Transcript: Mike Bianco, Will Furniss and Taylor Rabe After Ole Miss Clinches College World Series Berth

AUBURN, Ala. — Ole Miss is headed back to Omaha for the first time since the Rebels captured the national championship in 2022. Following Saturday night’s 5-3 victory over Auburn that clinched the program’s eighth trip to the College World Series, head coach Mike Bianco, first baseman Will Furniss and pitcher Taylor Rabe met with the media to discuss the emotions of the moment, the team’s resilience through adversity, and the journey that brought the Rebels back to college baseball’s biggest stage.

Here’s what they had to say.

Coach Bianco Opening Statement:

First, you know, congratulations to Butch Thompson and the Auburn baseball team. What a tremendous year. You know, they’ve played I think the most difficult schedule in the country. And they’ve played great from start to finish and congratulations to the Auburn administration, two nights, two days of just unbelievable atmosphere here.

But, you know, obviously I’m very, as I sit here, very proud of my guys. It wasn’t easy, obviously. I’d like to at some point go back and watch the games because it had to be two, you know, hell of a games that the fans got to see not just here live but on television. But our beat reporters have heard us say and kind of used the mantra that, you know, ‘we handle hard well.’ And, and our guys have done it, They did it last weekend in a very difficult regional in Lincoln, Nebraska.

And, just a great opponent, great atmosphere here. And our guys just continued to handle it. Obviously today, a great performance by Taylor. That he gets so deep into the game. It’s amazing when you’re really good and I’ve said this a lot, people can be very critical of how you’re doing and what you’re doing and but if you step back and say, ‘hey, you’re going to be in a super regional, you know, championship game with a chance to go to Omaha and your starting pitchers going to pitch seven innings and only give up two runs,’ there’s not a coach in the country that wouldn’t take that.

And then proud of Will, big home run. You know, and part of that senior group of Elliott, Will and Judd Utermark that have been here for four years, and early on we talked about, of course Hunter, who’s been here like ten years. You know, he was part of the national championship. But Judd and Will came here the year after. And so their road to this point hasn’t always been easy. But man, the way they hung in there, stuck by one another early on, just great teammates, and then developed into great leaders and the faces of the program. So how fitting to have and you guys have heard me say, ‘you know, to win, you need your stars to to show up.’ And certainly Will and and Judd and those guys showed up this weekend.

Question: Will, Mike just brought it up, but I mean, I think your first year, you guys went 6-24 in SEC play, the next year missed the tournament. That home run and this win and going to the College World Series your last year, what does this all feel like? What does this all mean to you?

Will Furniss: It means it means the world to me. Um, you know, we, we had a really rough first two years here and after that, everybody just started kind of jumping ship. And, that’s when you learn what people are made of. And some core guys stuck around and we brought in guys that we thought would make a big difference for our team, not only as players, but as teammates.

And, you know, we focused hard on as a team on hanging out a lot more last year and being close knit and it worked for us. And then, we fell a little bit short. And then this year we really hammered down on it again. And so, you’ve heard everybody say it that we’re really close tight guys and that we like to ride the bus. We do. We actually have asked coach B if we could take one bus sometimes on long trips, but you know, it’s a really long trip and that can’t happen. So we’d rather be crammed in with each other than be in two buses. But, you know, you got to do what you got to do. You’ve got to be comfortable.

So, it’s just a really close group of guys and sticking through it has really paid off because trusting the coaches to put together a product on the field and recruit guys that are good locker room guys. And it’s really helped us a lot.

Question: Will, take me through that at bat in the eighth, kind of what your thoughts were emotions? And then to get it off such a talented left hander when that’s been, you know, Kryptonite earlier in your career and you’ve worked so hard on that.

Will Furniss: Yeah. I took, I had a like really bad AB against him, the AB before. I think I swung at a slider like at my Neck and popped up to the third baseman when Judd was on third. And so walking up to the plate, I think I was 0-8 in the regional until that moment. So I was like, I got to do something to help us win. But, you know, just kind of sat slider and knew that I took a really bad swing on the AB before, so he probably was going to throw it again. And it worked in my favor, worked in our favor. I was just trying to get a single to score Judd but it ended up going out.

Question: Taylor, can you talk about what you felt like warming up? Was there a pitch, maybe. Hey, my change is really on today. How early did you feel that?

Taylor: I wouldn’t really say I felt, you know, any different. Like, one thing was really working than any other outing. But I knew that every outing is different and we have a really good scouting report that we spend a lot of time on. And, you know, when we were looking at that, we knew Auburn was going to be a team that takes a lot of short swings, hits a lot of ground balls and kind of plays station to station baseball. And so it was going to be critical that like, even after giving up some singles through the gaps, that just kind of sticking with it and not trying to do too much. And so, I think just kind of trusting myself even after giving up some balls through the six hole is kind of what helped me to, to get out of it and get some length today.

Question: For both of you, I know y’all talked about the emotions at this moment, but last year you had to watch another team dogpile at Swayze. Now circled to this year, you’re going to the World Series and got to dogpile on a visiting team’s field. What was that dogpile like and what did that mean to you too?

Taylor: Yeah, I mean, it was awesome. That feeling last year really stuck with us. And, um, especially it being at home every time you’re out there, it’s kind of like in the off season, you remember the last game you played there and what happened. And so we took it this year as a kind of like took it to heart and, and really just knew that it was going to be tough, but we just had to stick with it. And that we had a team that was capable of doing this. And so I think that was a big thing for us.

Will Furniss: When you try so hard throughout the year and then, you know, you get finally get there and you have a great regional and it feels like you should have won, but you don’t.  I know I did, and I’m sure other guys did too, but I thought about it for literally all the way until opening day. Like it just sucked. It’s hard to forget about it. I knew this was my last year and, you know, a couple other guys last years and, you know, like this guy’s (Taylor Rabe) draft eligible. And so it’s probably his last year too. And so, you know yeah, just just wanted to do it for the guys around you. Last year it just sucked having watching the guys that weren’t going to come back on the field, you know, walk off. And this year we, we worked really hard not to let that happen.

Question: Coach B touched on it, Will, but to come in 23 and you know, you and Judd hear all the stories about Omaha and what that’s like. Did it feel like obviously, knowing the 23 team or the 22 team did well in Omaha, but did it feel like Omaha was was kind of the last piece missing for you?

Will Furniss: For sure. I, we actually were talking about it with Hunter Elliott on the way here, and he’s been here five years and he’s actually ended his season every single way except in a super regional. He ended it missing the SEC tournament, making the SEC tournament, losing for the end of the season in a regional and in Omaha. And so he was like, let’s just not do it in a super regional. I was like, dude, yeah, let’s not do that. Uh, so it’s kind of crazy. You know, we’ve been looking forward to this moment and working really hard since the beginning of the season. Props to all our coaches, you know, they’ve worked us like tirelessly to just get to this moment and get it done.

Question: Will, what was your vantage point of Fed’s great catch there? Because that ball popped out for just a split second before he grabbed it again.

Will: Those are really tough balls to catch for people that don’t play baseball. That’s one of the hardest balls to catch He smoked that ball. Fed came in the dugout and said it sounded like he hit it bad, but it’s just so tough those line drives and it’s crazy, he came after the game and said, you know, I just keep thinking about how if that ball actually pops out of my glove, what happens after that? But it was a phenomenal catch by him. And, you know, he’s a great outfielder and he made a mistake, but he covered up for it and, you know, caught it over his shoulder like Willie Mays.

Question: Time has passed for Hunter from Omaha then to now. But how valuable is to at least have a veteran presence who’s been there even though it is just one guy, to get you kind of ready for what you’ll be experiencing.

Taylor: I mean, Hunter’s my roommate on the road, and so we spend a lot of time just talking about the team and so, you know, we’ve talked a lot about Omaha and. I always, you know, look to him from the time that I came here as a guy that has been through it and knows what it takes. And so, you know, when, when we were looking at this team and we talked about it a lot, we were like, man, we are really, really talented. We’re a really tight knit group. And, we have, you know, all the traits of a good team. And so, kind of hearing that from him is it’s like, it’s really good to hear because, you know that he’s been through it and done it. And so, you know, Furn’s played four years here, but never been to Omaha. And so kind of having that guy that you can look for is really critical. And you also know that Hunter just lives to pitch in these big moments. And so, you know, it’s awesome to have him and be able to pitch him in these spots because he loves it so much.

Will Furniss: I know a lot of guys look up to him too, especially in the bullpen. So having him as like a slow, slow heartbeat, I’m sure he’s really relaxing to the guys that come in and pitch in the game because you know he’s done it before. He looks cool as a cucumber out there.

Question: Will, I guess well real quick they kept showing the Stormtrooper helmet on TV. Just would would you mind giving me the the backstory on that and how good did it feel to put that on?

Will Furniss: So we were in Florida and I think we hadn’t scored for like 17 innings or something like that. And, I think it was, was it Hudson County, Terry Hayes and Wil Libbert. And they were in I think a bookstore, I don’t know, maybe Target. Okay. It wasn’t a bookstore. They bought–I think it was stormtrooper helmet was like, what was it, $100? They split it and they gave it for. Yeah, $150. And they gave it to our offense. And ever since then we just decided that we could start hitting again. So we just kept putting it on. Kind of came became like a, I guess a prop. You know, I think Tennessee has the hat and Georgia has the chain or the mask and you know, we have the Stormtrooper helmet.

Coach Bianco: But the first one to put it on was Judd, the first one to put it on was Judd’s after his home run in Florida (to tie it up).

Question: So it’s only for home runs?

Will: Yeah, It’s a home run Stormtrooper helmet.

Question: Mike, you brought up a little bit earlier, but how much do you appreciate guys like Will and Judd who didn’t jump ship when time was hard? Times were hard, especially in this era where guys are transferring pretty frequently.

Coach Bianco: Yeah. You know, probably the time that you’re talking about that was that was the first time that we lost players, you know, and, and that we felt that, and we were, maybe I was a little naive. Maybe I wasn’t ready for that. But, in this era, sometimes that happens, and you know, when I think back to Will, guys that were good players, Judd and you know, those guys looking you in the face and saying, ‘No, I’m good. I’m here.’ And, back then, Luke Hill was a big leader on the team. And there was this contingency of guys that kind of held it together. And certainly you appreciate it, you know, and so much in this era of NIL and, and the transfer portal, you know, so much is, you know, put on the kids and it’s hard. It’s pressure.

It’s pressure from the parents, pressure from the agents, pressure from a lot of different people. But you appreciate the guys that stick it out, you know, and you know, you got to think about guys like Will and Judd, you know, they, they weren’t, you know, stars at that time. You know, Will had a really good freshman year. Judd didn’t play much his freshman year. And so, for those guys, you look back at it, I think now, you know, four years later or three years later, probably for that point, how cool that is, you know, for those guys to be in that dogpile and guys that stuck it out, guys that love Ole Miss, you know, their parents are here every weekend, the way it’s supposed to be, you know. And so, you know, I think that part of it makes you feel good.

Question: Humor me, Mike, look at your own thoughts and emotions off this. You want to put it on players, but you go and hire Joel and you got really five homegrown pitchers that have carried you for so much of this season. The work that’s gone into that, for really you to overcome the most adversity you’ve had in your career, too, coaching, just what’s this kind of mean to you in this era to do it after you put that plan in place with Joel?

Coach Bianco: Well, you know, one, we’re not sitting here without Joel Mangrum. You know, what an impact he’s made. And that’s not to take anything away from any of the other coaches. But you can tell by not just the results, but that’s obvious, the way we pitched and being the top four in the conference this past season, to win here, you can’t win here. You can’t beat these guys unless you pitch,  because you know, they’re not going to give up runs. You know, they’re so good on the mound. So the impact of that, you know, is amazing.

But then to watch, you know, Carl Lafferty and others. Carl Lafferty put a plan in place to restructure the roster, to put us in position. But, you know, back to your question and and of course, Clem, you know, doesn’t get enough credit. You know, those guys have been here forever. They’ve been able to adapt, to adjust, and, you know, continue to put us in position to have success. But to your point with the homegrown guys, that happens a lot. You know, as much as we talk about the portal and everything else, man, it’s hard to do it without the guys that come out of high school, and that’s not to say that the, you know, when you get guys like Bissetta or Decker and others, you know, they’re certainly going to make an impact. And that’s what you hope. But you know, we don’t get it, we’re, not in Omaha without the guys that came here originally.

Question: Coach at the end of the game, you tipped your hat, kind of waved to the crowd, it was a big Ole Miss crowd. Just your thoughts on the size of the crowd and how proud you are.

Coach Bianco: Yeah. The Ole Miss family shows up and I know they’ll show up in Omaha next weekend. It’s neat. Not as many, obviously in Nebraska that’s far way away. But it was neat that it was drivable and so many people showed up and to come out the gate just to walk over here, and we walked through a flood of people. And, another thing that I’m proud of is that baseball’s important at our school. People love Ole Miss baseball and for people to show up and be excited and they’re not just parents. There’s only so many parents. The parents are there all the time. But to watch the people that travel with us and, and we’ll see that again next week, that’s really cool.

Question: Yeah, coach. Great job on winning this one today. Talk to us about, you gave you the credit to staff. A lot of those guys put you guys in the best possible position. Probably weren’t the most favorite guy walking around the clubhouse this year with lineup changes, moving guys, sitting guys down. Talk about that, kind of peel that back for us.

Coach Bianco: Well you know that you know that’s part of the deal. You know part of the deal is to make the tough decisions. It’s one of the things two years ago, you know, been the head coach for a long time, but I’ve also worked with the pitchers and did different things. I had to step back and kind of redefine my role, you know — it makes me cringe a little bit and I don’t know why, but you know, more the manager, right? You know, and less the coach, you know, I want to be the coach. But, you know, I’m blessed and surrounded with some really, really good coaches.

And so, I think to, to be the manager, you got to let you know, the coaches coach, and then manage them, you know, to talk and understand what they’re doing, where we are, to fill in and give advice when, when that time is possible. But every morning and it happened again this morning, as you know, Clem’s an early bird, so he’s the first one down with the coffee. And, you know, we sit down and break down the opponent’s pitcher, the relief options that are possibly going to come in. We sit and talk about lineups, usually right about 2 or 3 different lineups. And, I’m happy with these 2 or 3. And he gets to pick the final one. Then I get to sit with Joel and to listen to what the pitching plan for that day is. And so these are things that, you know, I didn’t do a couple years ago that has kind of enabled me to I think be a better manager, be a better head coach. But that’s because I got great coaches under me.

Coach, what do you think about the Stormtrooper helmet and how did you feel putting it on tonight?

Coach Bianco: Well, I really I felt no choice. I had to put that on. Hudson Calhoun, brought it out in front of it seemed like about 500 Ole Miss fans. And so, you know, you got to put it on. But, I remember the day that it showed up in the meeting room and, I like Star Wars. My kids make fun of me. I’ve only seen the first one and a little bit of the second one. So I know there’s like ten of them and so I catch flack for that.

But the first one was the best, but, you know, I put it on in Gainesville and so I think they thought it was alright to do after that. And then obviously when Judd put it on the first time. That’s one of the cool things about college baseball, you know, and it’s always been there, you know, the kids, how genuine and how sincere they are with their teammates and being you know, we talk about the bus, but the bus, the locker room, they spend so much time with one another to have these little quirky things that they think are so, so cool, whatever that is,  handshakes and different things. And so, it’s neat that there’s so many of you out there that, you know, get to take pictures and, and know about it, you know. For years this has been going on for 30, 40 years. You just nobody ever knew about it. Now, you know, in the last, you know, ten, 15 years, there’s, there’s, there’s cameras and video everywhere. So it’s been pretty neat.

Question: What similarities do you see between this year’s team and the 2014 or 2022 World Series teams?

Coach Bianco: You know that hard. It’s hard for me. Uh, I don’t know why, but it’s hard for me, every team seems different. I’ll just talk about the 22 team because there’s not many people in here that really remember the 14 team. But the 22 team, it’s a little different path. Todd Walker and Tom Hart in our interview on Thursday, we’re talking about it. Todd Todd was talking about the similarities. I think the similarities, you know, that team was the team, obviously that, you know, the proverbial last team in. This team wasn’t that this team was one of the last teams not to host. I mean, they were one of the teams that, you know, were for sure going to get in. It’s just, you know, would we win a game or two in Hoover to be able to host. And unfortunately that didn’t happen.

But the similarity I would think of is how tough they are, how close knit they are, how they show up every single day, regardless of good, bad or indifferent. You’ve heard us say they shower well and they do. And that’s a metaphor that we use to be able to put, you know, yesterday behind you and move on to the next day and be present. The 22 team was remarkable at that. And, this team’s I think has had a tougher road to get to Omaha. You know, the 22 team played so good. And, you know, sometimes you also, you get a break when sometimes the opponents don’t play as well. And so, besides, I think about it, I don’t know how many close games we had in the five to get to Omaha. But remember the Miami game, the opening night against Arizona was close for a while. And then we kind of extended it. But then after that, the other three games weren’t even close. You know, we played two extra inning games in Lincoln. You know, in one game where they had the tying run at the plate when we made the final out, that was our three games. And then obviously these two. So this team’s had a much harder road to get there. But as we’ve said, you know, they handle hard well.

Question: Mike, we’ve seen some of your former players around the program, Tyler Keenan with you guys and Tyler Myers with the training staff. Of note, those guys didn’t get to go to Omaha as players. How special is it for them to be a part of this run this year?

Coach Bianco: It’s really cool. And you know that happens sometimes. I remember, you know, the 14 team having Steven head and Jordan Henry in the dugout, two student assistants. I know Clem, we had a visit, and so Clem didn’t travel with the team here on Wednesday night. He stayed for the visit along with Tyler Keenan. They drove over, and I probably shouldn’t, I won’t tell you the whole story, but they’re driving for five hours. And I know Tyler Keenan wants to get to Omaha. Everybody wants to get to Omaha. They had a long conversation with Clem about how important this was, you know to get to Omaha because he’s one of the best ever wear the uniform. And so he played in 2018, you know, we were national seed and lost. And then in 19, he lost in a game three super regional. And then 20, we were 15 and one and the season ended. And so he never got a chance. And it wasn’t because he wasn’t good. It wasn’t because he wasn’t on good teams. It’s just, you know, getting to Omaha is really hard. So it’s really cool to to watch those guys him and obviously Tyler Myers to get there. It’s pretty neat.

Final thoughts

The Rebels will now turn their attention to Omaha, where they will join the nation’s final eight teams with a chance to compete for a national championship. As Bianco, Furniss and Rabe reflected Saturday night, this trip to the College World Series is the result of years of perseverance, difficult decisions and a locker room that remained committed to one another through both disappointment and success. Now, Ole Miss has earned the opportunity to continue its story on the sport’s biggest stage.

Stay tuned to The Rebel Walk as we bring you all the info about the upcoming schedule and cover all the games with wall-to-wall coverage!

(Feature image credit: Avery Heun, The Rebel Walk)