Baseball: Bakich to Interview at S. Carolina; Sean Kenny to UGA

Submitted by Raoul on

SEC Country is reporting that Michigan baseball coach Erik Bakich is expected to interview for the open South Carolina job.

Bakich is familiar with the SEC, having served as an assistant at Vanderbilt from 2003-09 and also has experience in South Carolina from coaching at Clemson in 2002.

Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan is reportedly a strong candidate for the same job

Meanwhile, Bakich's pitching coach, Sean Kenny (an Ann Arbor native), is headed to Georgia to be their pitching coach. So even if Bakich stays at U-M he'll have a big hole to fill on his coaching staff.

Raoul

June 9th, 2017 at 8:55 PM ^

Stanford, which is also looking for a new baseball coach, and Bakich has been rumored for that job as well.

Bakich has roots in Northern California (was born in San Jose and started his college career at San Jose CC), and he's been heavily recruiting California while at Michigan, landing a number of prospects from that state.

Raoul

June 9th, 2017 at 9:01 PM ^

Big Ten baseball blogger Chris Webb says:

The Fugitive

June 9th, 2017 at 9:18 PM ^

The way the northern schools are screwed by the NCAA and the scheduling, I wouldn't blame him for leaving If he does. Why put up with such a severe disadvantage?

Alton

June 9th, 2017 at 9:48 PM ^

Living in South Carolina isn't so bad.  Living in Columbia, South Carolina, is. 

Hopefully Michigan can get Bakich a long-term deal.  Too bad about Kenny, but that's how you move up in the baseball coaching world.  The last several SEC coaching hires have been assistant coaches getting promoted to head coach.  Kenny wasn't going to be a long-term assistant at Michigan--he was going to keep moving up one way or the other.

Alton

June 10th, 2017 at 8:44 AM ^

With his local ties and his obvious success coaching pitchers wherever he has been an assistant, his name would have been near the top of the list.  If Bakich takes this SC job, I hope Manuel at least picks up the phone to make sure Kenny hasn't bought a house in Athens yet.

I see that Chris Webb has mentioned Chris Fetter as a possible candidate as Michigan's new pitching coach.  I like the sound of that.  Fetter was the #2 starter on Michigan's most recent Regional Champion team 10 years ago and is now the Dodgers' minor league pitching coordinator.

michclub19

June 10th, 2017 at 11:44 AM ^

Noooooo!!!! If Fetter takes the job all my efforts to convince him to be the ace on my amateur wood bat team in Indianapolis goes for naught!

*For those of you not aware Fetter grew up and currently resides in Indy.  Was hoping our Michigan past could sway him to play with us

fat_wilhelm

June 10th, 2017 at 1:33 PM ^

I'd rather see Nick Schnabel get the job if an assistant were to be promoted. He's the best recruiter in the conference, currently helping to assemble one of the best incoming classes in the nation, and he knows the game. M players also love him, giving him lots of credit for their development. That said, I hope Warde does the right thing and steps up. Michigan doesn't need to be an also-ran with their resources and although geography is a hindrance, we seem to have been able to overcome that with softball.

icefins26

June 9th, 2017 at 9:53 PM ^

I live in SC. I like SC. Why do you say such things? Have you ever lived here? I live in Columbia and believe it or not, it's a great place to live. There are pros and cons of every state and city in the US. It's all about what you make of it.

michfan84

June 10th, 2017 at 8:51 AM ^

I lived in Columbia from 2008-2012. I taught in two fairly diverse schools, and based on my experiences with thousands of students and parents, I could make an argument that interrace relations are healthier down there than in MI. Kids have friends of all races, and parents interacted very cordially with one another. I think the older generation is what many outsiders still think of, but I believe that to be dying out. Not to say there are no issues, but it's not the image that some on this board have of the place.

icefins26

June 10th, 2017 at 11:27 AM ^

I agree 100%. I grew up in a very white suburb of Grand Rapids and racism in GR is much more prevalent than in the south. Sure, racism exists down here but due to the racial mix, many don't see it any different and don't view minorities as so "out of place" as you see in parts of Michigan.

Section 1.7

June 10th, 2017 at 9:06 AM ^

No no no no no.  No politics there.  Thanks, for not bringing any politics in. 

Just facts.  I love facts!  The facts in South Carolina are that a modernized confederate flag was raised over the SC capitol dome in 1961, for the centennial of the civil war.  (Others complain that it was a state-sponsored symbol of opposition to the then-ascendant civil rights movement.)

That flag flew until about the year 2000, when it was removed pursuant to legislation passed by both houses of the South Carolina legislature.   The legislation then directed that a more historically-accurate confederate battle flag be placed on a 30-ft. flagpole in front of the Confederate Veterans' memorial on the capitol grounds, as part of that memorial.  And that was the flag that, after having been presented that way (not on the capitol building as you inaccurately posited) for 15 years, that was taken down "like 2 years ago."

 

Blue in SC

June 10th, 2017 at 11:04 AM ^

I grew up in Michigan and moved to Charleston, SC 10 years ago.  I truly believe Charleston is as close to heaven on earth as it gets.  Charleston, SC is > Columbia, SC for sure, however I prefer Columbia to many major Michigan cities.  State capitals: Columbia, SC > Lansing, MI.

michfan84

June 10th, 2017 at 2:21 PM ^

I agree with those sentiments. When I lived in Columbia, my wife and I would travel to Charleston as often as possible. It always has amazed me that more people don't live there. It's got just about everything you could want: beautiful, walkable city, amazing food options, interesting history, great climate, and numerous gorgeous beaches within 20-30 min. I can't think of a place I'd rather live.

esemoney

June 10th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^

Coach Bakich is the best thing that has happened to Michigan baseball in quite a long time. He has established a great winning culture to the point that Michigan is a legit top 25 program and should maintain that for years to come. In addition to bringing in great talent, his value system is a perfect fit for a Michigan sports program. Warde Manuel needs to put a stop to the revolving door at the coach's office at The Fish and keep Coach Bakich where he belongs. Baseball is no longer an after-thought thanks to Bakich. He's a young guy and should be here for decades. Coach Bakich has always stated that he wants to build a program like Coach Hutchins has done with the softball program. Well, Manuel needs to give him what he wants because Bakich has proven he has what it takes to build that type of program. He's done a ton in 5 years. Give him the opportunity to keep the momentum going. 

Maizen

June 11th, 2017 at 12:36 PM ^

Anyone know if there are any plans to do another renovation on the stadium? I know they did one about a decade agao, but looking at the facilities going up around college baseball another might need to be in order.