Behind the Scenes on Clemson’s Search for its New Baseball Coach

A look at how the search for Clemson’s head baseball coach went. Plus, new info on Bakich’s staff and support personnel.

Ken Ruinard USA Today Network

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Clemson will officially name its new head baseball coach on Thursday, but how did it get to this point?

Since the moment Monte Lee was dismissed as head coach on May 31, All Clemson has been checking in with sources in and around the Clemson baseball program and athletic department to come up with the best information for our readers.

A lot has happened to get to the point where Michigan head coach Erik Bakich will officially be introduced as the Tigers’ new head coach during a 2 p.m. press conference on Thursday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Here is what we can tell you about the coaching search and all that has transpired in the last two weeks. Also, we have some updated information on Bakich’s coaching and support staff.

From the beginning, Clemson athletic director Graham Neff said being the head baseball coach at Clemson was a top 15 job nationally and he was going to treat it as such. He said it was going to be a national search, and it was.

All Clemson confirmed Clemson spoke with five candidates (formal and informal) throughout the process before targeting Bakich to be its next head coach.

There were two candidates from Power 5 programs that we will not name who at least had their representative talk to Clemson about being the Tigers’ head coach.

We can tell you both are veteran head coaches who have had a lot of success and have coached in the College World Series. We can tell you one of those coaches has strong ties to the Clemson program.

Besides Bakich, we did confirm that two others interviewed to be the Tigers’ next head coach. Sources told us East Carolina’s Cliff Godwin interviewed with Clemson earlier this week about its head coaching vacancy.

Early in the process, Clemson spoke to former Clemson standout and Major Leaguer Matthew LeCroy.

Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett was a target of Neff’s and was a serious candidate for the position.

Sources told All Clemson on Tuesday morning that Godwin was a finalist for the job, and was Plan B for Neff if Clemson and Bakich could not work out a deal.

While Godwin’s and Jarrett’s names floated in and out of the Clemson coaching search the last two weeks, Bakich’s name stayed firm throughout.

In fact, All Clemson got word from multiple sources last Friday that Bakich was indeed the guy Neff wanted to bring in as his next head coach. The two sides began negotiations that carried throughout the weekend.

Negotiations came to a halt by Monday morning, we were told, and it appeared for a time Bakich was going to back away from the job. However, one source told us Monday evening to “hold tight” on Bakich to Clemson. They heard the negotiations were back on and the two sides were close to making an agreement.

All Clemson was told Tuesday morning Bakich and Clemson were close to making a deal. We also heard at the same time Godwin was interviewing or had interviewed with Clemson.

On Tuesday afternoon, a source told us Clemson was going to announce its next head coach in the next two days. Another source confirmed to us that Clemson’s Board of Trustees was going to announce a called meeting in the next 24 hours to approve its new baseball coach, which we now know to be the case.

On Tuesday night, All Clemson learned from multiple sources that Bakich had reached an agreement with Clemson and the BOT was going approve him to be the new head coach.

As for Bakich’s coaching staff and support staff, we were told he was going to bring his top assistant coach from Michigan, Nick Schnabel, with him to Clemson, which D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers has since reported. We are also hearing former Clemson pitching coach John Pawlowski will be Bakich’s pitching coach, though that is not official.

Pawlowski was the head coach at Western Kentucky (2016-’22) before stepping down last month. He also was the head coach Auburn (2009-’13) and the College of Charleston (2000-’08). He was an assistant coach under Jack Leggett at Clemson from 1994-’98. He also played at Clemson from 1983-’85 under Bill Wilhelm and got his college degree from Clemson.

It also appears Bakich will keep at least one member of the baseball program’s support staff from the Monte Lee regime.

All Clemson also learned the name of another support staffer, according to multiple sources. This person does have ties to the Clemson program and his experience and relationships with former players will be able to heal some wounds from how the Jack Leggett era ended seven years ago.

We all announce Bakich’s support staff personnel at a later time.