Dan McDonnell is in his sixth season as a member of Mike Bianco's staff at Ole Miss.

His responsibilities include coaching the infielders and base runners, in addition to serving as the Rebels' recruiting coordinator.

McDonnell's efforts on the recruiting trail has landed Ole Miss four top-20 recruiting classes, including three rated in the top 10, during his tenure at the school.

Almost immediately after his hiring at Ole Miss on June 21, 2000, McDonnell hit the recruiting trail.

In just under a month on the job, McDonnell signed three players who would earn postseason accolades following the 2001 season. That summer, he also began to lay the groundwork for his first full recruiting class at Ole Miss, one that would rank in the top 10 nationally by both Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America. Collegiate Baseball would rank his 2000-2001 recruiting class No. 6 in the nation.

The following year, the Rebels' recruiting class would earn a second straight top-20 national ranking, and the 2003 class was rated No. 10 by Collegiate Baseball.

All total in McDonnell's five years at Ole Miss, his recruiting classes have produced three first team Freshman All-Americas, one second team Freshman All-America and two honorable mention Freshman All-America selections. In addition, Ole Miss had back-to-back SEC Freshman of the Year winners in former Rebel OF Seth Smith in 2002 and recent draft pick 1B/LHP Stephen Head in 2003. Head was also selected as one of four National Freshmen of the Year by Collegiate Baseball in 2003.

Both Head and Smith also played on the United States National Team that captured the silver medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. Shortstop Zack Cozart was invited to the USA National Team trials in 2005.

In 2004, OF Alex Presley earned second-team Freshman All-America honors from Baseball America, and Presley and 3B Chris Coghlan were named to the Coaches Freshman All-SEC team. In 2005, SS Zack Cozart and 1B/DH Justin Henry were named to the Coaches Freshman All-SEC team.

As the Rebels' infield coach, McDonnell has helped coach Head to All-America honors in 2003, 2004 and 2005 to become the first three-time All-American in school history. Head also earned SEC Co-Player of the Year honors in 2004 and he was a finalist for the 2004 Golden Spikes Award, amateur baseball's most prestigious award.

In addition, McDonnell has coached six infielders at Ole Miss that have played professional baseball: Josh Christian, Stephen Head, Cooper Osteen, Brian Pettway, Jon Swearingen and Matt Tolbert.

Prior to Ole Miss, McDonnell spent eight seasons as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at his alma mater, The Citadel, where he helped coach the Bulldogs to five Southern Conference titles.

During his time at The Citadel, McDonnell also coached the infielders and base runners, and assisted with the hitters. In his final season with the Bulldogs in 2000, The Citadel established a new conference mark for stolen bases with 198 in 240 attempts, and junior outfielder Chris Morris led the nation in thefts with 84.

A 1992 graduate of The Citadel, McDonnell was a four-year letterwinner for the Bulldogs at second base and garnered first team All-Southern Conference honors his junior season. In 1990, he earned a spot on the All-Atlantic Regional team in Miami, Fla., helping The Citadel become the first military school ever to participate in the College World Series. McDonnell graduated as the league's all-time leader in stolen bases (99) and as the school's all-time leader in walks (185).

A native of Port Chester, N.Y., McDonnell, 34, is married to the former Julie Anne Underwood of Charlotte, N.C. The couple has two sons, Jake (7) and Justin (4).

We don't have a baseball team here at UofL do we?
CJ

CardinalJim Wrote:We don't have a baseball team here at UofL do we?
CJ

In case you missed it.





First Base line toward the football stadium.

The second picture is a great shot with Churchill Downs in the background.

They have really improved that area around the UofL Campus and Churchill Downs and we know both Churchill and UofL are not finished by any means.

L-yes,
Thanks for the pics. I was wondering who was going to play in that stadium when it was being built. I remember walking past on my way to football games when they were building it. I've never been to a college baseball game. I always figured college baseball players were the ones not good enough to get drafted in high school or were good enough to get drafted but didn't like the team they were drafted by. I might have to check them out sometime. Do they have 25 cent beer night like The Bats?
How does college baseball compare with the minors, A or AA ?
CJ

I was listening to Harold Reynold-(Former long time Major Leaguer and now works for ESPN) and he says College Baseball even at the CWS level is below Single A.

Fun game but not as good.

CardinalJim Wrote:L-yes,
Thanks for the pics. I was wondering who was going to play in that stadium when it was being built. I remember walking past on my way to football games when they were building it. I've never been to a college baseball game. I always figured college baseball players were the ones not good enough to get drafted in high school or were good enough to get drafted but didn't like the team they were drafted by. I might have to check them out sometime. Do they have 25 cent beer night like The Bats?
How does college baseball compare with the minors, A or AA ?
CJ

I've never been to a game either and you're right in that its a bunch of kids that werent good enough to go in the 40 or whatever draft rounds of MLB. That said, if you love the game it is a fine venue to take in some baseball action. Plus theyre playing high profile high school games there.