Clemson hired former College of Charleston head coach Monte Lee to be the Tigers’ 27th head baseball coach since the program began in 1896. Baseball was the first intercollegiate sport to be played at Clemson.
Though Clemson has had had 26 other coaches run the baseball program, only Bill Wilhelm and Jack Leggett have exclusively been head coaches of the program. Frank Howard hired Wilhelm from North Carolina in 1958 to run his baseball program, and to only coach baseball. Prior to Wilhelm, Howard or Howard’s assistants on the football staff also served as head coaches of the baseball team.
Under Wilhelm’s and Leggett’s leadership, Clemson won 2,116 games in the last 58 seasons. Before Wilhelm took over the program, the Tigers won just 593 games from 1896-1957 or the first 61 years.
So, unofficially, Lee will be just the third full-time head baseball coach in Clemson history.
Lee has been the head coach at the College of Charleston the previous seven seasons and during that time his teams averaged nearly 40 wins per year as he racked up an impressive 276-145 record.
Below is a Tale of the Tape of Lee’s first seven years as a head coach compared to Leggett’s last seven years at Clemson.
Monte Lee
Wins: 276
Losses: 145
Regular season Conf. titles: 2
Conference Tournament titles: 1
40-win seasons: 3
NCAA Tournaments: 4
Tournament Record: 8-8
Hosted Regionals: 0
Regional Titles: 1
Super Regional: 1
Super Regional titles: 0
College World Series: 0
Jack Leggett
Wins: 275
Losses: 171
Regular season Conf./ Division titles: 1
Conference Tournament titles: 0
40-win seasons: 4
NCAA Tournaments: 7
Tournament Record: 16-18
Host Regionals: 2
Regional Titles: 2
Host Super Regionals: 1
Super Regional: 2
Super Regional titles: 1
College World Series: 1