Maryland baseball coach Erik Bakich has departed for the same job at Michigan.
Bakich went 32-24 in his last season at Maryland. He was 70-98 over three seasons in College Park.
He did not immediately return a message left on his cell phone.
Bakich’s departure is a blow to a program that was finally showing some measure of promise after decades as an ACC doormat. Maryland last appeared in the NCAA tournament in 1971, and it has not managed a winning season in conference play since 1981.
But Bakich — who arrived at Maryland in 2009 — was eager to change that, declaring in his first month on the job: “There’s 26 other sports that compete for championships here, and it’s time baseball starts to join the party.”
There was some hope it could occur as early as this year, when Maryland cracked the national rankings for the first time since at least 1980 and finished the season with an RPI of 30. However, a 10-20 league record ensured the Terps would miss the ACC tournament for the seventh consecutive year.
Bakich had one year remaining on his original four-year contract. His base salary at Maryland was $100,000.
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Patrick Stevens has covered Maryland and other Mid-Atlantic college sports for more than a decade. You can reach him at 64plus4@gmail.com.
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