Michigan head coach Erik Bakich was in high demand two years ago but chose to stay at U-M after being pursued by Stanford and South Carolina. Several have speculated his run to the National Championship series this year would put him back in high demand.
They probably aren't wrong.
Bakich, however, made it clear he has no plans to go anywhere. He'll likely get a big raise to stay after the Wolverines' unbelievable postseason performance, but more than anything he's a Michigan Man at heart.
"Where am I going? You got a job? Are you hiring me? Huh?” Bakich told the Detroit News' Angelique Chengelis laughing, two days ago. “I love Michigan, and I love the Block 'M,' and most importantly, I love the kids on that bus. I wanted to see this through. I didn’t want anyone else to coach them. I wanted to be here for this type of run. Having tasted this in 17 years, these guys have never tasted it. Once you taste it, you want it every year. Yeah, we do need some help, but I know that this is gonna get us over the hump.
"An experience like this is going to move the needle and get us over the hump to where our program is here to stay and we’re here to build.”
Many believe this team caught lightning in a bottle. Several experts, in fact, have openly wondered if this will be Bakich's only Michigan team to make it to Omaha for the World Series.
Bakich obviously isn't among them.
“I look at that as an opportunity that this doesn’t have to be a once every 35-year type of situation,” Bakich said. “We can build Michigan into a program that competes for national championships on a consistent basis ... not that we’re going to win one every year, but at least we’re in the hunt.
"This, being here, being in Omaha, can be something, hopefully, that is an occurrence that happens consistently.”
UNCHARTED WATERS
A moth ago, Bakich noted, the Wolverines were a strike away from their season being over before Jordan Nwogu salvaged a Big Ten Tournament win over Illinois with a walk-off double in a 5-4 win. Now they're two wins away from being National Champions.
"We've never been here before, so we don't have the experience of knowing how to navigate it," he said. "I've heard [Vanderbilt] Coach [Tim] Corbin say many times, 'If you go once, you go twice, just from your players knowing how to get there.'
"We don't know how to get here. We've never been.And for us, it was that authentic moment that made us believe, that gave us the mindset and the confidence that we can do this, and if we don't have the full spectrum ... we had a game and a half lead in the standings of the regular season of the Big Ten and we were playing not to lose, and so we lost. We didn't play well."
The seniors all spoke of the realization that set in during that moment — one more loss and it was over.
They didn't want it to end.
"I don't know what the count on the days that we've been on the road is. It's probably somewhere around 32, 35 days or something like that on the road, so you're with them every single day," catcher Joe Donovan said. "And when you're at home, you're still hanging out with them. Just being with them has been so much fun because there are so many different characters on the team, and each of the personalities play into a part of the team in such a special way.
"The dynamic that we've been able to have has just been awesome, and it truly is like being with your siblings because every waking hour of the day we're together, and after you've been on the road for so long, you know everything about everybody, and it's just an absolute blast."
The end of the regular season and the escape against the Illini were all necessary to get to where they are now, Bakich added.
"To be loose, to play with a belief system and a confidence like, 'why can't we do this?'" he said. "Once we got into the NCAA tournament, there was no pressure. We weren't playing not to lose the Big Ten title; we were just playing to play. And so we had to have that authentic moment on the field. It changed our mindset. It gave us belief. It gave us confidence."
Even the NCAA Tournament meltdowns in Game Twos with Creighton in the regional and UCLA in the Super Regional in which late, blown leads led to losses were critical.
"If we don't have those repetitions of getting knocked down, then we don't have those opportunities of getting back up," Bakich said. "So this team, they have had those moments where they've dealt with their share of adversity along this ride, and it's strengthened us. It's built us up. It has calloused our mind in a way that there's just a lot of belief right now, and they're playing with that looseness and enjoying each other and enjoying the moment because they've seen how many times they've made the moment too big."
Michigan Coaches Rally Behind Bakich
Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins, who has had her share of postseason success, had some advice for Bakich before his first World Series:
"Bleepin' enjoy it!" she said before he left.
Hutchins and Michigan head basketball coach Juwan Howard are headed to the finals today to support Bakich and his team.
Former Michigan basketball coach John Beilein checked in before the regional in Corvallis, Ore. Bakich shared.
"He sent a video we shared with the team," Bakich said. "He talked about belief, but most importantly he talked about the belief in outliers. There needed to be some type of an outlier moment, whether it would be someone who's been in a slump getting a big hit or a great pitching performance, someone coming off the bench that hasn't played. And then we saw that take shape: Riley Bertram gets a spot start and goes 4-for-4 with a double and a hit-by pitch, and it just totally energized our players.
"He was very gracious. He's obviously got a lot of things going on in Cleveland, but for him to take time out to send a video message, I greatly appreciate that."
Powerful Commodores
Tim Corbin's team is playing to its potential and is heavily favored to beat the Wolverines. The Commodores led Division I in home runs, was sixth overall in batting average and second in runs scored this year. They're 57-11, including 33-3 in their last 36.
Their leaders:
3B Austin Martin: .406 avg., 10 HR, 86 R, 18 SB, .498 obp
RF J.J. Bleday: .354 avg., 26 HR, 70 RBIs, .711 slug pct.
SS Ethan Paul: .316 avg., 23 2B, 9 HR, 72 RBIs
But they're also loaded on the mound. Righty Drake Fellows is expected to get the nod tonight against Michigan's Tommy Henry, and he's elite. The pitching leaders:
RHP Drake Fellows: 13-1, 3.97 ERA, 111 IP, 126 Ks
RHP Kumar Rocker: 11-5, 3.38 ERA, 93 1/3 IP, 103 Ks
RHP Mason Hickman: 8-0, 2.08 ERA, 90 2/3 IP, 119 Ks
RHP Patrick Raby: 10-1, 3.04 ERA, 74 IP, 78 Ks
RHP Tyler Brown: 17 SVs, 2.31 ERA, 62 2/3 IP, 63 Ks
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