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Perfect Game USA announced its College Coach of the Year finalists this week, and Boston College's Mike Gambino is one of 13 names on the list.
Gambino led the Eagles to a 35-22 record on the season as BC advanced within a game of the College World Series. After sweeping the Oxford Regional with a perfect 3-0 record, Birdball traveled to Miami to take on the Hurricanes inthe Super Regional round. In Coral Gables, the Eagles pushed the 'Canes to a third game after losing the first game, losing only after the third game was blown open late.
Along the way, the Eagles set new marks for draft choices in the early rounds. Four BC players were chosen before the 20th round, led by 19th overall selection Justin Dunn (New York Mets). Dunn was joined by Mike King (Miami Marlins, 12th round), Jesse Adams (Cincinnati Reds, 14th), and Nick Sciortino (Boston Red Sox, 17th).
Gambino's constructed the team while also, as he puts it, "building a program." Throughout the season, the overarching values of the Boston College baseball program were on display in plain sight, with the team widely recognized as a band of 35 brothers willing to run through a wall for one another. In addition, the team's work to help fight ALS while supporting Pete Frates is something that's been at the forefront of the conversation all season long.
The Perfect Game/Rawlings College Coach of the Year Award is given to the top coach in the collegiate baseball game. This week, Perfect Game USA, one of the major college baseball development and player scouting websites, named its 13 finalists. Joining Gambino on the list are the following:
Kevin O'Sullivan (Florida); Tim Tadlock (Texas Tech); John Cohen (Mississippi State); Chad Holbrook (South Carolina); Jim Schlossnagle (TCU); Andrew Checketts (UC-Santa Barbara); Gary Gilmore (Coastal Carolina); Bill Kinneberg (Utah); Jay Johnson (Arizona); Josh Holliday (Oklahoma State); Monte Lee (Clemson); and Jim Morris (Miami).
From the ACC, Duke's Chris Pollard also came under consideration but was not named a finalist. Likewise, Bryant's Steve Owens made the list of considerations.
On Gambino, Perfect Game USA says the following
Gambino took the ACC's northernmost program, and the one with the league's worst facility, to the Super Regional round for the first time in school history. The Eagles advanced to game three of the Super Regional, just one win from Omaha.
Unlike the Player, Pitcher, and Freshman of the Year awards, the coaching award remains contingent on what happens at the College World Series. Of the 13 finalists, eight are coaching games in Omaha, including Miami's Jim Morris. Morris and Kevin O'Sullivan are the only coaches of teams with 50 or more wins entering the weekend; Miami won its 50th game by beating BC in the Super Regional, while Florida enters Omaha at 52-14.
Of the coaches nominated, only Utah's Bill Kenneville coached a team with less wins than BC. The Utes went 26-29 on the year but advanced to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Pac-12 after a 5-12 start. They lost to Boston College in the Oxford Regional before losing to Tulane in an elimination game prior to the Regional Final.