Making it to the NCAA Men's College World Series is an exclusive club among college baseball head coaches.
Florida State had an incredible run to the 2019 College World Series, going from the last four in and using a thrilling walk-off victory in the super regionals to advance to Omaha. A win it its first game in Mike Martin's final run for a title moved him up this illustrious list. When Florida State was eliminated from Omaha by Texas Tech, so were the active coaches on our list.
Here are the coaches who have the most wins in the Men's College World Series:
- 60 — Rod Dedaux, Southern California
- 44 — Cliff Gustafson, Texas
- 41 — Augie Garrido, Cal State Fullerton and Texas
- 36 (tie) — Jim Brock, Arizona State and Mark Marquess, Stanford
- 29 — Skip Bertman, LSU
- 26 — Ron Fraser, Miami (FL)
- 23 — Ray Tanner, South Carolina
- 22 (tie) — Jim Morris, Miami (FL) and Mike Martin, Florida State
- 21 — Pat Casey, Oregon State
- 20 — Bibb Falk, Texas
Here is a closer look at each.
60 — Rod Dedeaux, Southern California
No surprise here. His 60 wins are the most in CWS history, but it doesn't end there. If you wanted to win the CWS finals between the years of 1968 and 1978, chances were you had to go through USC. No coach has won more national championships than Dedeaux, who was a 10-time national champion as a head coach and led the 1948 team to the championship as co-head coach with Sam Barry. The next closest coaches on the list have five national championships. Dedeaux accomplished that feat between 1970-74, the only coach to reach and win five CWS finals in a row.
44 — Cliff Gustafson, Texas
‘Coach Gus’ retired with an NCAA record 17 trips to the College World Series. His Longhorns got there by winning 22 regular season conference titles and 11 SWC tournament championships. Gustafson reached the pinnacle of the college baseball world twice, once in 1975 and again in 1983.
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41 — Augie Garrido, Cal State Fullerton and Texas
No list of College World Series coaches is complete without Garrido. He is the only coach to win multiple national championships with two different programs, winning three finals with the Titans and two more championship series with the Longhorns. His five total championships are tied for the second-most in CWS history. Garrido led both programs to similar success in the CWS with Cal State Fullerton piling up 21 of his career victories and Texas notching 20.
36 (tie) — Jim Brock, Arizona State and Mark Marquess, Stanford
Brock made the Sun Devils a college baseball powerhouse in the 1970s, going to six of his 13 career College World Series between the years of 1972 and 1978, with 1974 marking the lone miss. There aren’t many who have made as many appearances as Brock’s 13 (five others to be precise). He took home two national championships with Arizona State, one in 1977 and the other in 1981. Brock reached the College World Series finals in 1978 where he fell to Rod Dedeaux in a showdown of two of baseball's legends.
Marquess is one of a few coaches to play and coach in a College World Series. He became as much a staple in Stanford as any name in its history. Marquess made 14 trips to the College World Series and took home back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988.
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29 — Skip Bertman, LSU
Bertman was part of the inaugural class of the College Baseball Hall of Fame and for worthy reason. The Tigers made 11 trips to the College World Series under Bertman, and made them all count, winning five national championships, including going back-to-back in 1996 and 1997. The LSU legend went on to become his school's athletic director, and had the field named in his honor in Baton Rouge.
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26 — Ron Fraser, Miami (FL)
Fraser is the first of two Miami skippers to make the list. Under his tenure, Miami was college baseball in the 1980s. Eight of Fraser’s 12 CWS appearances came between 1980 and 1989, as did both titles, with the Hurricanes winning in 1982 and 1985.
23 — Ray Tanner, South Carolina
Winning back-to-back championships certainly helps one rise up this list quickly. Tanner did just that, taking the Gamecocks to consecutive titles in 2010 and 2011 as part of a three-year run in Omaha, Nebraska. Tanner’s teams made just six appearances in the College World Series, so he seems to get the most out of them when they get there.
22 (tie) — Jim Morris, Miami (FL) and Mike Martin, Florida State
Morris is the second Hurricane’s head coach to don the list. Miami went on a remarkable six-year run to Omaha under Morris, reaching the College World Series every season from 1994 to 1999. It took every one of those runs to reach the top, as Morris won his first championship in 1999 and quickly followed it up with another in 2001. He made 13 trips to Omaha altogether before retiring.
You can’t have a list of all-time college baseball winners and not list Martin. He’s the NCAA's winningest coach ever and has made 17 trips to Omaha. His career fittingly ended on college baseball's biggest stage, but it did so with the one thing missing from his record-setting career: a national championship. The Seminoles seemingly willed their way to the 2019 College World Series, and once there, Florida State won its first game to move '11' up the list, but that's where his iconic career ended.
21 — Pat Casey, Oregon State
Casey seemingly always did work when his teams made it to Omaha, winning the College World Series half the time he and the Beavers made it. Casey won six more games in 2018, including the final two against the Arkansas Razorbacks en route to his third national championship, bumping him up the list before retiring.
20 — Bibb Falk, Texas
There’s just a lot of winning history when it comes to Longhorn baseball. Falk is the third Texas head coach on the list, making it to the College World Series 10 times. Falk’s first title in 1949 was the lone year it was played in Wichita, Kansas and his second national championship one year later opened Rosenblatt Stadium as the first ever in Omaha.
Best of the rest: Gary Ward, Oklahoma State, 19; Hi Simmons, Missouri, 18; Dick Siebert, Minnesota and Frank Sancet, Arizona, 17; Bobby Winkles, Arizona State, Mike Fox, North Carolina, and Gene Stephenson, Wichita State, 16; Jerry Kindall, Arizona and Toby Greene, Oklahoma State, 15.
(*All stats from the official NCAA.org College World Series record book.)
