First-year coaches to reach College World Series finals: Coastal Carolina's Kevin Schnall latest
When No. 13 Coastal Carolina upset No. 4 Auburn in the Auburn Super Regional to return to the College World Series for the second time in program history, Chanticleers coach Kevin Schnall made a statement that soon became viral: His team was no Cinderella.
"This is not a Cinderella story. We're one of the most premier, most successful college baseball programs in the entire country," Schnall said then.
That statement from Schnall couldn't be closer to the truth, as the Chanticleers have continued to be the hottest team in the country in Omaha by going a perfect 3-0 to return to their second-ever CWS championship series.
REQUIRED READING: College World Series bracket: Scores, schedule, teams, times, TV channel for CWS
In his first season taking over at his alma mater for his former college coach and boss, Gary Gilmore, the 48-year-old Schnall has led Coastal Carolina on a historic run while associating his name with a select handful of first-year college baseball coaches.
"It really hasn't hit me yet. I'll be honest. I'm still trying to digest that game. I know we're going to the World Series finals, and whoever wins two out of three brings home a national championship," Schnall said after Coastal Carolina's CWS semifinal win on leading his alma mater to the finals in his first season.
He added: "No, it hasn't really hit me yet because one of my, maybe, flaws is I'm rarely satisfied. This is satisfying, but I'm not satisfied yet."
That historic run continues at 7 p.m. ET on June 21 at Charles Schwab Field Omaha when Schnall manages his first CWS championship game as a head coach against No. 6 LSU.
Here's what you need to know about first-year head coaches who have reached the College World Series and the College World Series championship:
Who was the last first-year college baseball coach that made the College World Series finals?
Before Schnall helped Coastal Carolina punch its ticket back to the College World Series championship series, the last first-year coach to reach the final was Jay Johnson in 2016, when the now-LSU coach was coaching at Arizona.
That trip to the 2016 CWS championship for Johnson came against Coastal Carolina. After taking a 1-0 lead against the Chanticleers, Johnson's Wildcats lost the next two games to lose the best-of-three series.
History of first-year college baseball coaches in CWS
Overseeing the only remaining team unbeaten in the 2025 NCAA baseball tournament, Schnall is the seventh head coach to lead his first team at a school to Omaha since the NCAA Tournament expanded in 1999. He is believed to be the fourth head coach to lead his team to the CWS in his first year as a college baseball head coach.
Coastal Carolina says, Schnall is the sixth head coach to reach the CWS championship series in his first season with a school in tournament history. A series win vs. LSU would make Schnall the first among his five former predecessors to win the whole tournament in his first season.
Here's a list of head coaches who have led their respective programs to the College World Series in Year 1 since 1999, per ESPN and the NCAA Baseball X (formerly Twitter) account:
Record at CWS in parentheses
Kevin Schnall Coastal Carolina record
Schnall has posted a 56-11 record in his first season leading his alma mater. Coastal Carolina's 56 wins this season led all Division I college baseball programs this year, plus set a program record for most wins in a single season.
The 2025 CWS championship series is the second time that Schnall will coach in the final round of the CWS. He was an assistant coach on Coastal Carolina's 2016 national championship team.
Here's a game-by-game breakdown of how Schnall has led Coastal Carolina to the 2025 College World Series championship series:
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