Erik Bakich Putting His Stamp On Clemson Baseball
For just the fourth time since 1958, Clemson Baseball has a new head coach.
After missing out on an NCAA regional for the second consecutive year last season, the Tigers parted ways with Monte Lee, hiring Erik Bakich away from Michigan. The new head coach is already putting his stamp on the program.
While Bakich doesn't believe the culture inside the program needs a major overhaul, there are some changes the new staff has implemented.
"Clemson baseball is Clemson baseball," Bakich said. "I think culture is such a buzzword in college sports today. Culture is something that happens over a long period of time. I think what we can do as a coaching staff is create an environment every single day, an environment that's very structured and very disciplined, that's focused on a high level of compete, and high energy and just bringing in a very high level of intensity."
Some of those changes include the players having to earn not only access to the team locker room but also some of the nicer equipment the team uses throughout the season.
"We have a shared language, a shared mentality, inside of this program, and one of the parts of the shared language, is we get what we earn," Bakich said. "And it speaks to a little bit bigger of a picture of student-athletes in general and in today's world, you know, they get a lot. They're very fortunate at these premier institutions like Clemson, to have everything that they have, and one of those things that as you know, as parents or as coaches, that you fight is a little bit of a sense of entitlement. So we just want them to appreciate everything that they have here because they have so much."
"We don't move into the locker room right away with a bunch of gear hanging in the lockers and a bunch of shoe boxes stacked up," Bakich said. "Those are things they get to earn."
Bakich is coming off a very successful stint at Michigan, where he was the head coach for the past ten seasons. He led the Wolverines to two Big-10 tournament titles and five appearances in the NCAA regionals. In 2019 he led the Wolverines to its first College World Series appearance since 1984 and was named the NCBWA National Coach of the Year.
With his track record speaking for itself, Bakich is now looking to bring that success to Clemson. The Tigers have a long, storied history, as well, but have not played in a super regional since 2010, something Bakich is looking to change.
"The classroom curriculum, those things about character traits and leadership and servant behaviors, those things coupled with the environment that we're creating over time will create this culture," Bakich said. "But the culture of Clemson baseball, that's been set. That's been like bedrock for a long, long time. Yeah, we may have had a little dip there, but the environment that we're going to create on a daily basis, the players having the mindset on growth and improvement, that will all lead to a compound effect over time and restoring this program back to where it belongs. Competing for championships and trips to Omaha."
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