June 20, 2008

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AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn Athletics Director Jay Jacobs announced Friday that John Pawlowski has been named head baseball coach. Pawlowski spent the previous nine seasons as the head coach at the College of Charleston, where he led the program to three NCAA postseason berths, one Super Regional appearance and four Southern Conference titles.

"This is a tremendous opportunity and I'm looking forward to helping bring the Auburn baseball program back to national prominence," Pawlowski said. "There is a rich history and tradition here at Auburn and I plan on working tirelessly to make this a national contender."

Pawlowski posted a 338-192-1 record during his tenure at College of Charleston, including a 180-67 record from 2004-07, the most wins in school and Southern Conference history for a four-year span.

Under his direction, Pawloswki led the Cougars to three-consecutive NCAA Regional appearances from 2004-06, while winning Southern Conference regular season titles in 2004 and 2005. His 2004 squad set a then-school record with 47 wins and bettered that mark in 2005 with 48 victories. The 2004 conference title and NCAA appearance were both firsts in the program's history.

Pawlowski, 44, led Charleston to unprecedented heights in 2006. Charleston, which posted a 46-17 overall record and a 20-7 league mark, finished ranked as high as 12th nationally after winning the school's first Southern Conference Tournament title and the NCAA Lexington Regional championship. The team also made its first-ever Super Regional appearance before bowing out to Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

"We are very excited to have John Pawlowski as our next baseball coach at Auburn University," said Jacobs. "Coach Pawlowski has experienced a tremendous amount of success as a head coach and has led several championship ball clubs. We look forward to him returning the Auburn program to national prominence."

In 2007, the Cougars won their fourth conference title in as many seasons after winning the Southern Conference regular season title. This past season in 2008, The Cougars posted a 39-20 overall record and an 18-9 league mark. The Cougars set Southern Conference records for homers in a season (130), runs (627), RBI (587), total bases (1,304), slugging percentage (.607) and walks (329).

The 2004, 2005 and 2007 Southern Conference Coach of the Year, Pawlowski's Charleston players earned 42 all-conference honors, four academic All-America honors, with three SoCon Pitchers of the Year and two Players of the Year. Additionally, he has had 17 all-America honors bestowed upon his players since 2001.

During Pawlowski's tenure in Charleston, 26 players were selected in the Major League Draft, including a school-record nine in 2008.

Prior to his arrival at College of Charleston, Pawlowski was the pitching coach at Arizona State in 1999 and served as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Clemson from 1994-98. During that time, the Tigers made five consecutive NCAA regional appearances and two trips to the College World Series (1995 and 1996).

While an assistant at Clemson, Pawlowski's staff led the country in earned run average in 1996 with a staff that featured the No. 1 and No. 4 overall picks in the MLB draft that year in Kris Benson and Billy Koch. In his five years at Clemson, the Tigers had 15 pitchers drafted, while the recruiting classes ranked in the top 10 nationally each year.

As a player at Clemson from 1983-85, Pawlowski finished his Tiger career with a 21-12 record and a 3.89 ERA over 54 games. He made 30 career starts working 240 1/3 innings with eight complete games, three shutouts and five saves.

He was the sixth-round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 1985 and made his major league debut in September of 1987. After playing over eight years for the Chicago White Sox (1985-91), California Angels (1991-92) and Baltimore Orioles (1992) organizations, Pawlowski returned to Clemson to begin his coaching career and complete his degree.

He received his bachelor's degree in Industrial Education from Clemson University in May of 1996. The Johnson City, New York native graduated from Seton Catholic Central in Binghamton, N.Y. in 1982. In 2007, he was inducted into the Upstate New York Section IV Hall of Fame. Pawlowski has three daughters, Christine (16), Mary Louise (13) and Jenny Caroline (7).

Quotes from John Pawlowski Press Conference

JAY JACOBS, AUBURN ATHLETICS DIRECTOR
Opening Statement...
"Thank all of you for being here. We have some exciting news and we are extremely proud to announce John Pawlowski as our new head baseball coach. John played at Clemson, played professional ball for a while and then coached at Clemson and Arizona State before going to the College of Charleston for the last nine years where he has had a great record.

"We are really excited to have him. It has been a great process getting to know John and his determination and his desire to win and do it with excellence. We are extremely proud that he is now going to be a part of the Auburn family."

JOHN PAWLOWSKI, AUBURN HEAD BASEBALL COACH
Opening Statement...
"War Eagle. I want to thank Auburn University, President Gogue, Athletic Director Jay Jacobs and his staff for giving me and my family a very wonderful opportunity to be here at a very special place. I am so excited to be on board here.

"I want to thank my family, who couldn't be here today. Today was an absolute whirlwind day. My daughters, Christine, Mary Louise and Jenny, and their mom Sara, they have been supportive of me for many, many years and have been behind me.

"I also want to thank the College of Charleston for giving me an opportunity. I spent nine great years there and we did a lot of positive things both on and off the field and it was a very exciting time for us, but when this opportunity came up, I wanted to jump on this opportunity.

"I'm excited to follow in the footsteps of the great programs that have been built here and the great players that have come through here. There have been a great number of great teams that have come through here and won championships. We are going to move this program onward and upward and I am excited to be a part of it.

"Our goals are going to be more than just winning championships; winning the SEC championship and going to Omaha (site of the College World Series), which Auburn has been to four times. Our goals are going to be to recruit quality student-athletes, both on and off the field.

"Our teams are going to be blue-collared and hard-nosed. We are going to have tough kids that play hard until the final out. They are going to go to class and they are going to get an Auburn education, which is going to go far and beyond the playing field.

"I am honored to follow in the footsteps of some of the great teachers and the great people. Coach Hal Baird is a mentor of mine who I watched coach for a number of years. The way he conducted himself both on and off the field, I am happy to be a part of that.

"If we want to do this thing and make Auburn proud both on and off the field, it is going to take everyone, not just me. It is going to be my coaches, my teammates, the players, the fans and the alumni."

On his whirlwind day...
"I got a text message this morning, I think at 7:30 a.m. from Jay asking me what my schedule was like for the next couple of days. It didn't matter what my schedule was. No matter what it was, I was going to clear my days. I knew I had an opportunity to come in here. I got here about 1:30 and things have just rolled from that point on, so it has been non-stop since this morning."

On what he sees in Auburn...
"With the players that are in place and the commitment Auburn has made, there is no reason why Auburn baseball can't climb back to the top and compete for a national championship."

On assembling his staff...
"My assistant coaches at College of Charleston have been with me for nine years and my other coach has been with me for a couple of years; we have to work out some details. I don't know if those guys will be on board with me or not. As you can imagine my phone has been ringing off the hook; people I haven't talked to in years have been calling me. I will try and piece this staff together and I will go to great extremes to get the right people in here. Whoever those assistants are, they are going to make people proud of Auburn baseball."

On his involvement with the pitchers...
"My forte is pitching. I pitched in the minor leagues and pitched in the major leagues. I had an interesting major-league career. I had a great ride and learned so much about pitching. As big and strong as college kids are and how offensive this game is, I think one of the keys is you have to learn how to pitch."

On leaving College of Charleston for Auburn...
"I like challenges. I like the challenge of competing on the national level and competing for a chance to play for the whole ball of wax. When this opportunity came up, it was what I was looking for. It was the right fit and it stood for the right things, the right principles and the right values. Auburn University is a place I look at and say, `how can you go wrong with this situation?' The commitment that the athletic department has made to the facilities and to the student-athletes, to me it was a situation where I knew it was the right fit. Things happen for a reason and this was the right reason for me."

On the Clemson coaching tree...
"Along the way you will learn from your mentors and people you aspire to be like, and certainly I have been very fortunate to be around a lot of great coaches, players and administrators. (Clemson) Coach (Jack) Leggett, I was fortunate to be on his staff for five years. One of the things I learned from him was paying attention to detail and the little things because little things add up. He is a great motivator and you look at his track record and he has a tremendous one."

On what he will do over the next couple of days...
"One of the things that I will do is contact and meet a lot of the players that are here on campus. We have a number of recruits that are out there that were drafted that hopefully don't sign that I need to contact. I have a plan in place to reach out to all those guys and tell them how committed I am to them. We certainly want them to keep their commitment to Auburn University.

"I have to get my staff in place and we need to get to work. We need to get the ball rolling. You may not see the staff around here much because it is deep into the recruiting process, so those guys will be on the road.

"I am going to try and call every player, the guys that are playing summer ball and those that aren't, as well as the recruits. I have tried to talk to a couple already. It may take me a day or so, but I am going to try and reach out to everyone."

On playing in the SEC...
"One of the things that I like about playing in this conference is that when you suit up to play on a conference weekend, it's like suiting up to play the New York Yankees. You better bring your `A' game every weekend, you better be ready to play, you better be blue collar and you be ready to do the things you need to do to win. It is great competition. The SEC is in my mind the toughest conference in the country, and I have been around to several different conferences. There is not a weekend where you can't bring your `A' game."