Hosting Regional Provides Validation for Kentucky Head Coach Nick Mingione

The seventh-year head coach is hosting a Regional for the second time in his Kentucky tenure.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — There's no denying that 2023 was a make-or-break season for Kentucky baseball head coach Nick Mingione. 

Entering his seventh season at the helm in the Bluegrass, the Wildcats' skipper was in dire need of a successful campaign. His first season back in 2017 exceeded expectations, as UK hosted a Regional in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to a Super Regional. 

As exciting as that season was, it set a high bar that Mingione and his teams wouldn't be able to reach for the next five seasons. 

Kentucky followed up 2017 with 34 wins the next year, but a 13-17 SEC record screwed the pooch. The next two seasons saw a losing record, then a year that was cut short by a global pandemic. Then again in 2021 and 2022, the résumés just weren't up to snuff, leaving the Cats on or around the bubble. 

The luster that came with that first year as HC for Mingione slowly wore off, leaving many to wonder if it was just a flash in the pan and that UK was on a fast track to nowhere in a conference that features nearly nothing but high-level baseball on a yearly basis. 

Mingione signed a three-year extension in 2021, keeping him as HC of Kentucky through the 2025 season. With no postseason appearance to speak of in the first two years after the signing of the extension, 2023 needed to bring something to the table. 

So, the Tarrytown, N.Y. native took the podium in the Kroger Field press conference room at UK's Media Day this February and made it clear that this season was going to be different. No more coming up short: 

"At the end of the year, two of the last three years we've been one or two wins away. Quite frankly, i'm tired of that," he said. Let's be five or six games up like we were in '17 and we're sitting here talking about 'are we gonna be a national seed or are we just going to be a regional seed?' That's the goal." 

How were the Cats going to achieve that goal in the big, bad SEC? An old-school style of baseball that defies the trends of where the game has headed toward over the last few years.

"Small ball," they call it. 

"What i'm looking for is mass chaos," Mingione said. "We're talking about stealing, hit-and-running, bunting, two-strike bunting, you name it. Going first-to-third, first-to-home, we're just going to be super aggressive. We're going to force our opponents to make plays."

Behind a veteran core, above-average pitching and plenty of bunts and stolen bases, Kentucky reached its goal, winning 36 games in the regular season, its best mark since 2017. 

With it has now come that elusive NCAA Tournament berth. Kentucky is the No. 12 overall seed in the Field of 64 and will play postseason baseball in Lexington for just the third time in program history, with the 2023 roster joining 2006 and 2017 in infamy. 

Coincidentally enough, Mingione has been a coach on all three teams. Before his time as head coach, he was an assistant under John Cohen for two seasons from 2006-07, helping UK claim its first SEC Championship. Now, 17 years later, he gets to feel that same excitement that came with his first season in blue and white.

"There's been a lot of time and effort, and resources and people — just put a lot into this program. It's been kind of crazy to think, you know, 2006, when I first rolled up here in the summer of '05, that first year we hosted. Then we went a pretty good stretch, then we were able to do it in '17. And now again. Anybody that tells you it's easy, it's not."

Finding success in a league like the SEC is an uphill battle from the beginning, especially at a place like Kentucky. Dominant and established programs sit atop the land, feed on those below and earn berths to Omaha and the College World Series. Rinse and repeat. 

Breaking through that barrier takes the right pieces, the right coaching, as well as a little bit of luck. A five-year postseason drought feels even longer when your regular season schedule consistently features teams that are locks to make the tournament year-in, year-out. 

The toughness of the SEC was exemplified this season, as Mississippi State and Ole Miss, the last two national champions, both missed the SEC Tournament, finishing as the bottom two teams in league play. 

"This league is not easy, right? I mean, I want you to think about the last two teams that have won a national championship. They didn't make the conference tournament. Like this is fragile. And that's what I love about it," Mingione said.

Kentucky concocted an alarmingly tough schedule to go on top of the rigorous gauntlet that awaited for the final 10 weeks of the season, leading to the No. 1 strength of schedule in the nation. 

Mingione knew making him team battle-tested was going to be a necessity, if they were to reach the heights he felt were possible. They'll now enter the tournament with a 16-15 SEC record and 10 wins over the other 15 teams that are hosting Regionals this weekend. 

"Just thankful ... it's one thing to put a schedule together, then we put together the hardest one," he said. "Our conference schedule is our conference schedule. But if you look at our non conference schedule, as well I mean, I think it's top 10. So it's one thing to put it together, but it's a whole other thing to go out and execute your schedule. And that's why I'm so thankful of our team. You know what they've been able to do.

While Mingione isn't planning on this weekend being the last of the season, just making it to this point serves as a moment of validation. Success hadn't come often over the last five years, yet he felt as though Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart's confidence in him and his team was as high as ever. 

“Nick Mingione has done an excellent job laying the foundation for a successful baseball program, both on and off the field,” Barnhart said in a press release announcing Mingione's three-year extension. “From making an NCAA Super Regional for the first time in program history, the development of 24 players selected in the MLB Draft, numerous awards for academic achievement in the classroom and a commitment to service in the Lexington community, Nick is building a well-rounded program. We are excited to see Kentucky baseball continue to grow under his leadership.”

An NCAA Tournament berth means not only a one-year extension for Mingione's contract as head coach, but also a reason for belief in his program to continue to grow for years to come. 

"Been through a lot," Mingione said. "We all have, personally, professionally. We all have our stories, right? If anybody acts like life has been easy, and it's been a cakewalk, I think we're lying. Just to be at a place that I love, to be under a boss, like Mitch (Barnhart), you know, that is just super supportive, you know, and to have my wife, coaches, families, players."

Heading to Lexington for the Regional is West Virginia, Indiana and Ball State, with the action set to begin at noon EST on Friday, June 2, as UK and Ball State will square off. 

Two Wildcats earn All-SEC honors. More HERE.

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