Washington Baseball Coaching Search, Job Profile And Candidates

Washington coach Lindsay Meggs on June 6 announced his retirement after 13 seasons at the helm in Seattle. 

Under his guidance, the Huskies went 352-325-1 overall and 159-188 in Pac-12 competition. Most notably, he led Washington to its first-ever College World Series appearance in 2018, and did it the hard way by going through a regional hosted by Coastal Carolina as a No. 3 seed and then beating Cal State Fullerton on the road in a super regional. 

Washington never won a Pac-12 title under Meggs, but did finish second twice, in 2014 and 2016. Other than the trip to Omaha, the 2014 season stands out as a high-water mark for his tenure. The Huskies won 41 games that year, went 21-9 in Pac-12 play and toyed with hosting a regional.

Results waned in the last few years, as Washington finished eighth in the Pac-12 in 2019 and last in the conference in 2021, although the 2022 season did provide reason for optimism moving forward, with the Huskies winning eight of their final nine Pac-12 games, including series wins over Stanford and UCLA, to finish in a tie for sixth in the standings. 

Meggs’ retirement also brings an end to a 29-year career as a head coach that goes back to 13 seasons spent at Division II Chico (Calif.) State, where he twice led the Wildcats to national championships and seven times took the team to the Division II College World Series. From there, he spent three seasons at Indiana State, going 77-79, before arriving in Seattle. 

It’s a fair critique that there were just three regional appearances in 13 seasons for Meggs at Washington, none of which came in back-to-back years, but there’s uncertainty any time a program loses a coach who led it to its highest of highs, and that’s the situation Washington is in as it makes its next hire. 

Previous Head Coach

Lindsay Meggs: 352-325-1, 13 seasons

Job Description

Taken at face value, Washington has a lot going for it. Being in the Pac-12 is a major positive for things like earning postseason appearances and hosting regionals. It also has a beautiful stadium located right on Lake Washington with a view of Mt. Rainier in the distance. There are plenty of good prep baseball players in the area as well, but the recruiting landscape in the Pacific Northwest is fairly crowded, with Oregon State a juggernaut, Oregon and Gonzaga on the upswing and Washington State showing signs of improvement. But this is also a job where you have to look at the history and wonder if that should carry more weight than the latent potential when evaluating this job. The Huskies have six regional appearances since the NCAA Tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1999. Compare that to Oregon, which has seven in that same span despite it not fielding a team until 2009. Perhaps a new coach can unlock a new level of consistency, but in doing so, it would go against most of UW’s recent history. 

Will compensation remain at its current level or better?

It doesn’t appear that compensation will be much of a sticking point for a new coach if the starting point is the level at which Meggs was compensated. According to 2021 data from Athletic Director U, Meggs’ total compensation was $708,000 during that year, second among Pac-12 coaches at public institutions, behind only UCLA’s John Savage. If that’s the starting point for a new head coach, it would be an attractive compensation package, but was that level of compensation specific to Meggs, a coach with tenure who took the Huskies to Omaha?

How wide will the net be?

Washington athletic director Jen Cohen, who is a member of the NCAA Tournament selection committee, has made some outside-the-box hires during her time as AD, which goes back to 2016. Men’s basketball coach Mike Hopkins was an assistant at Syracuse going back to 1995. Women’s basketball coach Tina Langley hadn’t coached west of Texas before arriving in Seattle. Football coach Kalen DeBoer had two separate one-year stints as an assistant and head coach at Fresno State but otherwise has a resume full of stops in the Midwest. Will a new baseball coach follow that pattern or will West Coast ties carry more weight?

Roster Outlook

With the caveat that the transfer portal can make any roster look quite a bit different from year to year, there are some things to like should those eligible to return do so. Will Simpson, the most accomplished hitter in the lineup, is a draft risk, but otherwise, the top four hitters from the 2022 team can return in McKay Barney, Johnny Tincher, AJ Guerrero and Michael Snyder. Guerrero, in particular, is quite promising after he hit 10 home runs as a freshman last season, seven of which came in May. On the mound, righthander Stefan Raeth was one of the most reliable relievers in the Pac-12 a season ago and could reprise his role in 2023. The same is true for lefthander Stu Flesland III, a steady reliever in his own right, and righthander Jared Engman, who emerged as a workhorse in the rotation. The Huskies might not be ready to be a Pac-12 contender, but it’s a roster that you could see making another move in the right direction next season. 

The Candidates

The Pac-12 coaching ranks have almost turned over completely in the last five years. Meggs was the second-longest tenured coach in the conference, trailing only UCLA’s John Savage. So, while it’s been a while since we’ve seen UW in the market for a baseball coach, the rest of the conference has stirred up a lot of dust in recent years.

But UW is in a different spot. In her position on the selection committee, Cohen has had plenty of opportunities to take a deep look at the game. How that will affect the search remains to be seen, but the Huskies are sure to go looking in all the right places.

UW is one of two open Pac-12 jobs and there does figure to be some crossover in candidates with Southern California. While USC has some inherent advantages (primarily the local recruiting grounds), UW doesn’t necessarily have to take a backseat. It’s been to regionals and Omaha more recently, has a beautiful ballpark and can afford to pay in the upper echelon of the Pac-12. All of that makes for a fascinating search.

As with any search out west, the starting point should be UC Santa Barbara’s Andrew Checketts. In 11 years at UCSB, he’s led the Gauchos to their first College World Series appearance, two Big West titles (their first since 1989), hosted a regional and won more than 40 games in each of the last three full seasons. Checketts, 46, is a native of Portland and played and coached in the Pacific Northwest, so he knows what it takes to win in that part of the country. He’s also expected to be a candidate at USC, but the biggest question is if either program can pry him away from Santa Barbara. Checketts has built UCSB into the best program in the Big West and is very comfortable there. 

Grand Canyon’s Andy Stankiewicz has built a strong program since helping the Antelopes transition from Division II. They have made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons, including an at-large bid this year. He has extensive experience in addition to his 11 seasons as head coach at GCU. He’s also been an assistant coach in the Pac-12 (Arizona State), a minor league manager, the Mariners field coordinator and a big leaguer. 

Sacramento State’s Reggie Christiansen has over the last decade built one of the most consistent programs in California—only Stanford, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara have more wins since 2012—and has led the Hornets to their only three NCAA Tournament appearances in program history. He doesn’t have Pac-12 experience, but he’s more than proved that he knows how to win.

Louisiana State pitching coach Jason Kelly spent seven years in the same role at Washington under Meggs. The Huskies’ three NCAA Tournament appearances all came with Kelly on staff and he’s regarded as one of the best pitching coaches in the country. He just finished his first season in Baton Rouge.

Tanner Swanson makes for an intriguing candidate. He’s now the Yankees major league quality control coach and catching coordinator but has deep ties to Washington. He’s a native of the state and spent the bulk of his coaching career in the area, including six years on staff under Meggs at UW, before moving into pro ball. He started with the Twins as their minor league catching coordinator before moving on to the Yankees before the 2020 season. It would be a big move to leave a big league staff, especially with the Yankees leading MLB in wins, but Chip Hale (Arizona) and Jose Cruz Jr. (Rice) did just that last year. 

UCLA recruiting coordinator Bryant Ward is probably the Pac-12 assistant coach most ready to take over as a head coach. He’s spent seven years with the Bruins and in 2021 was responsible for bringing in the No. 1 recruiting class in the country.