BOCA RATON, Fla. – (June 25, 2019) – Florida Atlantic University head baseball coach John McCormack was voted as Central Region Coach of the Year by American Baseball Coaches Association/Diamond, as announced by the ABCA on Tuesday.
McCormack led the Owls to the program’s second straight 40-win season (for the first time since 2003 and 2004), and the 2019 Conference USA regular season championship, notching the most league wins since the team joined C-USA, and the most wins in any league since 2003. FAU advanced to the Athens Regional for the team’s fourth NCAA postseason appearance in five years (and fifth in seven), and just prior to that, at the C-USA Championship, recorded the 400th win in McCormack’s head coaching tenure.
“This is an unbelievable honor, a tribute for the program and university,” said McCormack. “When your peers recognize you it means a lot. I thank them for recognizing me.”
This recognition comes on the heels of the C-USA voting contingency awarding McCormack as the league’s Coach of the Year as well. He joins these other Division I honorees:
| 2019 ABCA/Diamond NCAA Div. I Regional Coaches of the Year | |||
| Region | Coach | School | State |
| Northeast | Jim Penders | UConn | CT |
| East | Randy Mazey | West Virginia | WV |
| Atlantic | Mike Martin | Florida State | FL |
| South | Tim Corbin | Vanderbilt | TN |
| Mideast | Erik Bakich | Michigan | MI |
| Central | John McCormack | Florida Atlantic | FL |
| Midwest | Tim Tadlock | Texas Tech | TX |
| West | John Savage | UCLA | CA |
About the ABCA:
The ABCA, founded in 1945, is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its over 11,000 members represent all 50 states and 23 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association membership has broadened to include eight divisions: NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Association Division, High School and Youth. The 76th annual ABCA Convention will be held Jan. 2-5, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee.
– FAUSports.com –
Florida Atlantic University Athletics:
FAU Athletics is comprised of 21 intercollegiate teams involving 450 student-athletes that compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, beach volleyball, cheer and dance. The Owls are a NCAA Division I-A (FBS) institution and compete in Conference USA and the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) (beach volleyball, men’s swimming). The Owls have been playing football since 2001 and are a perfect 3-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. The dance team finished its 2014 season No. 8, nationally. FAU cheer won a national championship in 2016.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
