Report: Oklahoma Assistant Takes Head Coaching Job

Oklahoma baseball coach Skip Johnson reportedly needs a new assistant coach.

Clay Van Hook, the Sooners’ hitting coach and third base coach during their memorable 2022 season, is expected to be hired as the head coach at UT-Arlington.

That’s according to D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers, who reported the news Thursday on Twitter.

Van Hook instructed an OU lineup that produced four .300 hitters — Tanner Tredaway (.370), Peyton Graham (.335), Jimmy Crooks (.305) and Blake Robertson (.300) — and reached numerous standards on the way to a Big 12 Tournament championship and a College World Series runner-up finish.

OU this year hit its highest home run total (73) since 2010.

Van Hook spent five seasons as an OU assistant coach, joining the Sooners following a six-year stint at Rice.

He played for Johnson at both Navarro Junior College (2004) and at the University of Texas (2007). He transferred to UT from Navarro after his freshman season and spent three years playing for Augie Garrido in Austin, where Johnson was hired as pitching coach in 2007. 

As a sophomore in 2005, Van Hook earned second-team All-Big 12 honors. In 2007, he was drafted by the Seattle Mariners.

From 2012-17, Van Hook was on the coaching staff at Rice under long-time head coach Wayne Graham.

Before that, he served as an assistant coach at McNeese State for three seasons from 2009-11.

Van Hook earned his degree at Texas in 2008 while serving as a student assistant coach.