Bill Wilhelm ends career at Clemson > Jack Leggett is likely successor

CLEMSON, S.C. – Bill Wilhelm finally shared the secret of his retirement with the Clemson community Friday, ending 36 years as baseball coach of the Tigers.

Wilhelm finished with a record of 1,161-536-10, the fourth winningest coach in college baseball history.

It is expected that former University of Maine two-sport star Jack Leggett will be named Wilhelm’s successor sometime next week. Clemson Athletic Director Bobby Robinson said it was not a done deal, but for Leggett not to be the coach “he’d probably have to turn it down.”

Leggett, a 1976 graduate of the University of Maine, captained the Black Bears’ baseball and football teams during his senior year.

The 40-year-old Leggett, a native of South Burlington, Vt., joined the Clemson staff as an assistant in 1991. He had spent the previous nine years as the head baseball coach at Western Carolina University. He led Catamounts to five conference championships and seven straight appearances in the title game.

Leggett’s coaching career began in 1976 at age 23, when he became the nation’s youngest Division I coach at the University of Vermont. He spent eight years there, before moving to WCU.

Wilhelm had signed a three-year contract following the 1991 season after his sixth and final appearance in the College World Series. He has continually said he would retire when the contract expired.

During a May 13 game with North Carolina-Charlotte, Wilhelm said he told Robinson he was thinking of stepping down.

Robinson was asking about plans for next season when Wilhelm broke the news.

“I said `Bobby, this is my final home game because I’m going to hang it up after this year,”‘ Wilhelm said. “He asked me not to make this an irrevocable decision during the season, but I told him it was already irrevocable.”

Wilhelm, 64, kept the news from his players and most Clemson officials until this week. He said he told his family and assistant coach Jack Leggett at the time of his decision.

“There may have been little hints here and there from the way I would say things, references I’d make,” the coach said of keeping the news from his players. “And I don’t know if that was the case. Most all of them were surprised to get my letter.”

He said he chose to retire this way to avoid the ceremonies that come from an illustrious career, which included 17 trips to the NCAA tournament. He said he didn’t want to take part in any goodbye tour next season.

Wilhelm said another reason for retiring was his dismay over changes in the administration of athletics.

“Cutbacks and the way things are going athletically, you can’t work as hard now as you used to work,” Wilhelm said. “Some of our dedication has been taken away from us by legislation that was ill-advisedly passed in my view.”

Wilhelm sent 99 players into pro baseball, but said he was prouder that nearly 85 percent of his players graduated.

One of the things which rankled him was the failure of his teams in the College World Series, losing 12 of 16 games.

“And that’s a little bit of a bitter taste in my mouth because we haven’t been able to do that well nationally,” he said.