Erik Bakich on sharing regional with Tim Corbin: 'It needs to be just about the players'

Erik Bakich and his Clemson baseball program will be welcoming a familiar face to town this weekend. The No. 2 seed in the Clemson Regional for the NCAA Tournament is Vanderbilt, which is led by head coach Tim Corbin.

Long before Bakich was the head coach of the Tigers and Corbin was leading the Commodores program, the two were assistants together at Clemson.

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Erik Bakich and Tim Corbin also worked together at Vandy, with Bakich spending seven seasons as an assistant under Corbin.

Ahead of the start of the NCAA Baseball Tournament, Bakich shared his emotions of being in the same regional as Corbin and Vanderbilt.

“We don’t want to get emotional about the storylines. It needs to be just about the players,” Erik Bakich said. “The players don’t have those storylines. Only coach Leggett and myself do. I’m not the type of guy to ever want the attention on the coaches. Just make it about the kids. So for that reason, since it is really about the kids, then there’s no emotion. Just about execution.”

As Bakich said, in addition to he and Corbin working together for years, coach Jack Leggett will also be in the dugout for the Tigers this weekend.

The longtime Clemson head coach, who originally hired both Bakich and Corbin to his Tigers staff, is currently on staff at Clemson working in a program development role.

While Bakich downplayed the significance of potentially facing off against his former boss, Tim Corbin admitted that returning to Clemson is special.

“It’s where we raised the girls. Coach Leggett, he gave me a chance in Division I baseball. If it wasn’t for him I’m certainly not standing here,” Corbin said. “I developed a marriage there. Just a lot of memories of South Carolina. The girls live in Charleston. Erik coached here. Erik and [his wife] Jiffy are very close to [my wife] Maggie and I. We’re God parents to their kids. Jack’s still on staff there. So yea, a lot of tremendous people.”

With that said, Corbin’s full focus is on beating Coastal Carolina for now. The Commodores will open NCAA Tournament play against the Chanticleers, while Clemson’s opening opponent is High Point.

Clemson and Vanderbilt are the two favorites to reach the regional final, but nothing is guaranteed.

“We’re not playing Clemson. We’re playing at Clemson. We’re playing Coastal Carolina,” Corbin said. “So obviously that’ll be the most important thing. But it’s special to go back there, for sure. That’s where we got married. That’s where we started our life with the girls. A lot of great feelings about that place.”