Nick Mingione discusses winning Coach of the Year Award

Kentucky Baseball head coach and 2024 SEC Coach of the Year Nick Mingione joined the SEC Now crew in Hoover Tuesday afternoon to discuss winning the award.

"I've surrounded myself with amazing coaches, staff, and have a bunch of dogs as players." @UKBaseball's Nick Mingione on winning @SEC Coach of the Year 👏 pic.twitter.com/wkWDtSbmsV

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) May 21, 2024

“It just means that we have amazing coaches,” Mingione said. “I’ve surrounded myself with an amazing coaching staff and I have a bunch of ‘dawgs’ as players. You guys know this, I view this as a team award. There’s no way I could do this by myself.”

Mingione is now a two-time winner of the award (2017), joining Arkansas’ Dave Van Horn (three-time), Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin (three-time), and Florida’s Kevin O’Sullivan (three-time) as the only active SEC head coaches to win the award more than once.

After entering the 2024 season unranked and picked to finish fifth in the SEC East in the preseason, Kentucky finished the regular season with a 39-12 (22-8) record, earning a co-share of its second ever SEC Regular Season Championship while winning a school record 22 conference games.

“This fall, we had a lot of guys back from last year’s Super Regional team,” Mingione said. “A year ago, we were two wins away from Omaha and knocking down a door. We didn’t do it and we lost to the eventual National Champions, who we play tomorrow. But I would say this fall, it was super competitive. We put teams in different dugouts and they just got after each other. I truly believe that is the foundation of every great team.”

Grad transfer DH Nick Lopez and junior left fielder Ryan Waldschmidt were named All-SEC selections, while junior second baseman Émilien Pitre, grad transfer third baseman Mitch Daly, and junior right-handed pitcher Mason Moore were named SEC All-Defense selections.

Nick Mingione became the first Kentucky coach to win the award twice. John Cohen (2006) and Gary Henderson (2012) were also winners of the award.

No. 3 Kentucky will play No. 11 LSU on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EST/9:30 a.m. CST in the Second Round of the SEC Tournament.

Following its week in Hoover, the Cats will return to Lexington as they prepare to host their second ever Regional at Kentucky Proud Park and third in program history (2017, 2023). If Kentucky can win the Lexington Regional for the second consecutive season, the Cats will likely be hosting their first Super Regional in school history with eyes on their first College World Series appearance in school history.