Chris Rupp, assistant coach at Rice University, was named the new head Bearkat baseball coach at Sam Houston State University on Thursday afternoon. “I am looking forward to being on the staff at Sam Houston and hope to make the best of a good opportunity,” Rupp said. “I had a strong desire to be a head coach again and, in the past, Sam has had a good baseball team. I think we can restore this and have a good team again.”Rupp, 45, was assistant coach at Rice University for the past two years, with 17 years experience as a head baseball coach and 22 years overall experience. After nine years as head coach at San Jacinto College North, Rupp led the Gators on four trips to the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series. Rupp compiled a 346-170 record while at San Jacinto College, leading the Gators twice to the World Series.After playing baseball at Sterling High School in Baytown, Rupp went on to play for Texas A&M and Angelina Junior College.”I have played baseball all my life and I come from a baseball family,” Rupp said. “I always wanted to be a coach and when your passion is your livelihood and your life, you work that much harder at it.”Bobby Williams, Bearkat director of athletics, said Rupp has been successful at every level of coaching and knows what it takes to win at the NCAA Division I level.”We are excited about Chris becoming our baseball coach,” said Williams. “Chris Rupp is a tremendous motivator with a passion for baseball and for helping student athletes achieve.”This was an opportunity for a good job and I did not want to let this slip past, Rupp said.One of our goals for this season is to get to the conference tournament and we are going to strive to reach that goal and strive to win the conference tournament, he said.”I think you always have to set goals to win the conference championship,” Rupp said.Rupp believes in the importance of education and will work hard to see that each of our players is successful in the classroom, Williams said.The players need to remember they have to have school to get an education so that they can get a job and be a productive citizen, Rupp said.”I think they need to know that baseball for the most part is a vehicle for them to get their education and 99 percent of the players will not make a living as a baseball player,” he said.Coach Rupp has received two NJCAA Region XIV South coach of the year awards, four American Baseball Coaches Association coach of the year awards, and four Texas-New Mexico Junior College Baseball Coaches Association coach of the year awards.Rupp graduated from Texas A&M in 1980 with a bachelor of science degree and went on to earn his master’s degree from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1986. “I am hard-nosed and aggressive,” Rupp said while talking about his style of coaching. “I try to be aggressive and try to put pressure on the defense as much as possible.”