Mohl's Motivated Bulls Hungry for More Success in 2018
PURCHASE SEASON TICKETS
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, JAN. 30, 2018 – Loaded with talent and experience, USF plans to pick up right where it left off last postseason and continue to build the brand of winning Bulls baseball.
New head coach
Billy Mohl, staff ace
Shane McClanahan and junior captain
David Villar all took part in Tuesday's session with the Bay Area media and all three shared the same vision for the 2018 Bulls.
"We want to get back to the regional," Mohl said. "We have some unfinished business from last year. The expectation for this program is that we win, we go to regionals and we advance as far as we can go."
Leading the way will be seven position starters and nine pitchers returning from the 2017 squad that reached an impressive level of success. Going 42-19, USF won the program's most games since 1996 and played in an NCAA Regional for the second time in the past three seasons.
"We're just looking forward to getting the season going and building on what we did last year," Villar said.
While Villar helps guide the team through the season, McClanahan is anxious to help out in his new leadership role. Now a redshirt sophomore, the hard-throwing lefty is a
popular preseason All-America pick but said he's more focused on the program's continuous progression.
"I'm not really worried about that stuff. I'm more worried about what we're going to do as a team this upcoming season," he said. "You can be recognized all you want, but ultimately at the end of the day, we're going to be judged on how successful we are on the field as a team."
Bulls Excited for 'Billy Ball' to Begin
After the best season in recent program history, USF players got another big boost when Director of Athletics
Mark Harlan made a very popular head coach hiring.
With Mark Kingston headed to South Carolina, Harlan turned to Bulls assistant coach
Billy Mohl as USF's new leading man. Check out Mohl's
bio and you'll find eye-catching USF pitching statistics that include 500-plus team strikeouts in each of the past three seasons.
Aside from serving as head coach, Mohl plans to continue his duties as USF's pitching coach and his pupils couldn't be more pumped about it.
"We're just going to keep going in the right direction," McClanahan said. "We all wanted him here. We all wanted him to be our head coach. We got what we wanted and we're just really excited to go out there and play for him."
USF players know Mohl is well prepared for his new role years after turning down pro baseball for a chance to get into the coaching profession. Once a star pitcher at Tulane, Mohl has won 380 career games as an assistant coach since 2007 and served as Kingston's assistant from 2010-17.
"I've been with him a long time. I've learned from one of the best in the business," Mohl said. "He always just told me, 'Lead with your gut, do things the way you always have and you'll have success.'"
About USF Baseball
The University of South Florida baseball team is one of the fastest rising programs in the country. The Bulls reached the NCAA Regionals in 2015 for the first time in 13 years and followed that success with a 42-19 record and second NCAA regional trip in three years in 2017. The Bulls earned just their second and third wins over top-five ranked teams with victories against then-No. 3 Florida State and at then-No. 5 Florida during the 2017 season. During the 2017 season, USF reached the 40-win mark for the first time since 1996 and entered the top-25 in the major collegiate baseball polls for the first time since 2013. The USF Baseball program has won five conference titles and the Bulls have made 12 NCAA appearances.
– #GoBulls –
