Clemson expected to hire Michigan baseball coach Erik Bakich
What’s been rumored for days appears now about to become official — Michigan baseball coach Erik Bakich will be the next coach at Clemson. Sources say Bakich was set to inform his team Wednesday morning, while Clemson was expected to have a Zoom call with its team later per ClemsonSports.com.
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Bakich has proven to be one of the best college baseball coaches in the country. He led Michigan to within a game of a national championship in 2019. With better pitching this year — the team had a 7.01 ERA heading into the postseason — the Wolverines might have made a deeper run than the regional, where they lost to Louisville twice. Their 11-9 loss in the last game was marred by a controversial call at second base that extended an inning and led to four Cardinals runs.
That will go down as Bakich’s last game as Michigan coach, barring something unforeseen.
Clemson sources indicated the Tigers still wanted to interview Notre Dame’s Link Jarrett once the Fighting Irish’s season ended, but the Irish made the College World Series. Bakich was right there as a top target, though, with ties to the program. He was a Tigers assistant in the early 2000s.
Bakich has spurned other opportunities in the recent past to remain at Michigan, including Stanford in 2017.
“Quick note to say thank you to Michigan, [athletic director] Warde Manuel, [senior associate athletic director] Bitsy Ritt, our coaches, staff, and players for allowing me to continue to wear the block ‘M’,” Bakich wrote and put in a tweet at the time. “It is an honor and privilege to serve as the head baseball coach. We have so much to be proud of in our 151 year tradition rich program and the future continues to be extremely bright. Those who stay will be champions. Thank you and Go Blue!”
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He was given a five-year contract extension with a significant raise, including a $200,000 signing bonus. However, while several said he was willing to listen to Michigan, the Wolverines couldn’t come close to matching what the Tigers were offering.
Michigan will miss him. The consensus 2019 national coach of the year, Bakich guided Michigan’s oldest sports program to a number-one overall ranking in the top-25 polls, an NCAA Runner-Up finish, three NCAA Tournament bids, a Big Ten Conference Tournament title, and seven Big Ten Tournament appearances in his nine years. During his time at the helm, Michigan has had 38 players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, along with 41 All-America selections, 57 Big Ten Conference team selections, one Big Ten Player of the Year, and 62 Academic All-Big Ten selections.
Michigan qualified for yet another NCAA Regional appearance in another solid 2021 postseason run in which the Wolverines won the Big Ten title.
