It is a new era of college baseball in Tampa, Florida. In June, former Indiana State head coach Mitch Hannahs was named the head coach of the South Florida Bulls.
A back-to-back winner of the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year award, Hannahs left Indiana State with a near .625 winning percentage. The Bulls brought in a man who knows how to win games.
This great coaching hire has already been beneficial even before the 2025 season started. In November, South Florida had a top-25 high school recruiting class for 2025. Currently, Perfect Game has the Bulls ranked in the top 30 for this next cycle.
In other words, Hannahs is drawing interest from prospects playing in Tampa.
This was apparent in World Baseball Network’s recent interview with Carlos Jacome, an infield prospect who transferred to South Florida from playing JUCO baseball at Miami Dade College.
“I wanted to go to a place that had a culture of winning. They’ve [South Florida] been a good program…They went to a super regional in 2021, and now they have Mitch Hannahs, a coach who knows how to win. I was drawn to this place.”
His thoughts were insightful on hearing what these other recruits and transfers thought about the Bulls’ program.
According to Jacome, that kind of recruiting will pay off with winning, as he was very confident in South Florida heading into this season.
“I think you guys should pay attention to the South Florida Bulls this year. We have a really good coaching staff and a really good pitching staff. We’re going to make some noise…we’ve been grinding all fall…I think we have gotten to the point where we are ready.”
If one thing was for certain in my conversation with Jacome, it is that the South Florida Bulls look like a team on the come-up for the foreseeable future.
Their new head coach and recruiting success, which the Venezuelan prospect has been an example of, are reasons why the college baseball world should be on notice.
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WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
