Florida Gators Kevin O’Sullivan Named Coach Of The Year; Did He Deserve It?

Florida baseball coach (why are they not called managers at the college level?) Kevin O’ Sullivan has been named Baseball America’s College Coach of the Year. On fire since O’Sullivan’s arrival, the Gators only seem to be getting better. From making the regionals, to winning one, to Omaha, to the finals of the College World Series, Florida is one of the hottest teams around and much of that can be attributed to Sullivan’s leadership.

Sullivan is a good pick for the award. Some would even say he is a great one. I am not one of those people. And here is where Gators fans egg my house.

The coach of the year should be the coach that led his team to the national championship. I have said that before on this very site and I said it earlier this week during Episode 3 of the TBG Podcast. South Carolina’s Ray Tanner won the award last season after leading his squad to a national title. The Gamecocks won the title again this season to become back-to-back champions. Tanner should have become the back-to-back coach of the year. He did not and some have even said it is because the committee likes to spread the award around. I hope that is not true because if so that is just about the worst reasoning for giving out an award there could be. “Ray, you were clearly the top man this year, but we feel we have to award someone else this time around. After all, we have to make sure we are making everyone happy. Remember, Thursdays are sharing days here at the Sunnyside Daycare.”

I am not saying O’Sullivan is not deserving of the award. Well, not completely. I am just saying he is not the most deserving. He did an excellent job with the Gators this year. Tanner did an excellent job with the Gamecocks. The two did so great in fact that they faced each other for the national championship. Tanner’s team won. Game. Set. Match. Case closed. End of story. Some lady has sung. Whatever you want to use, it fits here. That should have clinched it.

This is yet another incident in which I have to ask you to remove the orange and blue glasses and here is why. If Florida had defeated South Carolina for the title, but Tanner had been named the coach of the year, Gators fans would have gone ballistic. Do not try to deny it. The reality is the exact opposite. Be proud of a Florida coach bringing home the award, but in my opinion someone else has one more bullet point on the season and that point should have been the one that got him the award.

Sure some teams have such high amounts of talent that it almost seems impossible for them to not win a title, but how often do they do so? The most recent example being the Miami Heat. The Heat almost won a championship with arguably the most talent in the league among their top three players. Almost is not good enough. If Pat Riley had coached them, could they have won it all? Maybe. Regardless, the talent could not do it alone. The one thing they may have needed was a coach who could corral that talent at all times and get them to play better as a team. Yes, they only needed to play a little better, but better all the same. A great coach does that. A great coach gets less talent to perform better and refines superior talent to make it work. Because of all of that, you will never convince me the coach of the year should be anyone other than the coach that led his team to the title.

I congratulate Kevin O’Sullivan and as a Florida fan and diehard supporter of the Gators I am happy for the entire athletics program for bringing home another honor, but I still believe there is someone else that was more deserving.