Notes: Nick Mingione earns another award; Author salutes Kentucky baseball team

Random notes:

▪ Perfect Game USA has named Kentucky’s Nick Mingione as its 2024 College Baseball Coach of the Year. It’s the second time in eight years that Mingione has won the award.

▪ After their 3-2 win over Oregon State clinched the school’s first trip to the College World Series, Kentucky’s baseball players mentioned that Mingione had given them the book “Energy Bus” to read.

“We started calling it the ‘Omaha Bus” because we were going to get to Omaha,” said outfielder Nolan McCarthy.

Word apparently reached Jon Gordon, author of “Energy Bus.” Tuesday, Gordon posted his reaction on X.

“I love that the Energy Bus fueled their ride! It’s really rewarding to see so many teams use the book to fuel their vision, lead with optimism and overcome negativity and challenges to reach their goals. Great work @UKBaseball. Excited for you all.”

▪ This is the first time since the College World Series went to an eight-team format in 1950 that only two conferences were represented. The are four teams from the SEC (Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, Texas A&M) and four from the ACC (Florida State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia).

▪ SEC teams have won the last four College World Series titles -- Vanderbilt in 2019; Mississippi State in 2021; Ole Miss in 2022 and LSU in 2023. COVID canceled the 2020 tournament.

▪ Congrats to Kyle Moats on being named the new AD at Eastern Kentucky University. Moats served 14 years in athletic administration at UK. For the past 15 years, he’s been the athletic director at Missouri State.

▪ If you missed it, former UK guard Dontaie Allen is transferring from Western Kentucky to Wyoming. Allen averaged 8.2 points per game last year for the Hilltoppers. The former Pendleton County star was a Wildcat for two seasons -- 2020-2021 and 2021-22.

▪ Pro Football Focus has rated Kentucky’s linebacking unit as the third-best in college football behind Clemson and Iowa. Georgia ranked fourth.

▪ Not for a minute did I think that a Danny Hurley departure to the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers would be a blow to college basketball. Was it when Rick Pitino left Kentucky in 1997 for the Boston Celtics? Was it when Billy Donovan left Florida in 2015 for the Oklahoma City Thunder?

It’s true the college basketball landscape is much different now. NIL, the transfer portal and the upcoming revenue pool for players has made a coach’s job tougher. But there is not shortage of people who want to be college head coaches. That hasn’t changed.

Despite what you may have heard, college sports is not broken.

▪ Good news for the Reds: Noelvi Marte began his rehab assignment with the Louisville Bats on Tuesday. Marte hit .316 in 35 games with Cincinnati last season, but is suspended for the first 80 games this season after testing positive for PEDs. Through Tuesday, the Reds had played 67 games.

▪ The highlight of Cincinnati’s 5-3 loss to Cleveland on Tuesday was a fan running out to center field and doing a backflip into a police officer. The fan was promptly tasered. Not condoning such fan behavior, but it was an excellent backflip.

▪ The NCAA is allowing corporate logos to be placed on football playing fields this season. As my friend and former colleague Josh Moore tweeted, it would be fun to see the “Big Ass Fans” corporate logo on Kroger Field.

▪ Sad day for horse racing with the closing of Golden Gate Fields last Sunday after an 83-year run. It’s the third major California track to close in the past 16 years, following Bay Meadows in 2008 and Hollywood Park in 2013. One day later, Santa Anita announced that it will be offering races on is $8 million synthetic track during its winter/spring meet of 2024-25.

▪ The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority reported Wednesday that there has been a 38 percent decrease in racing fatalities in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter of 2023.

▪ RIP Jerry West, the all-time NBA great who died Wednesday at age 86. As a kid, I can remember watching the introduction to televised NBA games, which featured slow motion video of a West shot ripping through the nets. It was a beautiful sight to see.

Stellar pitching, defense give Kentucky baseball a strong shot to win College World Series

How Devin Burkes worked his way from redshirt to one of UK baseball’s most important players

Something we’re not sure we would ever see: Kentucky baseball is going to Omaha

Thanks to new SEC TV deal, we have more clarity on 2024 Kentucky football kickoff times

What to know about N.C. State and Kentucky’s other College World Series bracket opponents