Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco has etched his name in the ranks of the most successful college baseball coaches of all time.
Bianco became the 21st active coach with 1,000 wins under his belt when the Rebels defeated Georgia in game two of Saturday’s doubleheader in Athens. He became the 98th head coach in NCAA history to reach the mark. The win was also his 900th as the Rebels’ frontman.
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ Career Wins
9️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ Wins at Ole Miss@CoachMikeBianco | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/JWeuSNEWSC— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) April 21, 2024
The Rebels (21-18, 6-12 SEC) rallied to take game two of the doubleheader and the final game of the series by a tight score of 3-2. Ole Miss pitching held the Bulldogs to just two unearned runs and just five hits in the finale, striking out 11 batters in the process, though the Rebels ultimately lost the series.
Another notable series of wins in Bianco’s career occurred in 2014. During an NCAA Super Regional appearance, the Rebels traveled to face top-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette and rallied after losing the first game to advance to Bianco’s first College World Series with the program.
In Omaha, the Rebels faced No. 1 seed Virginia, falling to the Cavaliers 2-1 in the opening-round game before picking up a dramatic walk-off win over Texas Tech and a 6-4 victory over TCU in elimination contests to set up another showdown against Virginia with a berth in the CWS Championship Series on the line. Ole Miss fell to the Cavaliers to end the season with a third-place finish, tying the best finish in the CWS by an Ole Miss team with the 1956 Rebels.
Then Bianco finally amassed the achievement he came to Ole Miss to earn. In 2022, the Rebels found themselves as the last team selected to compete in the NCAA Tournament, but were motivated by captain Tim Elko’s verbal expression, “Don’t Let the Rebs Get Hot.” Once in the postseason, Ole Miss, indeed, got hot, cruising through three straight wins to claim the Coral Gables Regional and topping Southern Miss in the Hattiesburg Super Regional to advance to Omaha for the second time under Bianco.
Once in Omaha, Ole Miss defeated Auburn and took down Arkansas twice to advance to the championship series against Oklahoma. After Bianco’s bunch eased past the Sooners in game one, an eighth-inning rally sealed the deal in game two, securing the program’s first national championship.
Following the storybook season, Bianco was tabbed the National Coach of the Year by D1Baseball, USA Baseball, the ABCA, and Collegiate Baseball. It was the second season in which Bianco accomplished the feat as he received the honor from Collegiate Baseball after leading Ole Miss to a 16-1 start to the 2020 season prior to the halting of play due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
