Erik Bakich welcomes Jack Leggett back for key role in 'all-star' Clemson baseball staff

Erik Bakich says Jack Leggett will "add a ton of value to our team."

by TigerNet Staff - Fri Aug 19 13:15:28 GMT-04:00 2022

Editor's note: TigerNet's David Hood had a one-on-one interview with new Clemson baseball coach Erik Bakich this week and here's part one of that.

Erik Bakich is in his third calendar month as Clemson's head baseball coach, and while there are no championships on the line yet, he feels like he has the coaching staff and team assembled to compete for them when it's time come 2023.

Bakich has that coaching staff mostly settled with one announcement to come, he told TigerNet on Friday, and there's a name anyone familiar with Clemson baseball will know who's playing an integral role in developing Bakich's team.

That's former Clemson baseball coach and Hall of Fame inductee Jack Leggett, who Bakich worked under as a volunteer coach in his season with the Tigers in 2002 and the mentor for another coach he was assistant alongside at Vanderbilt with Tim Corbin.

"He's going to be on staff. He's going to be working with the coaches and working with the players," Bakich said of the Tigers' head coach from 1994-2015. "(A) mentorship, coaching type role. He'll be observing practice. He'll be observing training. He'll be providing feedback to both the coaches and the players. He'll be meeting with the players one-on-one and in a group setting. We're just going to feed off of his positive energy and his experience and his wisdom.

"He's a Hall of Fame coach and he still has the same energy that he's always had. He's going to add a ton of value to our team, to our coaches and to our players."

Bakich brought from Michigan his top assistant in Nick Schnabel for an assistant and recruiting coordinator role at Clemson. He then added former Florida State pitching coach Jimmy Belanger.

Clemson is seeking a return to the NCAA Tournament for a first time since 2019 after making all but one field of 64 from 1999-2019 previously.

Bakich believes he has the group assembled to make some noise.

"It's an all-star staff. I'm thrilled about it. Between Nick Schnabel, Jimmy Belanger, Griffin Mazur, Brad Owens, Ben Paulsen, coach Leggett and we're going to be announcing another staff member here in early September," said Bakich. "We're thrilled about our staff. It's a combination of Clemson alumni, former Clemson coaches -- guys who have experience coaching at a very high elite level and national championship level. Coaches with experience coaching in the ACC and the SEC and coaching in Omaha (site of the College World Series). It's just a perfect blend of personalities and a perfect set of knowledge and just all in being able to help these players unlock their potential.

"Whatever their potential, whether individually or for the team, that's what our goal is -- is to find it. That's truly the definition of success. We'll know if we're succeeding if we help these guys reach their potential. If we do that, there's nothing that this team can't do this season. It's not lacking anything. There's not any pieces that we're lacking. We're very excited and optimistic about this group, but we have a long, long way to go and now the target is on growth and improvement.

"There's no championships to win in August or September for us. Just that target is squarely on improving."