Clemson officially hires Erik Bakich away from Michigan baseball
It’s official — Michigan is in search of a new baseball coach. Clemson announced Thursday it hired Erik Bakich away from the Wolverines to replace Monte Lee, fired after two seasons missing the NCAA Tournament.
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Apparently, the Tigers weren’t the only ones he was flirting with, either. From ClemsonSports.com:
“While Bakich ultimately agreed to a deal with Clemson, he had conversations with Southern Cal as recently as Tuesday, and the Trojans were pushing for him, per sources. With that said, we are skeptical that the talk with Southern Cal was much more than agent negotiations. We believe Clemson was always where Bakich wanted to end up.”
Bakich was the consensus national coach of the year in 2019, when he led Michigan to an NCAA runner-up finish and a 50-22 record. He also led it to the NCAA Tournament in 2015, 2017, 2021 and 2022, meaning five of his last seven teams (excluding 2020) advanced to the national tournament. He guided the Wolverines to Big Ten Tournament titles in 2015 and 2022 as well.
“Our family is thrilled to join the Clemson Athletics family and immerse ourselves in the local community,” the former Michigan coach said in a release. “It was an honor to wear the Clemson uniform 20 years ago as a young coach on Jack Leggett’s staff. I am forever grateful and very appreciative for the opportunity to start coaching at Clemson surrounded by three Hall of Famers and a record-setting team.
“It is a privilege to serve as a steward of this storied tradition and help lead Clemson Baseball back to prominence competing for ACC Championships, trips to Omaha and our first National Championship.”
Before his stint at Michigan, Bakich spent three seasons as head coach at Maryland. In 2012, he led the Terrapins to a 32-24 record, a 15-win improvement from his first season in College Park. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt under Head Coach Tim Corbin, who was an assistant coach at Clemson from 1994-02. Vanderbilt had a 276-157 record in his seven seasons (2003-09) in Nashville.
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“Erik is such a natural fit. If there was any teacher or coach who was meant to be a Tiger, it’s him,” Corbin said. “He is Clemson through and through. Erik will be a great extension of the university and the athletic program.
“Clemson has such a quality group of coaches and Erik will add great harmony to the department. I am very happy for Jiffy, Erik and the kids, and happy for the young men who will have an opportunity to play for Erik.”
Michigan is looking at former pitcher and pitching coach Chris Fetter, now pitching coach with the Detroit Tigers, and others to replace Bakich. But it won’t be easy. Bakich will go down as one of the best coaches U-M has had, one of the reasons other programs were consistently trying to poach him from U-M.
Clemson finally landed him, and in doing so got one of the top coaches in the country.
