Speaking last weekend after his team’s regional-clinching win over the UCF Knights, Florida State Seminoles head coach Link Jarrett didn’t mince words when talking about the start of his Tallahassee tenure.
“Last year, it was what it was. There was little we could do, zero we could do…it was as bad as it gets.”
Coming over from Notre Dame, the one-time Seminoles ballplayer inherited a mess, leading to FSU missing the postseason for the first time in over 40 seasons and finishing under .500 for the first time ever.
A once proud program was in disarray, at its absolute lowest just a few years removed from being the standard of the sport.
And it took him one season to turn it around.
The Seminoles more than doubled their win total in 2024 from 23 to 48 and counting (the largest jump in program history) after onboarding 26 new transfers. The infusion of talent, along with changes on the staff including pitching coach Micah Posey, brought the “old Howser” back to life. Florida State responded by going 32-4 in Tallahassee, never losing a series on Mike Martin Field, and going 17-1 against in-state schools — sweeping Florida and Miami, the first time in sixty years FSU swept both in a single season.
The consistent play all season earned the Noles a top eight national seed, where FSU went 5-0 in its two regionals and propelled themselves to their first College World Series appearance in five years. The final home victory came Saturday in a breathtaking 12-inning marathon to eliminate UConn. Amidst the dogpiles, delirium, and dancing, the head coach sat in the dugout. He let his players live in the limelight as he took a second to himself.
“If you’re going to ask me why I wasn’t running around — I have to do a lot of things that take up my mind and energy, and when I get that opportunity [to celebrate], I want to sit my tail right over there and just soak it in for five minutes.”
When Jarrett emerged from the dugout, the team soaked him in a double-blue Powerade bath as the team moshed around their coach. Although the players are why FSU advanced to Omaha, the manager had his fingerprints all over this game. All season, the lack of postseason experience never seemed to matter to a relatively young FSU team. Until Saturday.
Alex Lodise committed an error on the first defensive play of the game, and Florida State felt tense and uncomfortable the entire afternoon. The Seminoles made two more errors during the game, along with strange base running mistakes and poor execution with men in scoring position.
But instead of throwing the game away and playing for Sunday, Jarrett’s instilled confidence brought Florida State back, and the Seminoles weathered every UConn storm. FSU came back from 2-0 and 7-6 to win the game in extras, living out the moniker of taking one pitch at a time as the team hammered five Huskies mistakes for homers as nine out of ten runs came into score via the long ball.
