Washington Huskies Baseball: Breaking Down the Lindsay Meggs Contract Extension

The contract extension announced earlier this week for head baseball coach Lindsay Meggs is another signal that the University of Washington is committed to excellence in baseball.

Meggs, the 2014 PAC-12 Coach of the Year and rewarded with a six-year contract extension worth $2.2 million dollars.

This extension is important for multiple reasons. The first is keeping continuity within the program at the head coaching position. This has been a slow build for the Husky baseball to get back to the NCAA Tournament. Thus, it was critical to lock up Meggs to a long-term contract to keep the momentum rolling.

The next reason is the return of the assistant coaches for 2015. Pitching Coach Jason Kelly and Hitting Coach Donegal Fergus did an outstanding job in 2014 across the board and were vital to the success of the 2014 season.

Consequently, the entire staff will be able to capitalize on the success of the 2014 season on the recruiting trail. They will be able to sell stability and success.

They will be able to sell success on the field with the 41 wins and having a school-record eight players taken in the 2014 MLB Draft. Moreover, the staff will be able to sell playing in an outstanding facility to potential recruits as well.

Overall, it is a straightforward formula to win consistently in college baseball. First, when you have a head coach that is the right fit you sign him to a long-term contract and set him up to keep his staff in place.

Next, invest in first-class facilities which Washington has done now with Husky Ballpark. The third part of the formula is participating in the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis.

The Huskies laid the foundation with their play in the Oxford Regional at Ole Miss as a tough out in future NCAA Tournaments. Now, the challenge is to get back to the NCAA Tournament in 2015 and beyond.

The final part of the formula is to develop players consistently on an annual basis. In an ideal world coach Meggs should be in a position to be reloading on an annual basis by having to replace several juniors that move on to professional baseball. If this happens then the winning and getting to Omaha should take care of itself.