Coaching Career
O'Sullivan accepted the baseball head coaching position at the University of Florida on June 13, 2007, replacing Pat McMahon after the Gators failed to receive an NCAA tournament bid in either 2006 or 2007. Florida is O'Sullivan's first head coaching job; he is the twenty-first head coach in the history of the Gators baseball program. He spent the previous nine seasons as an assistant coach for the Clemson Tigers baseball team of Clemson University under head coach Jack Leggett, first as the Tigers' pitching coach and recruiting coordinator, and later as Leggett's associate head coach. During his tenure at Clemson, twenty-nine of the pitchers he coached were selected in the MLB Draft.
In each of his four seasons coaching the Gators, O'Sullivan's teams have improved their overall win-loss record and Southeastern Conference (SEC) standing. In 2008, his first season as the Gators' skipper, the team finished 34–24 overall, 17–13 in SEC play, in second place in the SEC Eastern Division standings and third in the overall SEC standings. In 2009, the Gators compiled an overall record of 42–22, 19–11 in the SEC, in first place in the SEC East. O'Sullivan's 2010 Gators finished with an overall win-loss record of 47–17, 22–8 in SEC play, and SEC regular season champions. In each of his first three seasons, his Gators also showed post-season improvement, too: early elimination in the NCAA Regional in 2008; progressing to the NCAA Super Regional in 2009; and a berth in the College World Series in 2010.
In 2011, the Gators finished the regular season 41–15 overall, 22–8 in the SEC, and SEC regular season co-champions—sharing the regular season conference championship with the South Carolina Gamecocks and Vanderbilt Commodores. After winning the SEC tournament, O'Sullivan's Gators received the No. 2 seed in the 2011 NCAA tournament, and advanced to their second consecutive College World Series, ultimately finishing as the national runner-up.
O'Sullivan has also enjoyed unprecedented recruiting success: his 2009 recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the country by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Baseball America. It was the first time in Gators baseball history that a recruiting class was ranked No. 1.
Through O'Sullivan's first four regular seasons as the Gators' head coach, his Gators teams have compiled the best conference win-loss record of 80–40 (.667), just ahead of the South Carolina Gamecocks (75–45) and Vanderbilt Commodores (65–51).
Read more about this topic: Kevin O'Sullivan (baseball)
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