Jun. 21—OXFORD — Mike Bianco is coming home.
The problem is some folks have dual residences, and for the last week it was unclear at exactly which home Bianco would lay his baseball cap at the end of a working day.
Ole Miss and Bianco released statements late Sunday night saying Bianco would remain the Rebels’ baseball coach, the leader of a program he’s built to national prominence with an 812-462-1 record in 21 years.
He’s led Ole Miss to seven super regionals but to the College World Series just once. The Omaha drought is the reason many Ole Miss fans have been ambivalent about his involvement the quest of LSU — Bianco’s alma mater — to replace retiring coach Paul Mainieri.
For much of its search LSU has leaked candidates’ names to media including Bianco’s name. It was reported last week that Bianco was on campus at LSU to interview for the job, something Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter denied.
Later in the week news reports from Louisiana said Bianco and East Carolina coach Cliff Godwin interviewed with LSU athletics director Scott Woodward in Birmingham on Thursday.
Neither Bianco nor Carter mentioned LSU in their statements Sunday night though Carter loosely referenced the LSU drama saying Bianco’s success at Ole Miss will “generate interest from other schools” and that with any coach “there can be personal factors that come into play.”
So a week of flirtation between the winningest active coach in the SEC and another conference school was boiled down to read between the lines statements.
Mike Bianco’s willingness to listen to LSU was different than why other candidates might listen. It was based more on his history in Baton Rouge than on the perception of LSU as a destination job.
Bianco played two seasons there as a junior college transfer, a time in which he developed a closeness and mutual respect with Skip Bertman, but it was during Bianco’s five seasons as an LSU assistant that he continued to mature as a young professional and deepened that bond with Bertman. Bianco was on staff for three of Bertman’s five national championships. Bertman, now 83, was among those pushing Bianco for the LSU job.
Bianco’s last season at LSU was 24 years ago, but a championship bond like that isn’t forgotten.
Carter should not allow such courtship of one of his head coaches with just any school, but he was right to allow leeway in this situation.
Last week Carter praised Bianco’s work for 2021 even though the season once again ended one win short of Omaha.
Injuries to star players Tim Elko and Gunnar Hoglund were mitigating factors, Carter said.
So was Bianco’s past with LSU in this week of indecision.
Opponents may spin Bianco’s Ole Miss position as weakened by a week of speculation, but the loyalty of players past and present and his assistant coaches say otherwise.
As Ole Miss celebrates its coach Omaha remains the unconquered hill. At least not conquered enough.
Coach celebration in any sport is always conditional and often temporary.
Bianco in his statement mentioned “achieving new levels of success.” Whether at LSU or Ole Miss the CWS is the barrier he must break through.
Parrish Alford covers Ole Miss for The Daily Journal. Find more on Facebook in ‘Ole Miss Discussion w/Parrish Alford.’