Following Heartbreaking Loss in SEC Tournament, What’s Next for Ole Miss Baseball Program?
HOOVER, Ala. — Last night’s 2-1 walk-off loss to Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament in Hoover was heartbreaking for Ole Miss players, coaches and fans, alike.
The night featured an old-fashioned pitching duel between the Rebels’ Riley Maddox and State’s Brooks Auger, each one coming up clutch in key moments on the big stage.
Maddox threw 80 pitches, holding State scoreless for 7.1 innings. He gave up just three hits and recorded seven strikeouts with zero walks.
Auguer struck out 13 with no walks in eight innings, throwing 25 straight strikes at one point in the game.
Going into the bottom of the 9th inning, the Rebels held a 1-0 lead over the boys from Starkville before Connor Hujsak hit a two-run homer off usual-Saturday-starter Liam Doyle, who had come on in the 8th in relief of Maddox.
The defeat brings with it the end of the season for the Rebels and the beginning of some serious reflection as to how the program should proceed.
Let’s just say I don’t envy Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter on this one. He is expected to meet soon with Coach Bianco for their annual year-end discussion, perhaps as early as today.
Following the Rebels’ national title in 2022, Ole Miss baseball has struggled mightily. Across 2023 and 2024, Coach Bianco’s team is sub-.500 — both overall and in league play — going 52-58 in total and 17-43 in SEC action.
Over the last two seasons, the Rebels have won just six (2023) and 11 (2024) league games, respectively. For a little perspective, in his first 21 seasons at Ole Miss, Coach Bianco won at least 13 SEC games each year, and reached 14 wins in all but one of those.
Speaking of the numbers “13” and “14,” those describe the Rebels’ rank in many of the SEC’s 14-team statistical rankings.
- Ole Miss finished the regular season ranked 14th — dead last in the 14-team league — in fielding percentage at .966.
- The Rebels were 13th in earned run average at 5.95, and the staff was also 13th in hits allowed with 499.
- The Rebels finished No. 13 in the league in runs allowed (367) and in earned runs allowed (312).
- Ole Miss finished No. 14 in walks allowed (246).
- The Rebels were 13th in batting average as a team (.257), 13th in slugging percentage (.438) 13th in on base percentage (.374) 13th in runs scored (343) 13th in hits (463), 13th with runs batted in (324), and 13th in total bases (788).
After the loss last night, Coach Bianco was asked by the Clarion-Ledger’s David Eckert if he believes he will be back as head coach of Ole Miss next season.
“You’ll have to ask my boss, but I expect to be back.“
Coach Mike Bianco
While we can’t begin to say with any certainty what the future holds as far as who will be the head coach next season as there are a lot of moving parts, we do know the nuts and bolts of what is currently in place contractually.
After the national championship in 2022, Coach Bianco signed a six-year agreement, with four years currently remaining.
The dollars and cents of it all boil down to this: Coach Bianco’s annual salary is $1.625 million. His current buyout figure is, by most estimations, approximately $5.2 million. The applicable taxes combined with buyouts for the assistant coaches bring the amount it would take to change coaches and staff to somewhere in the vicinity of $7.7-7.8 million. And that’s before you consider whatever monies it would take to hire a new coach and staff.
That’s not chump change.
As for Coach Bianco, he offered his thoughts after the game when asked what gives him confidence the team can rebound next season.
“I think the confidence comes from we’ve done this too long. We’ve had too much success,” Bianco said.
“We don’t make it the last couple years, but I think this year we were a couple wins away. I don’t want to go through RPI and strength of schedule and all those things. We have to be better and we will be. We’ve always responded and we will again.”
Coach Bianco
At the end of the day, it’s tough to lose your last game in any form or fashion, much less walk-off style to your archrival.
“It’s always miserable and bad and tough when it ends,” Bianco said following the gut-wrenching defeat.
“When you’re a coach you don’t expect it to end and not like that so quickly. You’re a pitch way and baseball is a tough game and it’ll rip your heart out. This wasn’t a good team, as far as wins and losses, but they stuck together and hung in there and gave themselves an opportunity at the end. We just weren’t good enough. I love those guys and respect the heck out of them. Continued to fight and play.”
Coach Bianco
Now what?
Now, the waiting begins to see what, if any, changes will be made in the baseball program. For players who have not exhausted their eligibility or who will look to go pro, there will be exit interviews and personal decisions to be made. The transfer portal window will open soon and that will certainly bring big changes.
For Keith Carter, well, he has some pretty weighty decisions to make, as well. Fortunately, he’s very good at what he does — so whatever the decision, rest assured he believes it to be in the best interest of the baseball program and Ole Miss.
Stay tuned to The Rebel Walk as we will bring you all the latest info as it happens.
David Walker
David Walker was named Louisiana’s High School Player of the Year at just 16 years old and, at 17, became college football’s first quarterback to earn Freshman of the Year honors. He remains the NCAA’s youngest-ever starting quarterback, a distinction that has stood for decades.
Transitioning from a wide-open high school offense to Emory Bellard’s renowned wishbone triple option, Walker excelled as a dual-threat quarterback. He graduated as Texas A&M’s all-time winningest quarterback and served as a two-time team captain, helping to transform a program that had endured 15 losing seasons in the previous 16 years.
After his playing career, Walker coached and taught algebra at six Texas high schools before moving into private business. In 2011, he published his memoir, “I’ll Tell You When You’re Good,” a title inspired by the coaching philosophy of Shannon Suarez, the Sulphur High and Louisiana High School Hall of Fame coach who was a significant influence on Walker’s life and career.
Walker’s compelling storytelling in his autobiography reflects the breadth of his experiences in high school and college football, and it is an undeniable fact that he saw more action than any athlete in the history of the NCAA. Since 2013, he has contributed to The Rebel Walk, sharing his insights and expertise with readers.
