wins (29), SoCon wins (17) and modern-era winning percentage (.604). Davidson finished second in the SoCon for the first time since 1987, despite being picked last in the coaches' preseason poll.
In addition to hitting for average, Davidson became one of the premier power-hitting teams in the country, ranking third in the nation with 1.04 home runs per game (50 HR in 48 games), ninth in doubles per game and sixth with a .459 slugging percentage. The Wildcats hit just 15 home runs prior to Taylor's arrival in 2012 before more than doubling that total the next season with 39 home runs.
The success was not attributable to just a couple of breakout players, but rather improvement of the entire team under Taylor's guidance. Davidson returned seven starters in 2014, and they all raised their batting averages — from a minimum of 22 points to a maximum of 130 points — for an average increase of 49 points per player. They all increased their RBI totals as well, and, with the exception of one, all increased their home run totals.
A record six Wildcats (including a record-tying four first-teamers) were named to the 2014 All-SoCon Baseball teams, highlighted by senior slugger Forrest Brandt, who was named co-player of the year by the league's coaches. Entering his senior year as a sub-.300 hitter with four home runs and 65 RBI, Brandt batted .364 with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs (in his fourth year starting) to lead the team.
Before Davidson
Taylor spent six seasons on the Samford coaching staff, serving as the outfield coach while assisting with hitting and infielders. While there, he helped lead the Bulldogs to a program-best 41 wins in 2012 as they claimed the SoCon crown and advanced to the NCAAs. The 2011 team won a then-school record 37 games, and the 2010 squad set school records for runs, hits, doubles, home runs, slugging percentage and RBIs.
A 2006 graduate of Vanderbilt University, Taylor was a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and spent time as a middle infielder and designated hitter for the Commodores. Taylor was a member of two NCAA Regional teams and was among the team leaders in fielding percentage all four seasons and on-base percentage during his final two.
Taylor hails from Montrose, Ala., and had a stellar career at Bayside Academy where he still holds numerous single-season and career records. Taylor earned his M.B.A. from Samford in 2008.
Vanderbilt '06
After four seasons as associate head coach and six total years on the Davidson staff, Rucker Taylor took the reins as head coach of the Wildcats program in July, 2018. The 2025 season is his seventh as head coach.
In six years, he compiled a 166-114 (.592) record and climbed to second on the program's wins list.
Named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 2022, Taylor led the Wildcats to a single-season school record 43 wins and the 120-year-old program’s first outright regular season conference championship. The Wildcats finished 43-13 (.768), were 20-4 (.833) in A-10 play, and Taylor was named to Baseball America’s Coaches to Watch List.
The 30-24 campaign of 2023 was the program's fourth 30-win season. Taylor has been a part of all of them.
Taylor has made an impact at every stop. His instruction helped lead Samford to its first NCAA Regional in 2012, then Davidson to its first Regional and Super Regional in 2017. As a player at Vanderbilt, he was a member of the Commodores’ first Super Regional team. His promotion to head coach quickly garnered some national attention, as Baseball America listed Taylor in its list of Top 10 Coaches Under 40 (here).
With Taylor filling a key role on staff, Davidson has posted its top five single-season win marks (29, 30, 33, 35, 43) and reached the Atlantic 10 Tournament seven out of eight times, including making back-to-back championship game appearances in 2016 and 2017. The Wildcats have ranked in the top of the league in multiple offensive categories since Taylor’s tenure began and have earned national rankings in slugging and on-base percentages, home runs, and walks.
His expertise has helped 19 former players to be selected in the Major League Baseball Draft.
Taylor resides in nearby Cornelius with his wife, Victoria, and son, Beau.
Atlantic 10 Success, Etc.
The 2022 Davidson campaign was one for the record books, as Taylor’s Wildcats went a program-best 43-13 and secured the regular-season A-10 crown.
The Wildcats swept the major A-10 postseason awards, with Taylor being honored alongside A-10 Player of the Year Michael Carico, Pitcher of the Year Blake Hely and Rookie of the Year Ryan Feczko. In July, junior pitcher Nolan DeVos was selected in the fifth round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Houston Astros, pick No. 163, the second-highest Wildcat ever drafted.
Carico, a catcher, led the nation with a .559 on-base percentage, earned All-America honors from four media outlets, was the lone recipient of the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove and was a finalist for two national awards. After the season, Carico became the first Wildcat player to participate with USA Baseball, earning a spot in the Collegiate National Team Training Camp.
Taylor also participated in USA Baseball over the summer as an assistant coach with the Player Development Pipeline League. It was his second stint with USA Baseball after serving with the inaugural 13U/14U Athlete Development Program in 2019.
In his first season as head coach, Taylor led the 2019 Wildcats to 29 wins, a second-place regular-season finish and to three wins in the A-10 Tournament.
Taylor’s tutelage helped the Wildcats turn in a breakthrough season in 2017, when they went 35-26, captured the A-10 championship for the program’s first conference title and advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals by sweeping the Chapel Hill Regional. The Wildcats, who beat nationally ranked host North Carolina twice to advance to face Texas A&M, became just the second No. 4 seed to ever sweep an NCAA Regional.
In 2017, senior outfielder Will Robertson became the most decorated player in school history, earning four All-America honors, being named an NCAA Breakout Player of the Year finalist, and being taken by the Baltimore Orioles in the 30th round of the MLB Draft. Taylor’s knowledge of hitting helped the Wildcats blast 71 homers, led by Robertson’s single-season record of 18. Fellow senior Brian Fortier added 15, as both sluggers were named National Players of the Week during the season and finished as All-Conference honorees.
The Wildcats followed up that historic campaign with a 33-21 record in 2018, which included the most regular season wins in school history (32) and the program’s highest winning percentage in the modern era (.611).
The 2018 Wildcats ranked in the top 20 in the nation and finished the season with a league-best 60 home runs, led by the junior duo of Eric Jones and Justin Lebek, who launched 11 each.
The 2016 season also included a breakthrough for the Wildcats, as Davidson became the first No. 6 seed to ever reach the A-10 final. In the inaugural A-10 season in 2015, Davidson earned the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament before falling in the semifinals.
SoCon Success
With Taylor overseeing the offense, the 2014 Wildcats hit .303, which ranked 14th in the nation and second in the Southern Conference. The boost at the plate led Davidson to its then-winningest season, as the Wildcats set program records for overall wins (29), SoCon wins (17) and modern-era winning percentage (.604). Davidson finished second in the SoCon for the first time since 1987, despite being picked last in the coaches' preseason poll.
In addition to hitting for average, Davidson became one of the premier power-hitting teams in the country, ranking third in the nation with 1.04 home runs per game (50 HR in 48 games), ninth in doubles per game and sixth with a .459 slugging percentage. The Wildcats hit just 15 home runs prior to Taylor's arrival in 2012 before more than doubling that total the next season with 39 home runs.
The success was not attributable to just a couple of breakout players, but rather improvement of the entire team under Taylor's guidance. Davidson returned seven starters in 2014, and they all raised their batting averages — from a minimum of 22 points to a maximum of 130 points — for an average increase of 49 points per player. They all increased their RBI totals as well, and, with the exception of one, all increased their home run totals.
A record six Wildcats (including a record-tying four first-teamers) were named to the 2014 All-SoCon Baseball teams, highlighted by senior slugger Forrest Brandt, who was named co-player of the year by the league's coaches. Entering his senior year as a sub-.300 hitter with four home runs and 65 RBI, Brandt batted .364 with 12 home runs and 51 RBIs (in his fourth year starting) to lead the team.
Before Davidson
Taylor spent six seasons on the Samford coaching staff, serving as the outfield coach while assisting with hitting and infielders. While there, he helped lead the Bulldogs to a program-best 41 wins in 2012 as they claimed the SoCon crown and advanced to the NCAAs. The 2011 team won a then-school record 37 games, and the 2010 squad set school records for runs, hits, doubles, home runs, slugging percentage and RBIs.
A 2006 graduate of Vanderbilt University, Taylor was a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and spent time as a middle infielder and designated hitter for the Commodores. Taylor was a member of two NCAA Regional teams and was among the team leaders in fielding percentage all four seasons and on-base percentage during his final two.
Taylor hails from Montrose, Ala., and had a stellar career at Bayside Academy where he still holds numerous single-season and career records. Taylor earned his M.B.A. from Samford in 2008.
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