Chris Lemonis, Indiana Hoosiers

Chris Lemonis enters his fourth season in 2018 leading the Indiana Hoosiers baseball program and his 24th overall year in coaching. Indiana University Vice President and Director of Athletics Fred Glass announced the hiring of the former Louisville assistant coach as the 24th head coach of the program on July 2, 2014.

Lemonis took over an Indiana Hoosiers program in 2015 that had gone 93-31 the previous two seasons, including its first-ever College World Series appearance in 2013 and the No. 4 overall seed in the 2014 NCAA Baseball Championship. With a new look roster, his program immediately lived up to the expectations, posting a 35-24 overall record and earning a berth into a third-straight NCAA Regional.

With a 34-24-2 overall record and a 14-9-1 mark in Big Ten play, Indiana was selected to the 2017 NCAA Baseball Tournament field. Lemonis and the No. 2-seeded Hoosiers earned a berth into the Lexington Regional. With the NCAA appearance, Lemonis became the first coach in program history to make two regionals in his first three seasons as IU’s skipper.

The Hoosiers finished the regular season just one game out of third place in the Big Ten and only two games out of first place in the conference. IU played 18 games against Big Ten teams that qualified for the conference tournament, more than any other team participating in the field. Indiana finished as the highest rated RPI team in the league (34th) and ranked 16 nationally in strongest non-conference strength of schedule (33rd overall).

A total of seven Indiana players garnered All-Big Ten honors during the 2017 campaign, the most for a Lemonis coached team at IU. Sophomore Matt Lloyd (utility) and junior Logan Sowers (outfield) each earned second team honors, while senior Craig Dedelow (outfield) and sophomore Pauly Milto (starting pitcher) picked up third team recognition. Additionally, freshmen Matt Gorski (first base), Jeremy Houston (shortstop) and Cal Krueger (starting pitcher) earned freshman team honors. Lloyd additionally picked up ABCA All-Region honors.

An advocate of playing the game the right way, Lemonis’ squad additionally posted a school record fielding percentage of .979 in 2017. In three seasons at IU, Lemonis coached teams own three of the top four fielding percentages ever in the history of the program.

In year two at the helm in 2016, Lemonis’ club posted a 32-24 overall record and a 15-9 mark in Big Ten play, which was good for a third place finish in the conference’s regular season st...