Mike Bianco gives emotional take on coaching Tim Elko for the last time

On3 imageby:Jonathan Wagner06/27/22

Jonathan Wagner

Tim Elko has been through a lot during his career as a college baseball career, and he ended things with Ole Miss how every single player across the nation wishes to. On Sunday, Elko played his final game for Ole Miss as the Rebels won the College World Series title. Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco knows just how much that means for a player like Elko.

Ole Miss defeated Oklahoma 4-2 on Sunday, winning Game 2 of the College World Series final and clinching the title in Omaha. After the game, Bianco admitted that he didn’t really want to think about the fact that he wouldn’t ever coach Elko again.

“No, and I almost said something to you earlier. This is such a great time, I don’t think anybody wants to think about it’s the last time,” said Bianco. “I was going to say, man, that’s kind of cruel.

“I think you probably saw that from Tim’s reaction. Like he hadn’t even thought about that yet.”

Elko has been through a lot during his collegiate career. He hit .214 with three total home runs across his first two years with the Rebels, and was off to a hot start in 2020 with a .354 average, three home runs and 15 RBI before COVID-19 ended the season.

In 2021, Elko hit .325 with 16 home runs and 55 RBI. In the middle of that season, he suffered a torn ACL. But that didn’t stop Elko. He returned just a month later, and continued mashing at the plate while clearly battling through pain in his knee.

This season, Elko hit .300 and totaled 24 home runs and 75 RBIs.

Bianco is glad Elko is able to end things with a victory

Ole Miss had never won a national title before, and Bianco was also in search of his first championship. Throughout his entire career, Bianco has had to find ways to overcome disappointing losses to end each season. But now, he doesn’t. And the fact that Elko is able to walk away from college football as a national champion makes things that much sweeter for Bianco.

“You’re right, but I’ll tell you — this isn’t what you asked, but I’ll tell you this: I’ve never won a national championship, and so I’ve been a head coach, what, 25 years,” Bianco continued. “So you’ve always lost the last game. You’ve always hoped that you would — that you were going to win it and move on to the next round, step, whatever that was.

“And so when you walk out on that field, which you’ve seen seven other teams do here, and you’ve got a bunch of young men 18 to 22 years old that are crying and knowing that this is the last game and this is how it’s going to end that season, and some of them that will never put the uniform on again. They won’t get the chance to play professional baseball. This is it and this is how it’s going to end, nobody is prepared for that.”

When a team’s season ends, it is usually very emotional for all involved. But the tears that Ole Miss shared on Sunday were completely different than those they’ve shared before.

“I’ve always struggled in that moment because I didn’t have a speech prepared,” Bianco added.

“To end on a winning note, man, it’s really neat. So they didn’t have to go through that. They didn’t have to be out there with all the hugs and the tears. Lord knows Tim and the other guys, they’ve been through that enough, so they deserve this.”