Rick McCarty enters his fifth season in the spring of 2023 as the head coach at Abilene Christian University after being announced on June 12, 2018. McCarty came to ACU after spending 16 years as an assistant coach. Throughout those seasons, the programs he has been with have won 40 or more games 10 different times. As an assistant, McCarty tallied 618 wins, for an average of 38 wins per year. He has seen programs participate in nine regional tournaments and two College World Series.

McCarty is just the fourth head baseball coach at ACU since the university re-instated the program in 1991, following Bill Gilbreth, Jimmy Shankle and Bonneau, who resigned May 19, 2018 after 22 seasons as the head coach. McCarty takes over a program that in 2021 will be in its eighth season of NCAA Division I play and fourth season of full eligibility for Southland Conference and NCAA postseason play.