Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco receives contract extension

OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI)- A month and a half after leading Ole Miss to its first national championship, Rebels head coach Mike Bianco has received a contract extension. It’s a new four-year deal, with a base compensation of $1.625 million per season.

He’s now the second-highest paid baseball coach in the SEC, only behind Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin ($1.668 million).

“We are blessed to have Mike Bianco as our head coach and we intend for him to lead our baseball team for many, many years to come,” Ole Miss Athletics Director Keith Carter said in a statement. “With his remarkable track record, no one was more deserving of that national title run than Mike. We have accomplished so much in every facet of our program, and under Mike’s leadership, we look forward to continuing that level of success and experiencing more championship moments”.

Bianco’s record is 854-485-1 which ranks third all-time among coaches in the SEC. He is by far the all-time winningest coach in Ole Miss history (Jake Gibbs is second with 486 wins) and has led the Rebels to 18 postseason appearances, eight Super Regional appearances and two trips to the College World Series.

Bianco has 22 seasons under his belt in Oxford, but none sweeter than 2022. By now you know the story- Ole Miss started out 7-14 in SEC play and went 18-4 the rest of the way, including a 10-1 record in the NCAA Tournament en route to a national title. The Rebels weren’t even projected to make it past the SEC Tournament according to Baseball America and D1Baseball.com.

It wasn’t easy for the Rebels’ to overcome the backlash received after the 7-14 start to conference play, but after the championship parade concluded Bianco praised his team’s ability to do so.

“There will always be negative people but you need to be able to overcome it and be tough enough, have enough belief and continue to work hard,” Bianco said. “If you do, good things will happen. It’s a shame that people will stumble and fall, people will pick on them and they will never believe they can do it again. These guys were one of those magical stories that it really can happen.”

Now, Bianco is set to begin his 23rd season in Oxford after pulling off one of the most impressive turnarounds the college baseball world has ever seen.