Head Coach Jack Leggett

Jack Leggett in no stranger to success. In just six seasons, he has led Clemson to 288 wins, 48 per season, six NCAA Tournament berths, and two College World Series appearances. Clemson is the fifth-winningest program in college baseball during his time as head coach.

The enthusiastic mentor, who turns 46 on March 5, has not built up that win total against easy competition. Seventy-three of his 288 victories, over 25 percent, have come against teams ranked in the top 25 of at least one of the three major polls heading into the game. He also already has 35 victories over top-10 teams and 19 wins in NCAA Tournament competition.

Leggett has been with the Clemson program since the 1992 season. He served as recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach under Bill Wilhelm in 1992 and 1993. He was a major contributor to a pair of Clemson teams that were ranked in the final top 20 of every poll and advanced to two NCAA regionals. The Tigers also won the ACC Tournament Championship in 1993.

The word championship is also in the lexicon of terms when summarizing Leggett's first six years as the head coach in Tigertown. In 1994, Clemson won the ACC regular-season championship and went on to win the tournament title as well. In 1995, the Tigers repeated as regular-season conference champions and won the NCAA East Regional title. The 1996 season brought Clemson another NCAA Regional title and a second consecutive berth to the College World Series. In '99, Clemson won four games in two days to capture the Fayetteville (AR) Regional.

Clemson has won at least 40 games for 14 straight seasons and has participated in an NCAA Regional for 13 years in a row. Also, three of the six seasons have seen the Tigers finish in the top 10 of all three major polls and there has been at least a top-25 final ranking every season under Leggett.

For his accomplishments, Leggett was named ACC Coach-of-the-Year in his first two seasons (1994,95). He is just the fourth coach in the history of the ACC, regardless of sport, to be named ACC Coach-of-the-Year in each of his first two seasons in the league. Former Clemson football coach Charley Pell and current Tiger men's track and field coach Bob Pollock are two of the other coaches to be awarded that honor.

Leggett's demeanor is one of aggressiveness and passion for the game. One can see Leggett sprinting to the third-base coaching box between innings and diving into the pre-game huddle to get his players fired up. Leggett expects the same intensity and has gotten that out of his players.

Leggett's Tigers have shown excellence in all areas of the game over his six seasons. Leggett's first year as Clemson's head coach was truly remarkable. The 1994 campaign was filled with unprecedented accomplishments. With just three starters returning in the field, Clemson was unranked in the preseason top 20, but the Tigers quickly reached the top 20 of every poll with a two-game sweep of a top-10 Tennessee team. Those were the first two of 19 wins over top-25 teams in 1994, a Clemson single-season record. The Tigers won a record 13 straight conference games to open the season and concluded the year with a 20-4 ACC ledger, a league record for conference wins in a season. That was quite an accomplishment considering the ACC had the #1-RPI ranking in college baseball that season. Clemson also had a 57-18 overall record thanks to an outstanding pitching staff that ranked in the top 25 in the nation in ERA.

After two wins over Miami (FL) in late April, 1994, Clemson ascended to the #1 ranking in the nation according to Collegiate Baseball. The May 4 ranking was a first in Clemson baseball history. Seven times in 1994 Clemson defeated a team ranked in the top three in the country.

Leggett's Tigers won the ACC regular-season championship, then captured the ACC Tournament by gaining victory in four games against top-20 teams in '94. It was just the fifth time in Clemson history that the Tigers captured the regular season and the ACC Tournament championships in the same year. Clemson was rewarded as a regional host for the first time in 14 years.

Clemson was eliminated in the NCAA Regional, but still concluded the '94 season as the nation's winningest team. The Tigers' 57 victories ranked second in ACC history as far as total victories in a season is concerned. All of this against a schedule ranked in the nation's top five.

The summer following the 1994 season Leggett was chosen to the University of Maine Hall of Fame.

In 1995, his Tigers had a 54-14 record due in part to an offense that ranked in the top 10 in the nation in scoring (8.4 runs a game). The team also ranked seventh in double plays turned per game.

In 1996, the season ended with the Tiger pitching staff owning the best ERA in the nation at 3.03. With a record of 51-17, Clemson was fourth in wins in the nation and 27th in fielding with a percentage of .965.

The 1996 team also produced eight Major League draft choices, with seven of those going in the first 17 rounds. Included in those selections were pitchers Kris Benson (Pittsburgh Pirates), the first pick overall, and Billy Koch (Toronto Blue Jays), the fourth pick overall. It was only the second time in the history of the draft, which dates back to 1965, that one school produced two of the first five picks.

In 1998, Clemson reached as high as #3 in the nation and finished the season as high as #19. Leggett also reached the 600 career-win plateau during the '98 season. Ironically, he got his 600th win against his alma mater (Maine).

In 1999, Clemson was 6-6 against top-10 teams, with just one of the 12 games at Tiger Field.

Heading into 2000 he has 665 career wins. He also has a stellar 38-13 record against SEC teams as the Tiger head coach, including nine wins in a row.

Leggett has been proving his expertise in recruiting for many years. But he also has experience in terms of teaching the finer points and game management. Prior to his move to Clemson, Leggett served as a head coach for 14 years, five at Vermont and nine at Western Carolina. He already had 377 career wins, 302 at Western Carolina and 75 at Vermont, before he came to Clemson. Leggett enters the 2000 season with a career record of 665-402, six conference titles, and 11 NCAA Tournament appearances on his resume. So far, 27 of the players Leggett has brought to Tigertown have signed professional baseball contracts.

Leggett led Western Carolina to five NCAA Tournaments (1985-1989), five Southern Conference baseball titles, and a national top-30 ranking during his tenure as head coach. His 1988 team set a school record for wins, posting a 38-24 record, while the 1989 squad set a conference record by winning its fifth-consecutive Southern Conference title. Under Leggett's guidance, the Catamounts averaged 33 wins per season during his time in Cullowhee, NC, and his teams played in the conference championship game in eight of the nine seasons.

The 1991 Catamounts posted a 36-26 record. One of the 36 wins came in a 9-7 victory over Clemson on March 31, one of just 10 losses the #4 Tigers had in the 1991 season.

Leggett was named the 1987 Division I Atlantic Region Coach-of-the-Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association and was also named the Southern Conference Coach-of-the-Year that same season. In 1989, he was appointed to the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee and served the committee through the 1995 season.

In his tenure at Western Carolina, Leggett produced 35 First-Team All-Southern Conference players, six conference players-of-the-year, and had 16 players sign professional contracts. One-hundred percent of the players who played for Leggett for four seasons graduated, and better than 50 percent compiled a 3.00 or better grade point average.

Leggett's first Clemson team had two First-Team All-Americans in Mike Hampton and Shane Monahan. In 1995, a record five different Clemson players were chosen to All-America teams. In the classroom, a record 10 players earned a spot on the ACC Academic Honor Roll in 1997. Leggett also coached the first Tiger player to be named a First-Team Academic All-American in Paul Galloway (1995), who had a a perfect 4.0 career GPA in mechanical engineering.

Before going to Western Carolina for the 1983 season, Leggett spent five seasons at the University of Vermont, where he turned that team into a consistent winner from day one. He coached the Vermont club team in 1977 and then organized and coached the school's first intercollegiate team in 1978. At age 23, he was the youngest NCAA baseball coach in the nation. He had a winning season in his first year and had a 75-61 overall record at Vermont.

Leggett graduated with honors from the University of Maine in 1976, where he was an all-star performer in both football and baseball. He captained the 1976 Maine team that advanced to the College World Series, and was a two-time All-Yankee Conference selection in football as a defensive back and placekicker. He still holds the Maine record for the longest field goal, a 52 yarder.

Leggett and wife Stephanie have two children, Tanner (8-12-83) and Colby (10-21-85).

LEGGETT PERSONAL FILE
Full Name: Jackson Scott Leggett
Born: March 5, 1954
Education: Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and Minor in History at Maine in 1976; Master of Education in Teacher Education at Vermont in 1980
Family: Wife - Stephanie. The couple has a son, Tanner (16), and a daughter, Colby (14)
Playing Experience: Four-year letterman in baseball at Maine (1973-76); three-year letterman in football at Maine (1974-76)
Coaching Experience: Head Coach at Vermont (1978-82); Head Coach at Western Carolina (1983-91); Assistant Head Coach at Clemson (1992-93); Head Coach at Clemson (1994-present).

LEGGETT RECORD
SeasonSchoolW-LPct.
1978Vermont11-9.550
1979Vermont12-11.522
1980Vermont12-16.429
1981Vermont22-15.595
1982Vermont18-10.643
1983Western Carolina25-20.556
1984Western Carolina37-20.649
1985Western Carolina*37-35.514
1986Western Carolina*33-28.541
1987Western Carolina*36-20.643
1988Western Carolina*38-24.613
1989Western Carolina*23-29.442
1990Western Carolina37-25.597
1991Western Carolina36-26.581
1994Clemson*57-18.760
1995Clemson54-14.794
1996Clemson51-17.750
1997Clemson41-23.641
1998Clemson43-16.729
1999Clemson42-27.609

TotalsSeasonsRecordPct.
at Vermont575-61.551
at Western Carolina9302-226.572
at Clemson6288-115.715
Totals20665-402.623

* - conference champion

Winningest College Baseball Programs (1994-99)
RkTeamWinsAvg.
1.Florida State31853.0
Wichita State31853.0
3.Miami (FL)29949.8
4.Louisiana State29148.5
5.CLEMSON28848.0
6.Cal. State-Fullerton28547.5
7.Oklahoma State27245.3
Texas Tech27245.3
9.Rice27145.2
10.Alabama26844.7
Auburn26844.7
12.Southern California26143.5
13.Notre Dame25542.5
Tennessee25542.5
15.Ohio State25442.3
16.Delaware25342.2
Georgia Tech25342.2
18.Stanford25242.0
Tulane25242.0
20.Florida International25041.7
21.Texas A&M24941.5
22.N.C. State24540.8
23.Central Florida24040.0
24.Florida23939.8
Mississippi State23939.8
South Alabama23939.8

Winningest Coaches Age 45 or Younger
RkCoach, SchoolYearsRecordAgeBirthdate
1.Jack Leggett, Clemson20665-402453-5-54
2.Ray Tanner, South Carolina12537-2383413-25-58
3.Pat Murphy, Arizona State12506-279-14111-28-58
4.Bill Brown, George Mason18501-438-4425-21-57
5.Danny Hall, Georgia Tech12461-2374511-27-54
6.Jim Wells, Alabama10436-179443-21-55
7.Rod Delmonico, Tennessee10404-207415-14-58
8.Mike Stone, Massachusetts17399-306-3444-29-55
9.Elliott Avent, N.C. State11346-279435-1-56
10.Gary McClure, Austin Peay State12337-337-3357-2-64
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