Dealing with incredibly high expectations typically isn’t easy.
But there are coaches such as the 20 listed below that made high expectations look routine over the past year.
Enter South Carolina’s Ray Tanner and Florida’s Kevin O’Sullivan.
Tanner captured his first national title two seasons ago, and the Gamecocks entered the 2011 campaign expected to be very good but not national title great. Well, Tanner once again worked his magic and led the program to back-to-back national titles, just the ninth program to do so.
Then there’s O’Sullivan. The Gators entered the season atop the Perfect Game Top 25 and didn’t deviate from their plan the entire season. They finished the season as national runner-up with a tough series loss to the Gamecocks.
Though Tanner and O’Sullivan had tremendous campaigns, they certainly weren’t alone.
We highlight 20 college coaches that did the best jobs in 2011.
Dave Esquer, California
There aren’t many coaches who would’ve been able to handle Cal’s situation in 2011 better than Esquer. What a masterful job he did as the program’s face. With the program set to get cut, Esquer kept his team hungry throughout the regular season. The Golden Bears received great news in April when the program was reinstated and they finished the year in the College World Series. Esquer kept everything together for this program.
Ray Tanner, South Carolina
It’s hard to imagine, but yes, Tanner did a better coaching job this season than he did guiding the Gamecocks to their first national title in 2010. Tanner adequately replaced two key starting pitchers and other key cogs from the first national title team, and parlayed that into back-to-back national titles. It can be tough to keep a team hungry two seasons in a row. The Gamecocks didn’t have that issue with Tanner leading the way.
Mike Fox, North Carolina
The Tar Heels were barely ranked by us entering the season, and weren’t ranked at all by most. But they exceeded expectations in a big way in 2011. The Heels put together a fantastic regular season campaign with freshman slugger Colin Moran and senior pitcher Patrick Johnson leading the way. They made yet another appearance in the CWS and finished the year with a fabulous 51-16 overall record. Give Fox a wealth of credit for the overachievement.
Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt
Entering the season all anyone could talk about was Vandy’s postseason woes under Corbin. The Commodores and Corbin put those criticisms to rest in a big way this past season. They cruised through the regular season portion of their schedule before storming their way to the program’s first trip to Omaha. Though Vandy fell short of a national title, it put together a memorable campaign, one Corbin always will cherish.
Brian O’Connor, Virginia
The Cavaliers fell short of winning a national title in Omaha, but still put together a fantastic campaign. They were expected to compete for an NCAA Super Regional appearance entering the season, but weren’t an Omaha favorite. Virginia, though, compiled an impressive regular season record, cruised through NCAA Regional play and used heroics to beat UC Irvine and get to Omaha. O’Connor did another tremendous job with this program.
Kevin O’Sullivan, Florida
The Gators reached the CWS for the first time in O’Sullivan’s tenure in 2010, but went 0-2 and were headed home after just a couple of days. Using that as motivation, the Gators put together an impressive ’11 campaign. They cruised the regular season portion of their schedule before beating Miami and Mississippi State to advance to Omaha. Once there, the Gators were impressive in bracket play before losing to South Carolina in the CWS Championship Series. There’s no shame in the way their season ended.
Rob Childress, Texas A&M
The Aggies were much like North Carolina this past season. They had the tools to be successful, but uncertainty in some areas kept them as a fringe top-25 team. The Aggies, though, very much exceeded expectations. They won the Big 12 regular season (shared with Texas) and tournament titles before winning the College Station Regional over Arizona and Tallahassee Super Regional over Florida State. Though the Aggies didn’t play well in Omaha, they still put together a campaign that should serve as a springboard to the future.
Pat Casey, Oregon State
What a sweet, sweet campaign it was for the Beavers. Rival Oregon entered the season with all the hoopla. But the Beavers stole the show by the end of the campaign. They put together a solid regular season campaign before winning the Corvallis Regional. OSU fell short of Omaha with an NCAA Super Regional series loss to Vanderbilt, but still exceeded expectations. OSU was a fringe top-25 team entering the season. Casey once again did his thing.
Dan Heefner, Dallas Baptist
The days of college baseball readers wondering who Heefner is likely are over. The Patriots entered the season with high expectations and compiled an impressive regular season record. They squeaked into an NCAA Regional and took care of business against a Fort Worth Regional field that included TCU, Oklahoma and Oral Roberts. Heefner will be one of the hottest coaches entering the 2012 campaign.
Mile Gillespie, UC Irvine
The Anteaters didn’t get much recognition during the early part of the season because of their weak non-conference schedule. However, it became obvious by season’s end this was a very solid club. The ‘Eaters were expected to have a rebuilding campaign after losing many key cogs from the 2010 team. Instead, they reached an NCAA Super Regional and were a strike away from advancing to the College World Series. Give Gillespie a lot of credit for having this team ready to perform at a high level.
The best of the rest
Danny Hall, Georgia Tech: Hall guided an extremely young Yellow Jackets club to a surprisingly consistent regular season campaign.
Augie Garrido, Texas: The Longhorns might’ve been unimpressive in Omaha, but they put together a pretty consistent campaign as a whole.
Jim Penders, Connecticut: Most northern programs with high expectations the past few seasons have floundered in a big way. Not Penders and the Huskies, though.
Terry Rooney, UCF: Remember when the Knights were somewhat of a joke? Not anymore, as Rooney guided the program to the NCAA postseason in 2011.
Mark Marquess, Stanford: The Cardinal had a relatively young team and was without starting pitcher Brett Mooneyham the entire season. They still made an NCAA Super Regional.
Pete Dunn, Stetson: The Hatters were expected to be solid this past season, but I’m not sure anyone thought they’d compiled such an impressive overall record.
Scott Stricklin, Kent State: The Golden Flashes put together a solid campaign that almost ended with an NCAA Super Regional appearance.
John Cohen, Mississippi State: Sure, the Bulldogs probably were lucky to even be in the NCAA postseason at the end of the regular season. However, Cohen deserves much credit for guiding this team to an NCAA Super Regional.
Tim Esmay, Arizona State: The Sun Devils spent the entire season wondering if they’d even be allowed in the NCAA postseason. This program still found its way to an NCAA Super Regional despite some mental obstacles.
Mike Martin, Florida State: Sure, the Seminoles didn’t reach the College World Series, but this program continues to ooze with consistency. Now, if they can just get that pitching staff going with new pitching coach Mike Bell.
Kendall Rogers is the college baseball editor for Perfect Game USA and has covered the sport for over 10 seasons. He can be reached at kendall@perfectgame.org