Nick Mingione opens up on what it means that Kentucky broke down the wall to Omaha

Nick Mingione led Kentucky to its first-ever College World Series appearance this season. While it didn’t end the way the Wildcats would have hoped, Mingione is looking to make the trip to Omaha an annual occurrence for the Bat ‘Cats.

Mingione pointed to the Kennesaw State series, which UK won 2-1, as the turning point in Kentucky’s season that kick-started its run to the CWS.

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“I thought after that series our team just really fell into place. They really created their identity,” Mingione said after losing to Florida on Wednesday. “And we were behind that Tuesday mid-week game right after that, and they just fought back. And really we haven’t looked back since.

“I’ve done an amazing job this year of taking all this in. I could just sense — I knew how special they were. Their uncommon focus every single day, their unselfishness. I really dreaded this day because I just want to keep being around these guys. They are truly an amazing group of men. The way they represented this program, the institution and our state, like, the entire state of Kentucky, is really remarkable.”

Many were surprised to see Kentucky begin 14-1 in conference play, never taking its foot off the gas in those first five series. Mingione said that his team kept attacking what’s in front of them and showed up everyday as if the previous day never happened.

“They just had a true uncommon focus and belief in each other, in our program, in everything we were doing,” Mingione continued. “That’s not normal. I can tell you this, that’s what it was going to take for us to knock down the wall. … And on the way to the field, the last hallway, there’s a sign that says ‘The Road to Omaha.’ It was there intentionally because I wanted the players to understand that every day they walked through that wall that that’s where it was going to start.”

Mingione has believed since arriving in Lexington before the 2017 season that it was going to take a special team to break that wall and be the first Kentucky team to reach Omaha. This was that team.

Of course, he had to pull his own weight, too.

“Every time I walk out there, these guys deserve my best. Every time,” he said. “It was like a switch that would just put me in the right mind frame that I would just give these guys everything I had.

“And I just had one of our seniors tell me, ‘Coach, the way you’ve loved us and the way you’ve literally poured your heart and soul into this, this is one of the reasons why we’re here.’ And I’m, like, ‘No, it had nothing to do with me; it had to do with you because of the way you guys just represented this program,’ but I believed in this team. I knew we could do it and I’m thankful we got here. I wish we would have accomplished the ultimate goal of national champions, but they made history forever.”