Virginia Baseball Coaching Search: Spotlight on Kevin Schnall

One of the best coaching jobs in college baseball is open in Charlottesville, with Brian O'Connor vacating the position to head to Mississippi State. With his departure, we begin a new series centered around taking a closer look at potential hires for the Cavaliers by analyzing their career history, and the players they've developed and examining what they've produced with the resources at their disposal.

To kick off this series, we begin with Coastal Carolina Head Coach Kevin Schnall, who is currently amidst an outstanding season for the Chanticleers as they travel to Auburn, Alabama, this weekend to take on the Auburn Tigers for a chance at a trip to Omaha. 

For a few other potential candidates: Five Potential Candidates for Virginia Baseball's Head Coaching Job

Beginning with an introduction, Schnall was named the head coach of Coastal Carolina right around this time last year after Gary Gilmore retired after 29 seasons of leading the Chanticleers. 

This past weekend, Schnall led Coastal Carolina to a Conway regional title with a perfect 3-0 record to continue a season where the Chanticleers are currently 51-11 and have claimed Sun Belt Tournament and Regular Season titles. This weekend against Auburn, Schnall will look to lead the Chanticleers to their second College World Series appearance in program history. 

Schnall played a critical part in Coastal Carolina's 2016 National Championship, as it was the year he returned to the program after spending three seasons as the hitting instructor and recruiting coordinator at UCF. In fact, Schnall was a member of the staff during all four of the Chanticleers Super Regional appearances. 

The former catcher has proved himself as a capable mentor as he's credited with helping ten players earn conference Player of the Year Honors, including Daniel Bowman, who set the Chanticleers single-season record in hits, RBI, and total bases. During his playing career, Schnall was the 1999 Big South Conference Player of the Year and set a single-season CCU record for on-base percentage. 

To continue the accolades, Schnall was recognized as the nation's top assistant coach twice by Baseball America and was named a top assistant coach in the NCAA by D1Baseball.com in 2018.

In three seasons at UCF, Schnall helped Chris Taladay earn Conference USA Player of the Year honors, showing he can create success not just in Conway. 

For fit, Schnall would be a great hire in Charlottesville, considering his resume throughout his career and making a statement in his first year as a head coach. As a recruiting coordinator, Schnall has made waves at CCU and UCF, making him even more appealing as he's had six recruiting classes ranked nationally between the two programs. 

Suppose the Cavaliers can manage to get Schnall to leave Conway. In that case, he'd have extensively more NIL and general resources at his disposal as head coach of Virginia, making him a scary sight for opposing programs. 

For now, Schnall prepares to face Auburn in a three-game series for a trip to the College World Series on the line. The Chanticleer's first game starts Friday, June 6th, at 9 pm ET.