Butch Thompson discusses Auburn's ‘No Excuses’ mantra, how it helped so far

Auburn baseball was not among the favorites to advance to the College World Series even after a Regional win put them just two wins away from Omaha. After repeatedly overcoming the odds with head coach Butch Thompson’s ‘No Excuses’ mantra in the regular season and not postseason, it served them well against Oregon State.

During his pre-Omaha press conference, Butch Thompson discussed the way Auburn embraced the ‘No Excuses’ mentality despite a number of factors which could easily rattle a team in their position.

“Yeah, we’ve got to go figure out a new setup,” said Thompson. “We had to go 2,000 miles away last week to figure out a setup of travel, of turf field, turf mounds, weather – all those elements. Facing the best pitcher we faced the entire season, an amazing program that had never lost Super Regional that they hosted at home, and it was their seventh. But we just kind of wash that off of us. We came home, we used last night to get back home and wash clothes, and we got back out here in the wight room today like we needed to, got some swings in. And now we’ve got to start figuring out what’re these new challenges of this new setup.

“The guys have done an amazing job with the no excuses. We haven’t thrown a whole lot at them. We’ve thrown a couple simple principles that they’ve absolutely tried to dominate, so they’ve done a great job with simplicity. Just constant routine and simplicity and I think that’s been a key.”

Auburn advances to College World Series

Auburn earned their second College World Series appearance under Butch Thompson after defeating Oregon State in Game 3 of the Super Regional. They will open up College World Series play against SEC West foe Ole Miss at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday.

The last time that Auburn made the CWS was back in 2019, Thompson’s fourth season with the program. The following season was cut short in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Tigers finished with a losing record of 25-27 in 2021.

Beyond this year’s group, the program as a hole appears to be all in on the ‘No Excuses’ mentality. Despite the mountain of difficult circumstances over the past two seasons, the Tigers came roaring back to life behind some transfer bats and reestablished themselves in the mix for a national championship.