Georgia parts ways with Scott Stricklin after 10 seasons
Georgia parts ways with Scott Stricklin after 10 seasons
Georgia announced on Friday that it is parting ways with baseball head coach Scott Stricklin.
He’s been at the helm for the Bulldogs for the past 10 seasons but won’t be returning in 2023.
“I want to thank Scott for his service to our athletic department over the last 10 years,” said UGA athletic director Josh Brooks said in a statement on Friday. “After much thought and deliberation, we feel it is in the best interest of our baseball program to move in a different direction. We will begin immediately the process of a national search to identify the next leader of our baseball team. We extend best wishes to Scott and his family, and a sincere thank you for their time at the University of Georgia.”
Georgia went 29-27 overall in 11-19 in SEC play in 2023. The Bulldogs’ season came to an end on Tuesday after a disappointing 9-0 loss to No. 22 South Carolina in the SEC Tournament.
“You know what, when you look at it on paper, we had a bad year. That's the way I look at it,” Stricklin said on Tuesday after the loss. “This program has a lot of expectations, and it has a lot of pride and I didn't feel like we performed up to our expectations. And that's on me as the head coach. That's my responsibility. I take a lot of pride in trying to uphold that expectation here at Georgia, and this year we came up short.”
Stricklin posted a 299-236-1 overall record and 121-146-1 in conference play in 10 seasons at UGA. His teams earned three NCAA tournament invitations: 2018 (39-21, 18-12 SEC, Regional finalist); 2019 (46-17, 21-9 SEC, Regional finalist); and 2022 (36-23, 15-15 SEC). However, the Bulldogs never made it past the first weekend of the NCAA Regionals, despite hosting two of those postseason appearances under Stricklin’s direction.
All of Stricklin’s squads at Georgia that made a postseason appearance were defeated by schools from the ACC: 2018 (Duke), 2019 (Florida State) and 2020 (North Carolina).
In 2018, Stricklin helped return the Bulldogs to the national spotlight as they went 39-21 overall. They then hosted a regional in Athens, but they fell to Duke in the final round.
Georgia returned a bunch of veterans in 2019, where it went 46-17 overall. The Bulldogs also won a program record 21 SEC games during that season with only nine losses.
Either way, Georgia ran into a hot Florida State team, which was battling for head coach and now-retired Mike Martin, who has the record for the most wins in NCAA history. The Seminoles easily swept the Bulldogs in the Athens Regional final and moved on.
In 2020, Georgia was primed for its first trip back to Omaha since 2008 with a great pitching staff. The Bulldogs had Emerson Hancock, who was the sixth overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, as their ace. Plus, future third-round selection Cole Wilcox was the No. 2 guy.
Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the remainder of the season after Georgia started 14-4.
The Bulldogs landed the No. 2 seed in the Chapel Hill Regional last year after going 36-23 overall, but fell to host North Carolina in an elimination game to end the 2022 season.
Stricklin spent nine years at his alma mater, Kent State, before becoming the head coach at UGA. He achieved a 350-188 overall record and won the Mid-American Conference title five times. He also led the Golden Flashes to the 2012 College World Series.