LEXINGTON – Kentucky baseball head coach John Cohen is known around the country for an exciting offensive philosophy which involves scoring lots of runs en route to building a consistent winning program. That thrilling brand of baseball has translated into Kentucky plating a school-record 500 runs during the 2006 campaign that saw the Wildcats earn the Southeastern Conference regular season title with a school?record 44 wins.
The resurgence of the UK baseball program has been guided by a disciplined Cohen, who stresses walks and hit-by-pitches as a way of manufacturing runs. The team bought into this philosophy, earning school records in walks (337) and hit batsmen (80) during the 2006 campaign.
Kentucky?s 500 runs scored during the 2006 season broke the old school-record of 482 runs set in 1988.
The Wildcats were paced by All-American and SEC Player of the Year Ryan Strieby. Strieby rewrote the UK record books, driving in a school-record 77 runs while batting .343 and slamming 20 home runs.
Generating runs is not a concept new to Cohen, who made three highly successful coaching stops prior to taking the helm at UK. Under Cohen?s tutelage, offenses have thrived, piling up runs and tearing up record books. Cohen has made scoring runs a calling card of his offense, breaking school records for runs scored and/or runs scored per game at all four coaching stops.
Success has followed Cohen his whole career, beginning his coaching career as an assistant at Missouri from 1992-97. Missouri enjoyed five 30-win seasons during Cohen?s six-year stop, capped off with a 1996 season which saw the Tigers earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament and break nine offensive school records including hits (96), doubles (144), and walks (324). The Tigers also broke the school record for runs scored per game (9.362).
Cohen built upon his success at Missouri in his first head coaching stint at Northwestern State in Louisiana. Cohen led the Demons to two Southland Conference Championships in 1998 and 2001, earning SLC Coach of the Year honors during both seasons. Cohen compiled a 146-84 record during his four seasons as the skipper of the Demons and set a total of 18 offensive school records.
In Cohen?s first year as an assistant to Florida head coach Pat McMahon in 2002, the Gators ranked first in the nation in hits and second in batting average, runs scored and home runs. The Gators paced the SEC in nine team categories and shattered 41 offensive school records, including runs scored with 633.
