Report: Mike Bianco will return for 25th season with Ole Miss baseball

Mike Bianco will return as Ole Miss head coach next season, a source tells Rebels insider Michael Katz. It will be his 25th season coaching the baseball program.

The Rebels finished 27-29 during the 2024 season. Ole Miss’ season ended on Tuesday after losing to Mississippi State 2-1 in the SEC Tournament. After dropping the opening-round game against the Bulldogs, Bianco commented on his future with the Rebels program.

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“You’ll have to ask my boss,” Bianco said after the loss. “But I expect to be back.”

Bianco’s contract buyout details are murky due to how Ole Miss puts together its contracts. All coaches have a public contract that is available to view online, while also earning a portion of his salary from the private Ole Miss Athletic Foundation. His contract is currently slated to end in June of 2026 where he will earn an annual base salary of $1.625 million.

The Rebels won the NCAA Tournament under Bianco in 2022, but Ole Miss followed that up with a 25-29 record during the following season and finished at the bottom of the SEC rankings with a 6-24 conference record.

This season saw improvements with 11 conference wins, but losing six-straight to end the year and finishing 7-15 in true road games has them outside of the NCAA Tournament field for a second-straight season.

“We don’t make it the last couple years, but I think this year, we’re a couple wins away,” Bianco continued. “Again, I don’t wanna go through the RPI and strength of schedule and all of those different things. We have to be better and we will be. We’ve always responded and we will again.”

At one point during Ole Miss’ championship season, the Rebels sat at 7-14 before winning seven of its next nine SEC series. Bianco was named National Coach of the Year by D1Baseball, USA Baseball, the ABCA, and Collegiate Baseball. It was the second time he achieved the honor.

In 24 seasons, Bianco has led Ole Miss to 18 postseason appearances, including eight Super Regional berths and a pair of trips to the College World Series, including the 2022 national championship win. He was hired in Oxford on June 7, 2000.

During that time, Bianco has produced 130 Major League Baseball draft picks, including a combined 31 in the past six seasons. Ole Miss will be looking to add to those totals later this summer.