Darin Erstad, Nebraska Cornhuskers

Darin Erstad was named the 23rd head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers college baseball program – and the fifth since 1947 – on June 2, 2011. Erstad captured Big Ten Coach-of-the-Year honors during his sixth season at Nebraska in 2017. Over his first six seasons, the Huskers have made three trips to the NCAA Tournament and have qualified for the Big Ten Tournament each year. Nebraska is one of just two teams in the Big Ten to qualify for each of the past six league tournaments.

Erstad took over a Nebraska Cornhuskers in 2012 that had failed to qualify for the postseason the previous three seasons and was making a move from the Big 12 to the Big Ten Conference. While the squad fell short of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in 2012, improvement could be seen across the board. The Huskers captured the Big Ten regular-season crown in 2017 after finishing second three times during Erstad’s first five years. He has also led the Huskers to pair of runner-up finishes at the conference tournament.

Nebraska made its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017, and its third under Erstad in four years. The Huskers went 35-22-1, which included a 16-7-1 record in Big Ten play. In the regular-season finale, NU dominated against Penn State, 21-3, en route to its first Big Ten regular-season crown, and first regular-season conference title since 2005. Jake Meyers and Scott Schreiber each earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, while Angelo Altavilla and Jake Hohensee each made the third team, and Luke Roskam collected all-freshman team accolades.

Meyers, who went 8-2 with a 3.42 ERA in 14 appearances on the mound and batted .297 in 2017, achieved All-America status from Baseball America, NCBWA and Perfect Game/Rawlings. Meyers also went 20-for-22 on stolen bases. Schreiber led NU’s offense with a .330 average, seven home runs, 15 doubles and 51 RBIs. Altavilla batted .316 with 14 doubles and 39 RBIs. Hohensee went 7-3 with a 4.39 ERA in 14 starts. He struck out 57 batters, tied for the most on the team with Meyers.

During the 2017 season, Erstad became the fifth coach in Nebraska baseball history to surpass 200 wins. After the season, Meyers, Schreiber and Luis Alvarado were each drafted. Meyers, a 13th-round pick by the Houston Astros, signed with the team, while Alvarado and Schreiber elected to return for their senior seasons. Alvarado was a 13th-round pick by the Seattle Mariners and Schreiber was drafted in the 26th round by the Tampa...