OMAHA, Nebraska (NCBWA) – In the midst of the best season in program history, Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione has been named the 2024 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Mike Martin National Coach of the Year.
The Wildcats (45-14) have earned the first trip to the NCAA Division I Baseball World Series in program history with a 5-0 start to the postseason. As the No. 2 national seed, Kentucky swept the Lexington Regional for the first time in program history, defeating all three visitors: Western Michigan, Illinois and Indiana State.
Kentucky followed that with a Super Regional sweep over No. 15 seed Oregon State, winning by scores of 10-0 and 3-2.
In the regular season, Mingione led the Wildcats to the program’s second SEC regular-season title. Kentucky led the league from wire-to-wire, finishing with a 22-8 mark in the nation’s top RPI conference. The Wildcats led the league with four sweeps and tallied a school record 11 road SEC wins, also tying the program record with 45 total wins.
In his eighth year at the helm of the Wildcats, Mingione has a career 263-164 record and is the second-winningest coach in the program’s history.
Mingione was named the SEC Coach of the Year for the second time in his UK tenure in 2024 and has led the Wildcats to back-to-back NCAA Super Regional appearances.
“Coach Nick Mingione came all the way from the sandlots of Tarrytown, New York, to the surf at Daytona Beach, Fla (where he starred at Embry-Riddle U.)., and finally to Kentucky where he has reached the poinnacle of UK and college baseball, ” said Bo Carter, NCBWA Executive Director. “He is most deserving of this prestigious Coach of the Year Award and has taken his diamond talents all the way to the top of his profession.”
This year, Mingione has guided Nick Lopez to second team NCBWA All-America honors and Ryan Waldschmidt to second team All-SEC recognition. Kentucky ranks in the top five nationally with six shutouts, including two in NCAA Championship play.
Kentucky begins play at the College World Series on Saturday against No. 10 seeded NC State. SEC rivals Texas A&M and Florida are also in the Wildcats’ bracket.
The Wildcats mentor has taken UK to three 40-win seasons since 2017 and has produced a 261-164 overall mark during his eight years in Lexington. This is the first time that Kentucky has hosted back-to-back NCAA Regional Baseball Tournaments (2023, 2024) and played in back-to-back super regional tournaments (2023 at LSU, 2024 in Lexington).
About the Mike Martin National Coach of the Year Award
The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Coach of the Year Award, introduced in 2008, is voted on by the NCBWA Board of Directors, and chosen from a list that includes all Division I conference coaches of the year and the coaches of the eight NCAA College World Series teams.
In 2020, the NCBWA board of directors voted unanimously to name the annual award after Mike Martin, the winningest head coach in NCAA Division I baseball history after he retired at Florida State in 2019 with a 2,029-736-4 mark over 40 seasons in leading the FSU program from 1980-2019. Martin passed away in February 2024 at age 79.
“When I heard about it,” he said with a smile at the time, “I was simply flabbergasted. It is such an honor to have my name associated with this award, and it is a tribute to all the players and coaches who worked with me at Florida State.”
"We could not think of any other coach historically to associate a name for this annual award besides coach Mike Martin," said Carter. "He has meant so much to college baseball as it has continued year-by-year to gain additional national popularity."
NCBWA membership includes writers, broadcasters and publicists. Designed to promote and publicize college baseball, it is the sport's only college media-related organization, founded in 1962.
ALL-TIME NCBWA NATIONAL COACHES OF THE YEAR
2024 – Nick Mingione, Kentucky
2023 – Ryan Folmar, Oral Roberts
2022 – Link Jarrett, Notre Dame
2021 – Tony Vitello, Tennessee
2020 – None
2019 – Eric Bakich, Michigan
2018 – Gary Henderson, Mississippi State
2017 – Pat Casey, Oregon State
2016 – Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina
2015 – Paul Mainieri, LSU
2014 – Mike Gillespie, UC Irvine
2013 – Tracy Smith, Indiana
2012 – Matt Senk, Stony Brook
2011 – David Esquer, California
2010 – Jim Schlossnagle, TCU
2009 – Brian O’Connor, Virginia
2008 – Mike Batesole, Fresno State