Kevin Schnall Named Baseball America’s 2025 College Coach Of The Year

Image credit: Kevin Schnall (Photo by Eddie Kelly/ ProLook Photos)

Kevin Schnall’s instructions weren’t printed on paper.

They were passed down in bus rides, in batting cage conversations, in quiet late-night moments after losses. Gary Gilmore didn’t hand Schnall a manual when he retired as Coastal Carolina head coach last summer.

Instead, he handed Schnall something heavier: A program. A culture. A standard.

“Put together the best team,” Schnall said Gilmore taught him. “Sometimes money doesn’t always buy that.”

This spring, Schnall built that team and took it all the way to the College World Series championship series.

In his first year as a head coach, Schnall guided Coastal Carolina to 56 wins, a Sun Belt title, a sweep at Auburn in super regionals and a 26-game winning streak that carried the Chanticleers to the national championship series for the second time in program history. And now, he’s Baseball America’s 2025 College Coach of the Year—the first ever to receive the honor in his debut season as a head coach.

But that’s not what anyone inside the program talks about first.

“He really trusts in us,” said Jacob Morrison, one of the team’s rotation anchors. “Especially a lot of us at our low points. I’m one of the biggest examples of that.”

When Morrison got hurt, Schnall stuck with him. He rewarded that belief by becoming the only Division I pitcher besides Paul Skenes in the last five years to post 10 or more outings of six-plus innings with one or fewer runs allowed in a season. His ERA hovered around 2.00 into the national final. Cameron Flukey and Riley Eikhoff, Morrison’s partners in what became one of the most dominant rotations in the country, also dazzled.

The group’s collective success was emblematic of the program’s transformation under Schnall. It also reflected the trust he placed in Matt Williams, the first-year pitching coach whose fingerprints were all over Coastal’s historic season.

“(Schnall) finds what each guy does well, then builds on it,” Morrison said. “It’s incredible. He’s there for our catch play, for everything. And it’s not just me. He knows what works for each guy.”

A year ago, Coastal pitched to a 5.83 ERA. In 2025, that number dropped to 3.22.

It wasn’t just improved—it was unrecognizable.

So was the win column. Coastal went 36-25 in 2024 and bowed out in the Clemson Regional. Gilmore’s retirement closed a nearly three-decade era that redefined what mid-major baseball could be. He’d won a national title. He’d built Coastal into a destination. And his exit could’ve marked the end of the program’s golden age.

Instead, it signaled the start of a new one.

“It just never felt like we were starting over,” star catcher Caden Bodine said. “Coach Schnall had already been such a big part of what made Coastal, Coastal. When he stepped in, it wasn’t about filling shoes. It was about keeping this thing going—and taking it even further.”

It’s no surprise that the start of Schnall’s tenure has felt like a continuation of Gilmore’s. A passing of the torch rather than a program revival or overhaul.

Schnall played for Gilmore in the late 1990s and joined his coaching staff in 2001. With the exception of a brief three-year stint away, he remained tethered to the man who mentored him—until this spring, when the keys finally changed hands.

But the feel of the place didn’t.

“The overall theme didn’t change,” Morrison said. “We’re selfless. Relentless. That’s our motto. Schnall’s been such a big part of the program even when coach Gilmore was here. It’s so easy to play for him.”

Easy isn’t the same as comfortable, though. Not when the standards never dip. And the volume never really does, either.

“He’s gonna be hard on you,” said top reliever Ryan Lynch. “He’s gonna tell you what he wants, and if you don’t meet those expectations, he’s gonna let you know. But he’s also gonna be encouraging, and he’s gonna get every single player in the room to be the best they can be.”

Lynch described Schnall as someone who “hates losing more than he likes winning.”

Others described Schnall as a builder of belief, as a coach whose words don’t just carry weight, but moved people. He had a way of cutting through the noise, of saying exactly what needed to be said at exactly the right time. That motivation wasn’t loud for the sake of volume—it was sharp, urgent and personal.

“When he speaks,” said junior infielder Blake Barthol, “it makes me feel like I could run through a brick wall. I’ll do anything for that guy.”

That edge—fused with continuity—helped Coastal ascend even faster than the most optimistic projections. The team was picked to finish fourth in the Sun Belt and didn’t carry a national ranking into the season. It finished as league champion, national runner-up and the No. 2 team in Baseball America’s final rankings.

From the outside, the rise felt like a fairy tale. From the inside, it felt inevitable.

“No, it’s not a Cinderella story,” Bodine said. “We’ve been exceptional since the fall. We’ve played great baseball all year, and we’ve really clicked as a team. Schnall picked an exceptional staff, and they’ve all done their part.”

Williams was new and, in a way, so was Chad Oxendine, who returned to Coastal as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator after three years away. But hitting coach Matt Schilling remained and is now in his 12th year on staff. Schnall didn’t just assemble the group. He built a collaborative unit with shared ownership and high standards.

“Every throw matters,” Bodine said of his coaches. “Every rep matters. Coach Williams is like that. And Schnall is, too. He doesn’t let anything slide. That intensity, it helps us get better.”

It also kept the team centered. Shortstop Ty Dooley, one of the Chanticleers’ everyday players, said Schnall’s temperament was the quiet fuel that powered their consistency.

“He never rides the highs or the lows,” Dooley said. “He’s just the same guy every day. You know what you’re going to get.”

What the sport got was something it hadn’t seen before. Schnall didn’t just replace a legend. He became the first coach in Baseball America’s history to be named Coach of the Year in his debut season as a head coach. Only two others—Dave Snow in 1989 and Jim Morris in 1994—have earned the honor in their first season at a new school.

It’s a rare class. But Schnall’s path was never typical. He didn’t arrive as an outsider or a surprise. He was built into the very walls of the program. And when the time came to lead, he didn’t look for reinvention.

He looked for connection and continuity of excellence and succeeded in both categories.

“I think it really helps that he was a part of everything before,” Morrison said. “It’s still Coastal Baseball. That’s what we’re about.”

That’s what Gilmore passed down and what Schnall built upon.

A program. A culture. A standard.

And this year, a masterpiece.