Baseball America | Blog | Baseball America College Blog | Maryland Hires John Szefc Away From Kansas State

Baseball America has learned that Maryland has hired Kansas State associate head coach John Szefc as its new head coach, filling the last remaining vacant head coaching job at a power-conference school this summer. An official announcement could come by Thursday.

During his 22-year coaching career, Szefc has proven himself as a top hitting coach and recruiter, and had success as a head coach. He spent seven years as the head coach at Marist from 1996-2002, leading the Red Foxes to three regionals. From 2003-08 he served as Louisiana-Lafayette's top assistant, running the Cajuns' aggressive offense and leading their recruiting efforts. He spent 2009 and '10 on the coaching staff at Kansas, then joined Brad Hill's staff at Kansas State before the 2011 season.

A native of Middletown, N.Y., Szefc now heads back to the East Coast, where he'll be much closer to his family. He takes over for Erik Bakich, who left Maryland after three seasons to assume the head job at Michigan.

The Terrapins made strides under Bakich, winning 32 games in 2012 (their most since 2002) and finishing 32nd in the RPI. Though Maryland missed the ACC tournament, it broke into Baseball America's Top 25 early in the season for the first time ever, and made a serious run at its first regional since 1971.

With a cash-strapped athletic department, Maryland isn't an easy place to win, as its facilities and operating budget lag way behind the ACC's powers. But Bakich recruited well and left a solid foundation in place for Szefc to work with. And Szefc has proven he knows how to win, even with modest resources.

Aaron, do you think this is a good hire for Maryland? I've heard some of the baseball alums from UMD are not thrilled with this hire, but on paper it sounds like a good one to me.

Posted by Chip | July 19, 2012 at 9:28 am | Shortcut

It's an outstanding hire, imo.

Posted by Jeff Kellogg | July 19, 2012 at 7:28 pm | Shortcut

I believe you overestimate Bakich's impact at Maryland. You mention he recruited well but he recruited players with the full knowledge that they would sign professionally and never step foot on campus at College Park. It was basically a gimic to boost Maryland in recruiting rankings. Additionally, Bakich scheduled weak out-of-conference opponents to boost their record. The only players who did well at Maryland and professionally were Farr's recruits, not Bakich. They needed to hire someone who would stay, and not coaches like Bakich who wanted to use Maryland as a stepping stone.

Posted by Chris Stephens | July 20, 2012 at 10:45 am | Shortcut

I’ve got to correct you in multiple areas, Chris. First of all, our recruiting rankings come out after players set foot on campus — so the Maryland recruiting class that was ranked No. 25 in our rankings was the group that actually showed up on campus (guys like Tim Kiene, Mike Montville, David Carroll, Korey Wacker, Kyle Convissar, Tomo Delp — all guys who made significant impacts this year). And you couldn’t be more wrong about Maryland’s nonconference scheduling. This year they opened the season at UCLA, a year after opening the season at Texas. In Week 2 this year, they went down to the Keith Leclair Classic, a strong tournament every year that featured quality teams like East Carolina and Purdue this year — and Maryland went 5-1 in those two weekends. No ACC team schedules more rigorously than that.

Posted by Aaron Fitt | July 23, 2012 at 4:53 pm | Shortcut

Chip, I think it’s a great hire. John Szefc is exactly the kind of guy Maryland should target — he’s a grinder, and he’ll really get after it on the recruiting end, and get the most out of his players.

Posted by Aaron Fitt | July 23, 2012 at 5:09 pm | Shortcut

The guy is from the East Coast and won at Marist which has its share of challenges. As an assistant he went to NCAA Regionals at Kansas and Kansas State which are a lot like Maryland in that they have limited resources in a league stacked with power programs. My guess is in 3-4 years Maryland will look back and be glad they hired this guy.

Posted by Jason Meese | July 23, 2012 at 10:32 pm | Shortcut

@Aaron – Why do you think that interim coach Eric Milton wasn't given the job?
BTW: I really can't stand when a coach leaves and people start to denigrate his record. The Terps improved steadily under Bakich and were probably a win away from making the NCAAs this past year. The highlight was a comback win on the road against then number 1 ranked Florida State. The Terps record against teams making the tourney was very impressive.

Posted by Andrew Kramer | July 25, 2012 at 11:55 am | Shortcut

My comments after BTW above were meant towards those individuals disparaging Bakich, not Aaron (who does a terrific job)

Posted by Andrew Kramer | July 25, 2012 at 12:07 pm | Shortcut

Andrew, we’re probably a bit late replying, but I think Eric Milton didn’t get the job because coaching is hard, and ex-big leaguers who never coached in college have a middling track record. Look at guys like Tony Gwynn, Vance Law, Ed Sprague, Sean McNally … it takes awhile to get adjusted to college ball from pro ball. Tracy Woodson’s done it at Valpo and done a nice job, but this is an Atlantic Coast Conference job with serious challenges. I think you need someone with college baseball experience beyond one season as a volunteer assistant to turn around a program like this one.

Posted by John Manuel | July 31, 2012 at 10:13 am | Shortcut

Your final response said a mouth full.
If anyone thinks an ex-pro with a year's experience as a volunteer assistant can turn a college program around, look no further than Nebraska. With just such a guy at the helm, they finished fourth (regular season) and sixth (tournament) in the Big 10 — perhaps the 10th-14th baseball conference in D-I.
On the West Coast, Tony Gwynn is known as the coach who does less with more than anyone else in college baseball. (A top-25 recruiting class for about the last decade; no championships in rather middling conferences.)
Sprague has responded to repeated failures by firing assistants. Changing conferences won't help, either. With superb facilities and situated in recruiting heaven, he still lost 2 out of every 3 this year. Time to prepare 3 letters, Ed.
As Don Slaught, the hitting genius, says, coaching and playing are two entirely different skills. With apologies to George Bernard Shaw, few of those who "did" can teach. College coaching is much more work work than most ex-pros have a stomach for.

Posted by fred4945 | August 3, 2012 at 6:36 pm | Shortcut