Why Link Jarrett was meant to be the head baseball coach at Notre Dame

Former Notre Dame baseball coach and Tallahassee, Fla., native Link Jarrett is home. He’s acknowledged he’s now in his dream job. It’s not a secret there’s no place he’d rather be. 

But the sentimentality of the relocation and acknowledgement of “closing the circle,” as the new Florida State head coach called it on Monday, does not mean he’s willing to dismiss the steps that got him to this point. They’ve made him a far better coach. When he talks, he beams with gratitude for opportunities like the one with the Irish. 

“I was meant to be the coach at Notre Dame,” Jarrett said. “What we were able to do up there had never been done.”

In three seasons in South Bend, Jarrett had an 86-32 record, won an ACC Atlantic Division Title in 2021, reached two NCAA Tournament super regionals, and took the Irish to their first Men’s College World Series appearance since 2002.

It sounds a bit ridiculous to say given he was with one of college sports’ biggest brands, but Jarrett defied the odds in South Bend. Put simply, college baseball has a diminished significance in the Midwest. There is a metaphorical ceiling on Northern baseball teams. Just look at the field from Omaha this season, which was composed of four SEC teams (Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas A&M), two future SEC teams (Texas and Oklahoma), Stanford and Notre Dame.

But the Irish made it, and Jarrett is better because of it.

The former Notre Dame head coach has long discussed his old team’s travel schedule as a testament to resilience. The Irish play the early part of the season on the road due to weather conditions in South Bend, and the fact that the ACC schools are spread all over the eastern half of the country make away series more of a hassle.

“If you’re not tough enough to play on the road and come out of the gates, your season is over before you ever play a home game,” Jarrett said. 

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Notre Dame played 13 road series in 2022, including games in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and (a dome) in Minnesota before playing a game at Frank Eck Stadium. Nine of those 13 series did not involve a charter flight. The team had to make the 90-mile trek to Chicago and wait in the terminal just like any other passenger. The same routine was carried out just a few days later when the series concluded. 

“I watched those guys absolutely grind it out in every facet of their experience at Notre Dame,” Jarrett said. “And I had to be more creative with practice.”

Creative might be an understatement. When the weather in South Bend didn’t cooperate, one of the nation’s top baseball teams didn’t retreat to a swanky indoor facility built especially for them. The Irish baseball team made the few-block trek up to the Loftus Sports Center, which opened in 1988. An indoor football field rests in the middle of the complex, and numerous teams — softball, men’s and women’s lacrosse — use it. The track around the indoor field is often utilized by the track and field teams while the baseball team is practicing. Time is hard to come by, and you have to make the most of your couple of hours of allotted time.

“Then you might have to finish your scrimmage in the batting cages,” Jarrett said, describing a typical Saturday or Sunday when the team had to use Loftus.

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The Tallahassee native will face certain roadblocks back home, but the weather shouldn’t be much of an issue. Traveling will be more convenient. The parents and in-laws are closer. The familiarity with the area is abundant.

But Jarrett may not be there if not for the challenges and triumphs he faced at Notre Dame.

“That’s where I belonged for that period of time,” he said. “And if that doesn’t make you a better coach, I don’t know what will.”