Bakich Named 2019 Skip Bertman National Coach of the Year
9/24/2019 1:00:00 PM | Baseball
LUBBOCK, Texas -- University of Michigan baseball head coach Erik Bakich was named the 2019 Skip Bertman National Coach of the Year, the College Baseball Foundation announced Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 24).
"Erik's ball club was the talk of college baseball in June, from the regional win in Corvallis all the way to the College World Series finals," said Mike Gustafson, president and CEO of the College Baseball Foundation and chair of the Bertman Award committee. "We are honored to present this award to him."
The Bertman Award recognizes coaches at every level of college baseball. The award finalists and winners were selected by a national committee of active and retired coaches from all levels of college baseball. Jeff Willis, head coach of NJCAA Division II national champion LSU-Eunice, won the award in 2018.
The award is the third for Bakich, as he earned the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) National Coach of the Year award on June 15, and won the D1Baseball.com National Coach of the Year following the season.
In his seventh season at the helm of the Michigan program, Bakich guided the Wolverines to the eighth College World Series appearance in team history, which resulted in its third CWS Finals appearance and ended in a national runner-up finish.
Highlighted by a Super Regional victory at No. 1-seeded UCLA in Los Angeles, California, and a 3-0 start in the College World Series to advance to the finals, Bakich led the Wolverines to a 50-22 record -- the most wins by a Michigan team since 1987 -- and a 16-7 Big Ten record.
Michigan, winner of 11 straight games early in the season, was the only team to defeat UCLA more than once during the season as the Wolverines took down the Bruins a total of three times.
Under Bakich, eight Wolverines earned All-Big Ten Conference honors, including junior outfielder Jordan Brewer, who also was named Big Ten Player of the Year. Sophomore designated hitter Jordan Nwogu and sophomore pitcher Jeff Criswell joined Brewer on the first team, while closer Willie Weiss was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team. Brewer, Weiss, Karl Kauffmann and Tommy Henry earned All-America honors by various publications.
Michigan also had five players selected in the 2019 MLB Draft. Pitchers Henry and Kauffmann were chosen in Competitive Balance Round B, with Henry drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kauffmann by the Colorado Rockies (77th overall). Brewer went in the third round (106th overall) to the Houston Astros, while the Oakland A's took pitcher Jack Weisenburger in the 20th round. Infielder Jimmy Kerr was selected in the 33rd round by the Detroit Tigers.
The award is named for legendary LSU head coach and National College Baseball Hall of Famer Skip Bertman, who coached the Tigers from 1984-2001. In his time at LSU, Bertman won five national championships and was named National Coach of the Year six times. He coached 31 players who went on to play major league baseball and was part of the Hall of Fame's inaugural class in 2006.
Skip Bertman National Coaches of the Year
2013: Mike Dickson, Gloucester County (N.J.) College
2014: Tim Tadlock, Texas Tech
2015: Paul Mainieri, LSU
2016: Tim Scannell, Trinity (Texas) University
2017: Kevin O'Sullivan, Florida
2018: Jeff Willis, LSU-Eunice
2019: Erik Bakich, Michigan
