The critics were loud at times but Mike Bianco and Ole Miss answered them with postseason run
There is one important stat that Mike Bianco knows the Ole Miss fanbase cares about and he is well aware that stat could be much better than it is under his tenure. On Sunday that stat improved by one and the critics were answered.
In February during his media day press conference Bianco made it clear that for a roster full of veteran players the goal was clear: Omaha and a College World Series berth or bust.
A bold goal and mission statement for a head coach to throw out there a couple weeks before the first game of the season. For Ole Miss it is not a bold claim. Not for the program and not for the fans to want their team to make.
Getting to Omaha has been kind of Bianco’s white whale. For 22 years that whale has eluded him 20 times. Prior to this weekend Bianco was 1-for-21 in getting his club to Nebraska in mid June.
“It’s about (the players). It’s never been about me,” Bianco said on Sunday when asked if he felt a weight lifted off his shoulders after reaching Omaha for a second time.
“I’ve been here a long time and we’ve had a lot of success. Yeah, we haven’t gotten to Omaha as much as we’d want. Probably not as much as the fans would want. We’ve won a lot of baseball games. We’ve had a lot of great kids who were in the other dugout and that’s tough. That’s a tough day so I’m just excited for this group.”
Despite not making this weekend in Hattiesburg about himself, Bianco is the head coach. That means many times the frustrations of a fanbase fall on him. That is just how it works.
Bianco may not hear the critics outside of the program’s bubble but he knows they exist and that getting to Omaha so infrequently has frustrated everyone involved.
Though sometimes some noise does get through to Bianco.
“I don’t (hear the critics), though maybe when I walk out to the mound and somebody yells out, ‘It’s too late now, Bianco!,’ Sometimes I hear that,” Bianco said.
In a social media world it is hard to not see the criticism though Bianco works to avoid it as much as possible. It sometimes is not as easy for the rest of his family.
“If you don’t read past the tweets you don’t have to hear all the comments,” Bianco said. “At the end of the day that’s just the coach. That’s not me, not Mike Bianco, not the husband, the father and all those things. I learned a long time ago you can’t live in that world, but you know it’s out there. My loved ones see it. I can tell. They won’t say anything to me, but I can see if in their faces.”
Whether Bianco heard, read or knew the criticisms or not they were there and they were there in force.
During the mid-season swoon in April rumblings were out there. The Bianco era felt as if it was on shaky ground and could be ending. Missing the the SEC Tournament and in turn the NCAA Tournament would have essentially been the final nail in the coffin.
In 2014, Bianco and Ole Miss got to the College World Series for the first time since 1972. Ending a 42-year drought. It was Bianco’s first as the Rebels skipper. Now, in what could be the most improbable and impressive season of Bianco’s coaching career, the Rebels went from last in the SEC to one of the Omaha 8.
The magical postseason run does not look to be ending soon, nor does Bianco’s time at Ole Miss.
