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2025 College World Series Bracket: Updated matchups, scores, NCAA Baseball Tournament schedule

The 2025 College World Series field has been officially set, and all that’s left to do is play it out in Omaha. Eight teams are battling for the chance to be immortalized in the history of the sport as champions. It all begins at Charles Schwab Field on Friday, June 13, and the tournament will […]

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The 2025 College World Series field has been officially set, and all that’s left to do is play it out in Omaha. Eight teams are battling for the chance to be immortalized in the history of the sport as champions.

It all begins at Charles Schwab Field on Friday, June 13, and the tournament will run until the following weekend. Who stands tall above the field is anyone’s guess, but as the games roll on, this story will be updated to reflect the latest action. Your one-stop shop for all your College World Series needs.

The participants are ready, with Arizona, Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, LSU, Louisville, Murray State, Oregon State, and UCLA entering Nebraska dreaming of victory. Check out the full bracket below. Play ball.

Friday, June 13

Game 1 – Coastal Carolina 7, Arizona 4
Coastal Carolina and Arizona were tied at 4-4 entering the bottom of the eighth, but the Chanticleers’ bats woke up in a big way from there. They scored three runs in the inning to go up 7-4, which held as the final as Coastal Carolina advanced into the winners’ bracket.

Game 2 – Oregon State vs. Louisville, 6 p.m. CT on ESPN

Saturday, June 14

Game 3 – UCLA vs. Murray State, 1 p.m. CT on ESPN
Game 4 – Arkansas vs. LSU, 6 p.m. CT on ESPN

Sunday, June 15

Game 5 – Arizona vs. Loser of Game 2, 1 p.m. CT on ESPN
Game 6 – Coastal Carolina vs. Winner of Game 2, 6 p.m. CT on ESPN

Monday, June 16

Game 7 – Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 1 p.m. CT on ESPN
Game 8 – Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 6 p.m. CT on ESPN

Tuesday, June 17

Game 9 – Winner of Game 5 vs. Loser of Game 6, 1 p.m. CT on ESPN
Game 10 – Winner of Game 7 vs. Loser of Game 8, 6 p.m. CT on ESPN

Wednesday, June 18

Game 11 – Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 9, 1 p.m. CT on ESPN
Game 12 – Winner of Game 8 vs Winner of Game 10, 6 p.m. CT on ESPN

Thursday, June 19

Game 13 (if necessary) – Winner of Game 11 vs. Loser of Game 11, TBD on TBD
Game 14 (if necessary) – Winner of Game 12 vs Loser of Game 12, TBD on TBD

Saturday, June 21

CWS Finals Game 1 – Winner of Bracket 1 vs. Winner of Bracket 2, 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN

Sunday, June 22

CWS Finals Game 2 – Winner of Bracket 1 vs. Winner of Bracket 2, 1:30 p.m. CT on ABC

Monday, June 23

CWS Finals Game 3 (if necessary) – Winner of Bracket 1 vs. Winner of Bracket 2, 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN

More on the 2025 College World Series

Some history is being made with this year’s College World Series field. In the Super Regional era, dating back to 1999, there has always been at least one repeat visitor. But as Aria Gerson of The Tennessean put out on social media, a completely fresh slate of teams is making their way to Omaha.

“2025 will be the first time in the super regional era (since 1999) that no team that made it to the College World Series the year before will be back in Omaha,’ Gerson said via X.

Six different conferences will be represented as well. Nobody has more than two, as the SEC has a pair of teams still alive to win a national championship. However, the former Pac-12 might have something to say about that, seeing Oregon State and UCLA in the field.



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Buzz Williams on how good his Maryland basketball team looks, NIL and running out of underwear

It’s been a “whirlwind spring and early summer for Buzz Williams. He abruptly moved from Texas to Maryland, built a new roster, hired a staff and swung back to Texas to renew his wedding vows with his wife. “It was a memorable deal. I’d never been to a vow renewal. I hadn’t, to be transparent, […]

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It’s been a “whirlwind spring and early summer for Buzz Williams. He abruptly moved from Texas to Maryland, built a new roster, hired a staff and swung back to Texas to renew his wedding vows with his wife.

“It was a memorable deal. I’d never been to a vow renewal. I hadn’t, to be transparent, I’d never even heard of the word,” he told Jon Rothstein (more from the interview here). “I just didn’t know that in year 25, 50 days before the vow renewal, I would move halfway across the country. So the timing of when we moved and when our children moved, and all of the different pieces that come in a transition, kind of centered around the vow renewal. But I would have never thought anything would have transpired in my career the way that it has. I was a junior college manager. I was an NAIA manager and from a town that still doesn’t have a stoplight. So all of this has been way more than I could have ever even dreamed.

“I wouldn’t have believed one syllable of that. I’ve been blessed way more than I deserve, not only professionally but personally.

Maryland Basketball Scoop: Who’s the Terps’ top NBA prospect and who could be the next one?

Rothstein asked Williams how good his Maryland team might be next season.

“I kind of go back and forth, you know? I think some of it, John—I don’t know if we’re great. Because we played six teams in the Big Ten last year at Texas A&M, so I have some familiarity. But in truth, that’s the depth of knowledge that I’m comfortable with competitively speaking, and I haven’t studied enough since I’ve been here on Big Ten because we’ve been trying to put together our roster. Do I think we’re great? I don’t know. I would say I don’t think we’re bad, but I don’t know if that means that we’re great.”

More below from Williams on NIL, running out of underwear and more:



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Systems Theory, not superstition, can bring Arkansas baseball a title

Although several inexplicable blunders in the bottom of the ninth inning against the LSU Tigers (53-15, 19-11 SEC), the eventual winner of the 2025 College World Series, caused the Arkansas Razorbacks (50-15, 20-10 SEC) to miss another opportunity to win the college baseball national championship, they and Razorback Nation should feel proud of what the […]

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Although several inexplicable blunders in the bottom of the ninth inning against the LSU Tigers (53-15, 19-11 SEC), the eventual winner of the 2025 College World Series, caused the Arkansas Razorbacks (50-15, 20-10 SEC) to miss another opportunity to win the college baseball national championship, they and Razorback Nation should feel proud of what the team accomplished and that Arkansas has one of the five most elite college baseball programs in the nation.  

While Razorback fans were heartbroken after another legitimate chance to win a college baseball national championship slipped away, they weren’t more devastated than the players after the loss against LSU. The reality is it’s difficult to win a national championship at any institution, regardless of the sport. Certain teams in specific sports have, of course, experienced more success than most others in winning national championships. However, again, it’s never a metaphorical stroll in the park for any team in any sport to win it all.   

While the players and coaches genuinely comprehend how challenging it is for the Diamond Hogs to be one of the best teams in the nation and a real contender for a national championship each season, even if such an effort falls short, many in Razorback Nation must learn to appreciate how special this reality is. The players wish to win a College World Series for the state, university, and Dave Van Horn more than any fan, analyst, or journalist. They’re not complacent with simply being an elite team; they want to win multiple national championships.

For the Razorbacks to win a College World Series under Van Horn, it will take everyone in Razorback Nation, including fans and the Arkansas media, playing a role in helping those national championships to materialize. The Hogs don’t suffer from a curse, for such discourse is a distraction at best, one that allows fans who believe that Arkansas sports are cursed to sleep better at night when the Hogs disappoint them, especially in the most significant moments.

Believing that the Razorbacks are cursed permits one to overlook the larger forces and issues at play in the epic letdowns that have caused them to focus on such nonsense, which is ultimately an unproductive form of self-medication.

Recognizing how unserious discussions about a Razorbacks curse are, this article identifies root causes of those forces and issues that can be verified by evidence and dismisses the laughable notion of such a curse, which raises spiritual, theological, and metaphysical questions that lack any authentic relationship to any of the misfortunes Arkansas Razorbacks athletics have experienced. Also, this article offers measures that can be taken to support the Diamond Hogs in winning a College World Series under Van Horn.  

Hunter Yurachek must employ systems theory for Arkansas baseball

When assessing the success or failure of a college team, many fans immediately look at the coaches and players. While they ultimately play the most crucial roles in the success or failure of a team, the athletic director is not only the most foundational person in affecting a team’s outcomes, but also the most vital individual in determining the overall outcomes of the entire athletic program. Hunter Yurachek, the director of athletics at the University of Arkansas, has made some decisions that have thrilled Hogs fans and some that have enraged them.

Regardless of how fans feel about Yurachek, most of the current teams at Arkansas are nationally competitive. However, he receives his most vocal criticism about the way he handles the football team. Of the big three sports programs—football, basketball, and baseball—it’s the football program that disappoints fans the most, especially considering that Arkansas’ baseball and basketball teams are elite. The last time the Razorbacks won a national championship in one of these three programs was in 1994 when Nolan Richardson was the head basketball coach.  

Understandably, therefore, Razorback Nation is eager for another national championship from the big three sports programs. The football and basketball teams have produced national championships. However, although the Diamond Hogs have been elite under Van Horn, they’re the only one of three Arkansas programs yet to win a national championship. Yurachek can play an instrumental role in changing this reality. To achieve this feat, he will need to use systems theory to guide his administrative approach toward the entire athletics program.

Although Yurachek earned a master’s degree in sports administration from the University of Richmond, he lacks a discernible guiding framework, such as systems theory, to support his administrative practice. The present writer graduated from the top-ranked higher education administration program in the nation, with a specialization in college athletic administration.

In such a graduate program, which is similar to Yurachek’s, one learns how essential it is to ground one’s work in an established framework. Systems theory is a common framework taught in sports administration graduate programs. Adopting such an approach has a long history of success, as reflected in published empirical research.

Systems theory directs an executive leader to assess how each part (such as a player) in a system (the entire team or the entire Arkansas Razorbacks athletic program) is working toward achieving the desired goals and outcomes of the system. If Yurachek had applied this approach, he would have learned essential lessons about each sport and provided adequate responses to the wisdom of those lessons.

For example, when Van Horn’s teams seem to lose focus each season at specific points, systems theory informs Yurachek to invest in people and technology to aid the coaching staff in keeping the players focused, giving them data and analytics about how a loss of focus has historically harmed them, including what the unfocused team looks like qualitatively and quantitatively.

Dave Van Horn must focus Arkansas baseball to win College World Series

Although Van Horn needs more human and technological support to help his team sustain its focus throughout the season, as previously mentioned, he must make this one of his highest priorities throughout the entire season. Without his robust and unwavering personal commitment to such focus, he will not win a College World Series before he retires.

When the team wins notable games, he must lead it in maintaining the proper balance, never allowing such wins to cause it to think more highly of itself than it should. Van Horn must ensure those wins don’t distract the team from the need to continue improving. The Hogs must never become complacent.

Even though many Razorback fans may not want to hear it, one of Van Horn’s greatest weaknesses is keeping his team metaphorically hungry for an entire season. Every team, at some point, loses this hunger. Unfortunately for Hogs fans, when Arkansas’ intensity diminishes, it’s always at the most inopportune times.

His team never recovers from losses in intensity. If Van Horn wishes to win that elusive national championship, he will commit to centering his team on focus. The Razorbacks don’t need him to make excuses for them when they lose intensity; they need him to prevent it from occurring in the first place.

Remy Cofield is crucial to Arkansas baseball winning a College World Series

Yurachek made an excellent decision in hiring Remy Cofield as deputy athletics director and general manager. In the athletic department’s announcement of Cofield’s hiring, Kevin Trainor noted that Cofield “will oversee the strategic allocation of department and affiliate resources to support Razorback head coaches in the acquisition and retention of championship-caliber athletic talent. He will lead player contract negotiations and collaborate with head coaches, recruiting coordinators and administrative staff in implementing each program’s strategic vision.”

Trainor’s statements about Cofield’s duties are good news for Arkansas fans, given that they resonate with systems theory, as previously delineated. Yurachek must permit Cofield to use his knowledge and experience to produce the best outcomes for Razorbacks athletics, which, of course, includes the Diamond Hogs. Yurachek shouldn’t micromanage someone with Cofield’s experience and record of accomplishments.

Although recruiting has been strong with Nate Thompson as recruiting coordinator, Van Horn and Thompson must recognize that recruitment needs to improve even more and should respond to lessons learned. For example, Arkansas needs to target ace pitchers like LSU’s Kade Anderson and Tennessee’s Liam Doyle when recruiting. Those types of pitchers can come to Arkansas and make it difficult for teams to win a series, including a series in the College World Series, against the Hogs.

Also, the Hogs need a more balanced approach in recruiting as it relates to their offense. They need more excellent hitters, those who can consistently generate singles and doubles, which will help them overcome their struggles with leaving runners on base. It’s not wise to have a lineup full of batters swing for the fences each time they come to the plate. Arkansas athletics must empower Cofield with the necessary funds to extend offers these recruits cannot refuse. Such targeted recruiting will lead Van Horn to at least one national championship.

Final Thoughts

Razorbacks athletics is strong. Therefore, Razorback Nation should uplift the university’s athletics. When Arkansas fans are on social media, they must recognize that recruits, including their parents, read and listen to what fans say. What fans communicate through social media platforms conveys vital information to them about the Hogs’ culture, whether or not it’s an accurate picture. If Arkansas fans want the best players to choose to join the Razorback family, they must play their part and promote Razorback athletics in a positive light.

Again, put an end to the unproductive talk about Arkansas sports being cursed. Instead, show recruits, their parents, and the nation why they should join Razorback Nation. More robust fan support can aid Arkansas baseball recruiting in landing the next player crucial to Van Horn securing his first national championship.





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Would you rather

Major changes have altered the college football landscape over the past few seasons, including the expansion of the College Football Playoff and the addition of the transfer portal. For coaches and players, the two don’t fit together well. For the universities involved, the academic calendar, getting kids enrolled in classes and making sure they’re on […]

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Would you rather

Major changes have altered the college football landscape over the past few seasons, including the expansion of the College Football Playoff and the addition of the transfer portal. For coaches and players, the two don’t fit together well. For the universities involved, the academic calendar, getting kids enrolled in classes and making sure they’re on campus in time is another piece to the puzzle.

For everyone, including fans, the National Championship getting pushed back even later in January doesn’t seem appealing either. So when it comes to the changes in the sport, would you rather change the transfer portal window or get the Championship game closer to Jan. 1?

Option #1: Have the CFP end on (or at least close to) Jan. 1 each year

With the expansion of the postseason, holding the National Championship on Jan. 1 seems less and less likely. But with this upcoming season’s National Championship scheduled for Jan. 19, 2026, and subsequent titles also expected in late January, it feels like an issue that needs to be addressed. The national titles during the BCS and four-team CFP eras were played about a week sooner.

It was tough to believe the season still wasn’t over by that point this past season. While it’s only one sample size, the National Championship TV ratings declined year-over-year. It was still the most-watched of the 12-team playoff games, but these are things that will likely be looked at over a few years. We talk about the amount of money influencing the sport, and ratings for the postseason seem like a surefire thing to factor into the decision-making.

Option #2: Change the transfer portal windows

The transfer portal opens at two different times for football — in December while the season is still going on, and again a few months later in the spring. When it comes to the transfer portal window, the biggest critics are almost always the coaches. For many, they’d like to see the portal open after the season. The thought of trying to keep a team together while playing for a National Championship isn’t ideal.

There have been suggestions, even from the NCAA, that they could get rid of one of the windows and open it up at a different time when the season is over. However, the windows aren’t unique to college football, and every sport is dealing with the same issues. It’s not like transferring is an easy process either — you have to navigate admissions and look at which credits will transfer.

I understand the problems coaches have with the transfer portal, but I think changes to the schedule are more valuable for the sport overall

I’m going to start by saying I don’t have a ton of sympathy for coaches complaining about balancing multiple responsibilities during the playoffs. It might not be easy to game plan for a playoff game while also having conversations with players about what they’re going to do after the season, but I don’t think that’s the most important thing to tackle here.

Others disagree and see the portal as a world without rules that’s ruining the sport, but I think it’s one more thing that puts a little more control with the players instead of the institutions. I’m personally okay with that going untouched for the next few years.

The powers that be need to look seriously at the length of the season and reconsider the date for the National Championship. The current calendar extends way too late. I love college football, but I don’t think a longer, drawn-out season improves the sport. The separation that used to happen between the end of college football and the Super Bowl added some differentiation. With many traditions seemingly down the drain at this point, can we please just do something for tradition’s sake and have the title game played closer to New Year’s Day?

What are your thoughts? Would you rather move up the National Championship or change the transfer portal? Let us know in the comments below!

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Buzz Williams on how good his Maryland basketball team looks, NIL and running out of underwear

It’s been a “whirlwind spring and early summer for Buzz Williams. He abruptly moved from Texas to Maryland, built a new roster, hired a staff and swung back to Texas to renew his wedding vows with his wife. “It was a memorable deal. I’d never been to a vow renewal. I hadn’t, to be transparent, […]

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Buzz Williams on how good his Maryland basketball team looks, NIL and running out of underwear

It’s been a “whirlwind spring and early summer for Buzz Williams. He abruptly moved from Texas to Maryland, built a new roster, hired a staff and swung back to Texas to renew his wedding vows with his wife.

“It was a memorable deal. I’d never been to a vow renewal. I hadn’t, to be transparent, I’d never even heard of the word,” he told Jon Rothstein (more from the interview here). “I just didn’t know that in year 25, 50 days before the vow renewal, I would move halfway across the country. So the timing of when we moved and when our children moved, and all of the different pieces that come in a transition, kind of centered around the vow renewal. But I would have never thought anything would have transpired in my career the way that it has. I was a junior college manager. I was an NAIA manager and from a town that still doesn’t have a stoplight. So all of this has been way more than I could have ever even dreamed.

“I wouldn’t have believed one syllable of that. I’ve been blessed way more than I deserve, not only professionally but personally.

Maryland Basketball Scoop: Who’s the Terps’ top NBA prospect and who could be the next one?

Rothstein asked Williams how good his Maryland team might be next season.

“I kind of go back and forth, you know? I think some of it, John—I don’t know if we’re great. Because we played six teams in the Big Ten last year at Texas A&M, so I have some familiarity. But in truth, that’s the depth of knowledge that I’m comfortable with competitively speaking, and I haven’t studied enough since I’ve been here on Big Ten because we’ve been trying to put together our roster. Do I think we’re great? I don’t know. I would say I don’t think we’re bad, but I don’t know if that means that we’re great.”

More below from Williams on NIL, running out of underwear and more:

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Ed O’Bannon discussed NCAA changes, upcoming CBB game

A lot has changed over the last 16 years, especially in college sports. Ed O’Bannon, the UCLA star who helped lead the Bruins men’s college basketball team to its most recent national championship in 1995, helped spark a lot of that change with the O’Bannon v. NCAA lawsuit. Recently, as a guest columnist for Sportico, […]

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The Big West continues to cultivate strong coaches

For those on the East Coast, West Coast games can make for late nights. What we miss is some excellent basketball, headed by some excellent coaches. The Big West conference has been one of the better mid-major conferences in college basketball for a while. Just last season, five Big West teams notched more than 20 […]

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For those on the East Coast, West Coast games can make for late nights. What we miss is some excellent basketball, headed by some excellent coaches. The Big West conference has been one of the better mid-major conferences in college basketball for a while. Just last season, five Big West teams notched more than 20 wins, and the top two teams, UC San Diego and UC Irvine, went a combined 62-12 and 35-5 in conference play.

The Big West has been cultivating solid head coaches for a long time, and the conference has recently grown stronger due to the high quality of its head coaches. Two of those coaches, Mike Magpayo from UC Riverside and Eric Olen of UC San Diego, moved on to jobs at Fordham and New Mexico, respectively. The rest of the conference is littered with coaches who have had and continue to have success.

UC Irvine- Russell Turner

Let’s start with the most tenured coach in the conference and arguably the most successful, UC-Irvine’s Russell Turner. Turner will be entering his 16th season as the head coach of the Anteaters after his most successful season in terms of wins, going 32-7 in 2024-25. In addition, for the second straight season, UC Irvine finished 17-3 in league play and made a run to the NIT finals.

During his tenure, Turner has amassed 321 wins and, over that time, has had plenty of opportunities to move to another job but has stayed with the Anteaters. He’s eclipsed the 20-win mark 10 times and finished in the top two in the Big West 10 times. If you remove his first two seasons, which are also the only time his team finished below .500, his record is 288-148 with seven trips to either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT in 13 seasons. Turner and UC Irvine have become the gold standard for success in the Big West.

UC Santa Barbara-Joe Pasternack

Another Big West coach who has been extremely successful is Joe Pasternack at UC Santa Barbara. He spent four years as the head man at New Orleans before joining the Arizona staff in 2011. He remained in Tucson until 2017, when he took the job at UCSB. It wasn’t an easy job to take over as he was replacing the legendary Bob Williams, who is the school’s winningest coach with 313 wins.

Pasternack has certainly been up to the task of replacing a legend. Through eight years of his tenure, Pasternack has become the 3rd winningest coach in school history with a record of 169-81. He has won the Big West regular season and tournament championships twice, in both 2021 and 2023. Their trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2021 earned Pasternack Coach of the Year honors. The Gauchos have had a top-two conference finish five times in their eight years, a feat that Williams accomplished nine times in 19 seasons. UCSB has finished with at least 21 wins in all but two of Pasternack’s eight seasons, a mark Williams hit just twice in his career.

UC Riverside-Mike Magpayo and Gus Argenal

UC Riverside had to make a coaching change this summer because the most successful coach in the school’s Division I history, Mike Magpayo, moved on to take the head coaching job at Fordham. Magpayo spent five seasons with the Highlanders, compiling an 89-63 record. Magpayo notched a bunch of firsts for the Highlanders’ program at the Division I level. Their first 20-win season came in 2022-23, followed by another one this past season. They’ve also had their highest Big West Conference finish with three 3rd-place finishes in his five seasons. Magpayo went out with a bang, bringing the school its first trip to the NIT last year.

Hoping to repeat Magpayo’s success, UC Riverside dipped into the Division II ranks to find his replacement. They settled on Cal State San Bernardino head coach Gus Argenal for his first Division I head coaching job. Having played at UC Davis and coached there and at Cal State Fullerton, he’s quite familiar with the Big West. After two seasons on the staff at Arkansas, he took the job at Cal State San Bernardino. In two seasons with the Coyotes, he went 50-20 with two trips to the NCAA Tournament, including the Final Four in 2023-24.

UC San Diego-Eric Olen and Clint Allard

Another team in the Big West that had to make a coaching change thanks to the success their former coach had is UC San Diego. In their first season of postseason eligibility, the Tritons and head coach Eric Olen grabbed the bull by the horns by going 30-5 and earning a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Olen spent a total of 12 seasons with the Tritons, with the last five at the Division I level. In the previous five seasons at the Division II level, all Olen did was go 128-34 with 4 trips to the Big Dance. When the 2020 tournament was canceled, UC San Diego was 30-1 and 21-1 in conference play. Olen buoyed all of that success into the head coaching job at New Mexico after the season ended.

To replace Olen, the Tritons didn’t have to look far, just further down the bench, pegging associate head coach Clint Allard for the top seat. Allard is a Triton lifer, having played there and becoming an assistant with a short three-year stint at Cal Poly Pomona in between. Whether Allard can continue Olen’s success remains to be seen, but he’s had a bird’s eye view of what the recipe for success at UC San Diego looks like.

Hawaii-Eran Ganot

Eran Ganot is entering his 10th season at the helm of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. He’s already the school’s 2nd-winningest coach with a 171-118 record. Not only did Ganot reach the NCAA Tournament in his first year, he led the Rainbow Warriors to one of the biggest first-round upsets in the 2016 tournament, knocking off No. 4 seed California. Even though it has yet to reach the postseason since his inaugural season, Hawaii has been consistent, finishing in the top five of the Big West in six of his last nine seasons.

Over the last three seasons, Hawaii has seen the most success the team has seen since Ganot’s first year. In that span, Hawaii has a 57-41 record, including back-to-back 20-win seasons from 2022-2024, they hadn’t reached that benchmark since his first season. This season will be Hawaii’s final in the Big West as they are slated to move to the Mountain West in 2026. Expect their swan song to be another consistently strong finish.

Cal State Northridge-Andy Newman

For the second time in this piece, Cal State San Bernardino has lost a coach to the Big West. Before the 2023-24 season, Cal State Northridge grabbed CSU San Bernardino coach Andy Newman to be their new head coach. After five successful seasons with the Coyotes, Newman received another chance to be a head man at the Division I level. He was the interim head coach at Cal State Fullerton back in 2012 when the Titans went 14-18.

Very quickly, Newman has proven he was more prepared this time around. In his first year in 2023, he led the Matadors to a 19-15 record. That may not make people stand up and take notice, but when it’s the most wins by the school since 2007-08 when they went 20-10, it shines a whole new light on Newman’s first year. As an encore last season, the Matadors’ 22-11 and 14-6 Big West records were the most wins since the turn of the century when they went 22-10 and the 14 conference wins was a mark not seen in the school’s history at the Division I level, a mark that propelled them to the NIT. With Newman at the helm, things are certainly pointing north in Northridge.

Cal Poly-Mike DeGeorge

From the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, the Cal Poly Mustangs were one of the most successful teams at the Division II level. Under the direction of Ernie Wheeler, the Mustangs won 254 games from 1972-1986 with six trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Since then, consistent success has been difficult to attain for the Mustangs. They haven’t won 20 games in a single season since Wheeler’s last year in 1986, and a Cinderella run in the 2014 Big West tournament with a 14-20 record led to their only NCAA Tournament appearance as a Division I school. Enter Mike DeGeorge last season, to hopefully turn things around. If the Mustangs were looking for a coach who knows how to win, look no further than DeGeorge, who, prior to taking the job at Cal Poly, spent six seasons at Colorado Mesa. In those six seasons, he compiled a record of 141-43 with four straight trips to the NCAA Tournament thanks to four consecutive top-2 finishes in conference with a record of 75-10 against conference foes in those four years.

Even though DeGeorge went just 16-19 with an 8-12 Big West record in his first year, the school has to be thrilled because both of those win totals were the best since Joe Callero led the team to a CIT appearance in 2012-13.



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