Ole Miss and athletic director Keith Carter extend Mike Bianco’s contract amid LSU coaching search

Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco has been given a contract extension to the maximum four years, according to state law.

This news comes from multiple reporting agencies late Sunday as vice chancellor for intercollegiate athletics Keith Carter announced the extension. There were growing rumors Bianco would potentially be interested in the vacancy at LSU left by retiring head coach Paul Mainieri. Some in Rebel nation were eager to see these rumors come to fruition, but there was most likely another significantly sized group hoping for Bianco to be retained.

Through 21 seasons, the Rebel head coach has guided Ole Miss to 814 wins, seven super regional bids, and as we all know one lone trip to Omaha for the College World Series.

The latter of those accomplishments irks part of the Ole Miss fanbase, and it’s no doubt because of the greater success by rivals in the SEC Western Division despite coaching changes or less successful recruiting. When Southern Miss has as many trips to Omaha as the Rebels in the same time period, the fanbase can rightfully get anxious about investing millions in this program and not getting all it wants in terms of results.

It’s true at the same time, however, the baseball program at Ole Miss would not be where it is (a clear top 20 national program) without the many years Bianco has put in and his ability to recruit. So, maybe this means all those years of fairly significant success means he has earned the ability to go out on his own terms.

I do know without a doubt Bianco feels he can bring championships to Ole Miss, and he has clearly put his teams in the position to do just that on a few occasions the last two decades. And to me that means he is doing his job pretty damn well. It doesn’t mean, however, he can miss the postseason or not continue to produce at his current level of success in the future. Hosting a regional next season, winning it and getting to super regionals is clearly the expectation going forward for this program — it’s a coinflip to Omaha from there.

Our baseball program is in a pretty good place, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting something better for it in the next four years. Let’s hope that something better can come with Bianco at the helm.