Reflecting on LSU outfielder Drew Bianco's prophetic defense of his dad, Ole Miss skipper Mike Bianco

Ole Miss baseball is on top of the world right now after winning the first College World Series title in program history, but there was a time this season when not many believed in the Rebels. When they were struggling it was Drew Bianco, the son of Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco, who came to their defense.

Drew Bianco is an outfielder for the LSU baseball team and at one point back in May was asked to respond to social media backlash against his dad. His answer not only provided an insight into the mindset of the Rebels baseball team ahead of their run, but also proved prophetic considering how things turned out.

“I mean I’m human, so I definitely deal with those situations,” Drew Bianco said. “Especially in my generation, you see it all the time on Twitter and social media. Social media is great for a lot of things, but it also gives a lot of dumb people a big voice. But you just kind of have to ignore that stuff. It’s all negative energy. My dad always says, ‘Don’t read it when you’re doing good, because if you believe it then you’re gonna believe it when it’s going bad.'”

There's apparently some grumbling that Mike Bianco isn't winning enough baseball games at Ole Miss this season. His son Drew gives a pretty astute assessment of social media and it's pitfalls Thursday afternoon. @LSUbaseball #LSU pic.twitter.com/gbcO00rZDZ

— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) May 12, 2022

Ole Miss finished just 14-16 in SEC play this season and had lost three of its past four games entering the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels were also the last team in and thus not selected as one of the 16 Regional hosts. Despite this, they lost only one game throughout the entire tournament on their way to claiming the championship.

Not many believed in Mike Bianco and the Rebels at the start, but Drew Bianco was one of the few who knew. He had been around his dad too long to think that a few naysayers could get in the way of his ultimate goal.

Mike Bianco has been the head coach at Ole Miss since 2001, so this championship is a long time coming for him. In that time he led the Rebels to only one other appearance in the College World Series in 2014, where they were eliminated in just three games. Now, he will go down in history as the first coach to deliver a title in Oxford.