Jack Leggett: Hall Of Famer

Hall of Famer Jack Leggett spent 22 highly successfull years as head coach of the Clemson baseball program. He will go down in history as one of the best college coaches of all time.

Jack Leggett began his head coaching career at Vermont in 1978, where he spent five seasons, going 75-61. He then moved onto Western Carolina, where he went 302-229 from 1983-1991.

In 1992, Leggett joined Bill Wilhelm's staff as an assistant. In July of 1993, he was named the Tigers head coach after Wilhelm retired, going onto spend the next 22 seasons in the Clemson dugout before being dismissed following the 2015 season

Replacing a legend is never easy, but Leggett met the challenge head-on at Clemson. Over his tenure, the Tigers won 955 games and made six appearances in the College World Series. That matches the number of times Wilhelm took his Clemson teams to Omaha. 

Leggett's teams won 11 regional titles and went to the Super Regionals nine times. He led the Tigers to three ACC regular-season championships, two ACC Tournament titles and one ACC Atlantic title.

In his first season at the helm, the Tigers won 57 games, which is still the second-most in a single season in school history. 

Clemson would end up winning the ACC Tournament that season and finished ranked fourth in the country, as Leggett was named ACC Coach of the Year. He would also win ACC Coach of the Year honors in 1996 and 2006.

Leggett went on to lead the Tigers to the College World Series six times between 1995 and 2010, and only six times did Clemson fail to reach 40 wins in a season under his guidance. 

However, after Leggett's final trip to Omaha in 2010, the program started to take a downward turn. Clemson failed to get out of the regional round the next five seasons, only hosting one regional (2011) over that same span. This, after hosting 11 times over his first 18 seasons. 

After a disappointing 2015 season that saw the Tigers go just 32-29 (16-13 ACC), and be the last team selected into the 64 team field, the school decided to part ways with the longtime coach. It was a move that seemed to have the fan base divided.

"After my evaluation, it came down to this: I think we can be better," said Athletic Director Dan Radakovich at the time. "We need to inject some new momentum and create optimism around our baseball program."

Despite the tumultuous ending, most Clemson fans recognize what Leggett was able to accomplish during his time as head coach. 

During his illustrious career, Leggett has coached 140 professional baseball signees, had nine of his players selected in the first round of the MLB draft and had 25 players go on to play in the Majors. 

In 2014, Leggett was deservedly inducted into American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and he is currently the head coach of the Team USA 18U National Team. 

Leggett finished his college career with a record of 1,332-770. The wins rank him ninth all-time in Division I history.