Shakin the Southland authors have profiled 11 different candidates for the vacant head baseball coach position. Either Kevin O’Sullivan or Tim Corbin would be an obvious home run hire, but also somewhat unrealistic. Bradley LeCroy is well respected as an assistant and most would be happy to see him remain on the new staff, however it may not be ideal to simply promote him given all the exceptional external candidates available.
That leaves eight viable (though I’m still crossing my fingers for O’Sullivan) and hopefully appealing candidates. Take a look at our full profiles on each candidate here, or read the quick recap below. Then go vote in our poll at the bottom of this article and please jump to the comments to tell us why your vote is best. We’re interested to hear!
Randy Mazey: A Clemson grad currently coaching at West Virginia, he is a plausible replacement for Coach Leggett. West Virginia wasn’t especially competitive in the Big East so their improvement in the much stronger Big 12 is impressive. STS writer Andrew Boardwine is a big fan.
Terry Rooney: After moving from the Atlantic Sun to Conference USA, UCF baseball took a turn for the worse. Rooney took over a rebuilding UCF program in 2009 and after a losing season in his first year, completely changed the trajectory of the program as they won 33, 39, and then 45 games the subsequent three years. He was formerly the pitching coach at LSU.
Monte Lee: A former Ray Tanner assistant, Lee joined his Alma Mater in Charleston prior to the 2009 season. Under Lee, the Cougars have reached the NCAA tournament three times, once advancing to Super Regional play. They were also the best team in the state this year. Because of his local recruiting ties, he is the favorite among many.
Jim Schlossnagle: The current TCU head coach was a Clemson assistant under Wilhelm. He left for a promotion to Associate Head Coach at Tulane right when Jack Leggett became the head coach at Clemson. After a brief but successful two-year stint as Head Coach of UNLV from 2002-2003, he was named the head coach of TCU. The program has improved since his arrival and they’ve now made back-to-back CWS appearances and have been in Omaha three of the last six years. In the most recent seven years, they’ve advanced past Regional play five times. This is a favorite of STS writers Ryan Flinn and Ryan Kantor, though admittedly he may be the most unrealistic to be included in the poll. As of 6/15, TCU is still alive in Omaha.
John Szefc: After taking Marist to three straight NCAA tournaments, Szefc (pronounced chef) became Maryland’s head coach. Despite not making the NCAA tournament since 1971, Szefc led them not only to the tournament but to Super Regionals each of the past two seasons. After just three years, he may be able to make the claim of being Maryland’s greatest baseball coach of all time, and wouldn’t it be sweet to steal him away?
Jim Toman: You may remember Jim Toman’s Liberty squad beating Clemson twice in the 2013 Columbia regional, precluding Clemson from ever facing the Gamecocks. The former Ray Tanner assistant was named Big South Coach of the Year in 2014 when they won 41 games, won their division, and earned a tournament at-large bid. The year prior, they were Big South tournament champions. Will the NC State alumnus come back to the ACC?
Matthew LeCroy: Not related to Clemson’s assistant coach, Bradley LeCroy, Matthew was a major league baseball player for the Twins and an All-American at Clemson. He is currently the bullpen manager for the Washington Nationals and has head coaching experience at the minor league level.
Kevin McMullan: McMullan is the Associate Head Coach at Virginia. Before arriving in Charlottesville, Kevin McMullan briefly played for the New York Yankees and helped coach the Atlanta Braves during Spring Training. From 2001-2002 he was the recruiting coordinator, hitting coach, and catchers instructor at ECU and became the interim head coach before Randy Mazey took over. At Virginia, he won the National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2009 and was voted the best by his peers in 2012. He is known for coaching extremely defensively sharp teams. STS writer Mark Gordon is quite the supporter.
