This college baseball analyst is a big fan of Clemson’s hire of Erik Bakich as the baseball program’s new head coach.
ESPN’s Mike Rooney made an appearance on Packer and Durham with Mark Packer and Wes Durham on ACC Network on Friday and was asked if he likes the fit of Bakich going to Clemson.
“Love it. Home run hire,” Rooney said.
Bakich served as head coach at Michigan the last 10 seasons, leading the Wolverines to the 2019 College World Series championship series. Bakich also served as a head coach at Maryland (2010-12) and as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt (2003-09) under Tim Corbin along with his one year as volunteer assistant coach at Clemson under head coach Jack Leggett and alongside Corbin and Kevin O’Sullivan at Clemson in 2002, when the Tigers had a 54-17 record and advanced to the College World Series.
Bakich was the consensus national coach of the year in 2019, when he led Michigan to an NCAA runner-up finish and a 50-22 record. He also led it to the NCAA Tournament in 2015, 2017, 2021 and 2022, meaning five of his last seven teams (excluding 2020) advanced to the national tournament. Bakich guided the Wolverines to Big Ten Tournament titles in 2015 and 2022 as well.
At Maryland in 2012, Bakich led the Terrapins to a 32-24 record, a 15-win improvement from his first season in College Park.
“Erik Bakich did an incredible job at Maryland before Michigan,” Rooney said. “As you mentioned, Michigan (went to) Game 3 of the finals. He took a Big Ten team to Game 3 of the College World Series finals in 2019 — not 1950, not 1975, not 1984. Like, in this modern era, just an incredible job. And the other thing is Erik Bakich knows what it looks like at Clemson when it’s elite. He worked for Jack Leggett, he’s a Tim Corbin disciple.
“So, I think it was a home run hire… that’s a great hire.”
–Clemson Athletic Communications contributed to this story
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