cheap seats 40 Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 It is now official. http://blog.al.com/trackingtigers/2008/06/...nner_for_a.html John Pawlowski has been named Auburn's baseball coach. Pawlowski, head coach at College of Charleston for the past eight seasons, accepted an offer from Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs on Friday afternoon. He replaces Tom Slater, who was fired on May 17 after four seasons. Pawlowski was a standout pitcher at Clemson, pitched for eight seasons in the major leagues and was an assistant at Clemson before moving to College of Charleston. More to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bojack34 2 Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 John Pawlowski Named Head Baseball Coach At Auburn John Pawlowski Named Head Baseball Coach At Auburn Click here for a printer friendly version Printer-Friendly Format Click here to email to a friend E-mail this article John Pawlowski June 20, 2008 AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn Athletics Director Jay Jacobs announced Friday that John Pawlowski has been named head baseball coach. Pawlowski spent the previous nine seasons as the head coach at the College of Charleston, where he led the program to three NCAA postseason berths, one Super Regional appearance and four Southern Conference titles. "This is a tremendous opportunity and I'm looking forward to helping bring the Auburn baseball program back to national prominence," Pawlowski said. "There is a rich history and tradition here at Auburn and I plan on working tirelessly to make this a national contender." Pawlowski posted a 338-192-1 record during his tenure at College of Charleston, including a 180-67 record from 2004-07, the most wins in school and Southern Conference history for a four-year span. Under his direction, Pawloswki led the Cougars to three-consecutive NCAA Regional appearances from 2004-06, while winning Southern Conference regular season titles in 2004 and 2005. His 2004 squad set a then-school record with 47 wins and bettered that mark in 2005 with 48 victories. The 2004 conference title and NCAA appearance were both firsts in the program's history. Pawlowski, 44, led Charleston to unprecedented heights in 2006. Charleston, which posted a 46-17 overall record and a 20-7 league mark, finished ranked as high as 12th nationally after winning the school's first Southern Conference Tournament title and the NCAA Lexington Regional championship. The team also made its first-ever Super Regional appearance before bowing out to Georgia Tech in Atlanta. "We are very excited to have John Pawlowski as our next baseball coach at Auburn University," said Jacobs. "Coach Pawlowski has experienced a tremendous amount of success as a head coach and has led several championship ball clubs. We look forward to him returning the Auburn program to national prominence." In 2007, the Cougars won their fourth conference title in as many seasons after winning the Southern Conference regular season title. This past season in 2008, The Cougars posted a 39-20 overall record and an 18-9 league mark. The Cougars set Southern Conference records for homers in a season (130), runs (627), RBI (587), total bases (1,304), slugging percentage (.607) and walks (329). Tiger Rags The 2004, 2005 and 2007 Southern Conference Coach of the Year, Pawlowski's Charleston players earned 42 all-conference honors, four academic All-America honors, with three SoCon Pitchers of the Year and two Players of the Year. Additionally, he has had 17 all-America honors bestowed upon his players since 2001. During Pawlowski's tenure in Charleston, 26 players were selected in the Major League Draft, including a school-record nine in 2008. Prior to his arrival at College of Charleston, Pawlowski was the pitching coach at Arizona State in 1999 and served as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Clemson from 1994-98. During that time, the Tigers made five consecutive NCAA regional appearances and two trips to the College World Series (1995 and 1996). While an assistant at Clemson, Pawlowski's staff led the country in earned run average in 1996 with a staff that featured the No. 1 and No. 4 overall picks in the MLB draft that year in Kris Benson and Billy Koch. In his five years at Clemson, the Tigers had 15 pitchers drafted, while the recruiting classes ranked in the top 10 nationally each year. As a player at Clemson from 1983-85, Pawlowski finished his Tiger career with a 21-12 record and a 3.89 ERA over 54 games. He made 30 career starts working 240 1/3 innings with eight complete games, three shutouts and five saves. He was the sixth-round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 1985 and made his major league debut in September of 1987. After playing over eight years for the Chicago White Sox (1985-91), California Angels (1991-92) and Baltimore Orioles (1992) organizations, Pawlowski returned to Clemson to begin his coaching career and complete his degree. He received his bachelor's degree in Industrial Education from Clemson University in May of 1996. The Johnson City, New York native graduated from Seton Catholic Central in Binghamton, N.Y. in 1982. In 2007, he was inducted into the Upstate New York Section IV Hall of Fame. Pawlowski has three daughters, Christine (16), Mary Louise (13) and Jenny Caroline (7).link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AU alum 2 Posted June 20, 2008 Share Posted June 20, 2008 I have to ask, since I don't know anything about baseball. Has anybody heard of him? Is he good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerbait04 0 Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 He's got a 338-192-1 head coaching record. Took CofC to new heights in baseball winning their first conference title, and followed that up with 3 more. Has a 623-301-1 career coaching record with stops as an assistant at Clemson and Arizona State before going to CofC. When he was at Clemson they finished in the top 25 every year, and the top 10 4 times in 5 years. He was the pitching coach for Kris Benson and Billy Koch (No. 1 & No. 4 in the MLB Draft) while at Clemson. He's only had a team ERA of more than 5.00 once in his career as a coach. He was supposedly the runner-up to Mainieri at LSU a couple of years ago. His credentials speak for them self. I think he might have been one of the best candidates of the names that were out there due to his age, past experience, and his ability to field a winner. Hopefully, he can turn the mess around and we can play field a quality team again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNewby 27 Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 He sounds good to me. As an ex-pitcher and pitching coach, I expect our ERA to improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeduke 8 Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Let me beat PowerI to the punch.....we should fire him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger12 46 Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Well, he was not one of my top two choices and I would have been much happier if would have hired Pierce or Dunn, but he also is not a bad choice by far either. We could have done a lot worse. I believe he can get the job done here if he can put CoC on the college baseball map. This hire seems to be a good one and seems to be a better hire on paper then Slater was. My only concern in this hire was how in state guys like Pierce, Lowe, and Dunn were being mentioned at first, then all of a sudden it seemed like they were not good enough. Dunn was still young in his head coaching career, so I kind of understand wanting a little more experience even though he was impressive the last couple of years at Stamford. However, Pierce and Lowe are proven winners with years of experience. For some reason, it just bothers me that in-state guys that have SEC experience, and more importantly have experience recruiting in this state and adjoining states, were over looked and the PTBs seemed determined to look further away. Maybe I am just skeptical of Jacobs because he has not impressed me much as AD. He has not exactly had a smooth ride since he has taken the job. Jacobs job should be on the line if this hiring does not work out. No matter what, I will support the program no matter who the coach is. I will now have to learn how to pronounce our new coach's name. I am not going to try to spell it out every time, so I am just going to call him Coach Paw. Welcome Coach Paw to the program and we expect the same success you have had at CoC to follow you here to Auburn. War Eagle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowerI 0 Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Let me beat PowerI to the punch.....we should fire him. I am extremely pleased with this hire. This guy is a proven winner, unlike Slater, and he will bring Auburn's baseball program back to where it needs to be. I will give Jacobs credit for this hire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarTiger 3,910 Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Let me beat PowerI to the punch.....we should fire him. so true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigermike 3,039 Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 From what I have heard he has a reputation for developing talent. Obviously an area that has been lacking at AU. AU has had pretty good talent over the past four or five years, but player development was nearly non existent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNewby 27 Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Go Coach Tiger Paw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WREGL3 0 Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Well, he was not one of my top two choices and I would have been much happier if would have hired Pierce or Dunn, but he also is not a bad choice by far either. We could have done a lot worse. I believe he can get the job done here if he can put CoC on the college baseball map. This hire seems to be a good one and seems to be a better hire on paper then Slater was. My only concern in this hire was how in state guys like Pierce, Lowe, and Dunn were being mentioned at first, then all of a sudden it seemed like they were not good enough. Dunn was still young in his head coaching career, so I kind of understand wanting a little more experience even though he was impressive the last couple of years at Stamford. However, Pierce and Lowe are proven winners with years of experience. For some reason, it just bothers me that in-state guys that have SEC experience, and more importantly have experience recruiting in this state and adjoining states, were over looked and the PTBs seemed determined to look further away. Maybe I am just skeptical of Jacobs because he has not impressed me much as AD. He has not exactly had a smooth ride since he has taken the job. Jacobs job should be on the line if this hiring does not work out. No matter what, I will support the program no matter who the coach is. I will now have to learn how to pronounce our new coach's name. I am not going to try to spell it out every time, so I am just going to call him Coach Paw. Welcome Coach Paw to the program and we expect the same success you have had at CoC to follow you here to Auburn. War Eagle! This is a great hire and Jacobs should be fired anyway. War Eagle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baseballman8388 0 Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 From what I have heard he has a reputation for developing talent. Obviously an area that has been lacking at AU. AU has had pretty good talent over the past four or five years, but player development was nearly non existent. Great point Tigermike. This was the problem I had during Slater's tenure as well. We had some very talented guys come on campus, but they never seemed to get much better than when they first got here. I think Bianucci is a key example. He has amazing power and raw talent, but was never really harnessed or improved. I see a very similar problem in the Jeff Lebo regime. Guys like Robertson, Reed, Barber, and Barrett really haven't shown a whole lot of improvement since they first became starters. Luckily for us, they were pretty serviceable when they arrived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WREGL3 0 Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 From what I have heard he has a reputation for developing talent. Obviously an area that has been lacking at AU. AU has had pretty good talent over the past four or five years, but player development was nearly non existent. Great point Tigermike. This was the problem I had during Slater's tenure as well. We had some very talented guys come on campus, but they never seemed to get much better than when they first got here. I think Bianucci is a key example. He has amazing power and raw talent, but was never really harnessed or improved. I see a very similar problem in the Jeff Lebo regime. Guys like Robertson, Reed, Barber, and Barrett really haven't shown a whole lot of improvement since they first became starters. Luckily for us, they were pretty serviceable when they arrived. I know this isn't a basketball discussion but I have to disagree with you on the development of Lebo's players. Robertson and especially Barber have developed into better basketball players. We will see with Reed and Barrett is just selfish and not a very good player ....streaky at best. But Barber, my goodness the improvement in his game since he came in is immense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUslug 1 Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Welcome aboard coach, looking forward to him righting the program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
autigeremt 6,652 Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 I'm excited about this hire. I have followed the Clemson program for many years due to the fact that I grew up in the shadow of Clemson University. This guy can get it done, and I expect a huge improvement from the pitching staff. He's a very good coach, and while I was somewhat skeptical of not going with Dunn, Paw has the stuff to get us back where we belong. War Eagle! Can't wait to see this thing develope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCWarEagle 0 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 I had not heard of Pawlowski before, but after reading about him, this seems to be a very good hire. I hope that he can get Auburn baseball back to a competitive level in the SEC. Coach Paw, welcome aboard and War Eagle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PChamp119 96 Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 My dad just e-mailed me - apparently this guy is from my hometown. So more reason for me to wish him the best of luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.