Former Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett introduced at Florida State: ‘It's deeper than just the baseball’
Former Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett started his introductory press conference at Florida State on Monday with a thank you to his family. That’s not uncommon. You always see it.
But this moment of gratitude was a little bit different. Jarrett’s family — wife Jennifer, son J.T., and daughter Lawson — has now moved eight times for his baseball coaching career. Three of the previous seven moves were to places his wife had never seen. She had to trust that her husband was making the correct decision for his career and their two kids.
That wasn’t the case this time.
“I feel like I closed the circle,” Jarrett said. “I feel an obligation to get these guys to perform at a championship level. It’s an obligation I feel strongly. The circle is closed, but I don’t feel like I’ve filled in what I’m missing in the middle.”
Jarrett’s move to become the Florida State head coach was finalized on Friday, as the Seminoles announced the 50-year-old would take over for former head coach Mike Martin Jr. Jarrett is a Tallahassee native — he said he used to climb over the fence at Florida State to grab ground balls as a kid — and played shortstop under Mike Martin Sr. at Florida State from 1991-94.
His wife is also from Tallahassee. It’s as home as home can be, and anyone who watched Jarrett speak on Monday could see that. Jarrett talked about everything the program means to him and his new ability to drop in on both his parents or his in-laws. The baseball planning, hiring and recruiting will come, but for now, Jarrett is soaking it all in.
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“It’s deeper than just the baseball,” Jarrett added.
But being home doesn’t mean he isn’t grateful for his time at Notre Dame. He’s anything but ungrateful.
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“What was meant to be happened,” Jarrett said. “I was meant to be the coach at Notre Dame.”
Over three years at the helm in South Bend, Jarrett boasted an 86-32 record, including a 41-17 mark in 2022. In each of the two years under Jarrett in which the NCAA had its regular tournament (2020 was canceled due to COVID-19), the Irish made the super regional round. In 2021, they lost to eventual national champion Mississippi State.
In 2022, Jarrett’s squad reached the semifinals of the ACC Championship for the first time since joining the conference in 2014. They ultimately fell to North Carolina, who ended up winning the ACC Tournament.
The Irish were controversially left out of the national seeding in the NCAA Tournament, instead heading to the Statesboro Regional to start the postseason, home of Georgia Southern. The Irish swept the regional and headed to the Knoxville Super Regional to face No. 1 overall seed Tennessee. In the biggest upset of the college baseball season, Notre Dame stunned the Volunteers by winning two of three games and punching a ticket to the Men’s College World Series for the first time since 2002 and just the third time in program history.
Jarrett earned National Coach of the Year honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association on June 17. The award was named after Martin Sr. Talk about closing a circle.
