Florida State Hires Notre Dame’s Link Jarrett As Next Coach

Florida State on Friday hired Link Jarrett as its next coach. Jarrett, a former Florida State player and assistant coach, spent the last three years as coach of Notre Dame and this year led the Fighting Irish to the College World Series.

Jarrett, 50, has quickly risen to the upper echelon of the sport. He had a phenomenal three-year run at Notre Dame that this season saw the Fighting Irish reach Omaha for the first time in 20 years and last season win their first-ever ACC title.

Now, Jarrett returns to Florida State to take over the program. He grew up in Tallahassee, played at FSU from 1991-94 and got his start as a Division I coach in 2003.

“Having the opportunity to come home and lead this storied program is something I take great pride in,” Jarrett said. “FSU is a special place to our family and I’m excited to be the next leader of Seminole baseball.”

Jarrett takes over the program following Florida State’s dismissal of Mike Martin Jr. after three years. The Seminoles went 77-54 over the last three seasons and made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons (the event was canceled in 2020) but did not advance past regionals for the first time in back-to-back seasons since a stretch from 1981-85.

Expectations are high at Florida State, where Mike Martin won at least 40 games in all 40 years of his tenure as head coach, and Jarrett will now be tasked with leading the Seminoles.

“I think that Link is the finest coach in the game today, and that opinion is held by many in college baseball,” athletic director Michael Alford said. “We could not be more pleased that he will be leading our program. He has been a proven winner at each of his coaching stops.”

Since Jarrett began his coaching career at Flagler (Fla.) JC and then spent one season on staff under Martin, he has gone on to build an impressive resume. He spent two years at Mercer, before moving on to East Carolina and Auburn, establishing himself as one of the best hitting coaches in the country.

Jarrett got his first head coaching job at UNC Greensboro after the 2012 season. He turned the program around and in 2017 led the Spartans to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years and the following season led them to their first conference title in 20 years.

After his time at UNCG, Jarrett took over at Notre Dame and pulled the program out of a fallow period that had descended following Paul Maineri’s departure for LSU more than a decade prior. Jarrett hit the ground running in 2020 and had the Irish 11-2 when the pandemic hit. They picked up where they left off in 2021 and came one win away from the CWS. In 2022, they did reach Omaha, upsetting No. 1 Tennessee in super regionals to do so.

Now, Jarrett will begin a new era in Tallahassee. Martin is the winningest coach in college baseball history and took the Seminoles to Omaha 17 times, but Florida State has yet to win a national championship. That remains the ultimate goal for the program, although right now Jarrett will be tasked with returning the Seminoles to the top of the ACC.

Jarrett’s whole career has been building to this moment. His run at Notre Dame has proven he can win at the highest level. Now, his alma mater is calling him home to do the same at Florida State.