GBMWolverine
Fansided

Erik Bakich’s success at Clemson pains Michigan Baseball fans

By Chris Peterson

Clemson Head Coach Erik Bakich takes a question from the media at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina, Thursday, June 16, 2022.Clemson Hires Baseball Coach Erik Bakich
Clemson Head Coach Erik Bakich takes a question from the media at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina, Thursday, June 16, 2022.Clemson Hires Baseball Coach Erik Bakich /
facebooktwitterreddit

Michigan baseball had one of the best head coaches in the country but let him get away and now Erik Bakich is winning big at Clemson. 

For Michigan baseball fans, the wound of losing head coach Erik Bakich still hasn’t healed and this weekend, some salt was poured onto it.

For starters, the Wolverines 2023 season came to a close and there won’t be a trip to the NCAA tournament after finishing with a 28-28 record.

Michigan baseball competed hard. The Wolverines lost two games to Iowa, so their season ended in the semifinal round of the Big Ten tournament.

They went down with a fight, which is admirable. But this weekend is also a bummer because it harkens back to a year ago when Michigan baseball went on its magical run to the Big Ten tournament championship.

That was just three years after the magical run that saw Michigan baseball finish as the national runner-up and ranked No. 2 in the final rankings.

However, after Bakich led Michigan to another big achievement, Clemson took advantage of the fact that the University of Michigan didn’t really want to invest in baseball. So the Tigers, after years of struggles, hired him and won the ACC tournament on Sunday.

Bakich has the Tigers sitting at 43-17 heading into the NCAA tournament and after winning the ACC, a favorable seed seems likely.

https://twitter.com/FaxOnSports/status/1662937354359668737

I’m truly happy for Bakich. I am. I don’t begrudge him for leaving, although he took some players with him such as Riley Bertram who is batting .280, or Willie Weiss a reliever.

There’s nothing against the rules there either. It’s just what happens when coaches leave and to be honest, I’m not at all surprised that Bakich had that much success in year one.

He’s elite and now he’s got the resources to chase a national championship on a yearly basis and who knows, maybe it will be this year.

Either way, it will always stick in my craw that Michigan had a truly elite head coach and basically did nothing to try and keep him.

Home/Michigan Baseball