Link Jarrett admits failing to win as a player keeps him up at night
Link Jarrett did not win a College World Series when he was a player himself at Florida State. That’s why it means that much more to him that the Seminoles do it now with him back at his alma mater as head coach.
Jarrett reflected on his personal dynamic of being back in Omaha with FSU ahead of his team’s trip there. For him, it’s an opportunity at redemption as he feels as though at least one of his teams should have won one during their three appearances in the MCWS. It would also be a way to honor his former coach in their first season since his passing.
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“Now, I want to win it for (Mike Martin Sr.),” said Jarrett. “Like, why as a player couldn’t I get it done? It keeps me up. What did I not do? What were we not doing that kept us from that?”
“Did I ever think I would be sitting here coaching it? No. You don’t think that that’s going to happen. You really don’t but I owe it to the program, him to figure out how to finish it,” Jarrett said.
Jarrett was a shortstop for Florida State back in the early to mid-90s under Martin Sr.. He has since returned to take his former manager’s place over the past two years.
Now, around 30 years later, the Seminoles have taken on the mission of their coach. They all know that something is missing in their trophy case, specifically from during his own playing career. That makes potentially bringing one back alongside him in his coaching one mean that much more.
“That’s the messaging. Our guys were thrilled,” said Jarrett. “Like, we’re sitting there in the room and I told them. When we walk out of this room and you get on that plane, there’s 400 people standing along the sides of the bus. You’re going to walk through that and this will never be the same. Like, it’s never – so, when we get up and leave, you’re going to feel differently the moment you open that locker room door and off you go and here it starts.”
“In that corner, in the cabinet trophy case there, there’s something missing. So I’m not happy to walk out through the people. That probably doesn’t come off right. I’m happy to walk through to come where we are trying to take that bus and that plane but I’m not happy with the result that I’ve had,” Jarrett said. “So what do we do when we walk out of that room to enjoy those moments but try to make sure that the result for us is just a little bit better and gets us that final trophy that is not sitting in that cabinet over there?”
Florida State has the third-most appearances in the College World Series with 24. However, it has never led to a national championship ever coming back to Tallahassee.
This is the one thing that neither Jarrett or Florida State have accomplished at any point. It’s not going to quit eating at them either until they do so, which they hope to do in this appearance that’ll start on Friday against No. 1 Tennessee.
“That is what all of that means to me and what I need to accomplish here to really feel that I’ve completed this,” Jarrett said.