College Baseball Hall of Fame to Induct Metheny

DURANT, Okla. – After learning of his induction into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, former Southeastern baseball head coach and Hall of Famer Mike Metheny will add another hall to his list of honors as the College Baseball Hall of Fame has included Metheny in its 16^th induction class.
 
He will be inducted at the Night of Champions presented by Prairiefire on Feb. 15, 2024, in Overland Park, Kan.
 
Metheny joins a group that includes Chris Bando (Player, Arizona State), Pat Casey (Coach, George Fox/Oregon State), Jack Coffey (Player and Coach, Fordham), Ron Darling (Player, Yale), Mike Fuentes (Player, Florida State), Alex Gordon (Player, Nebraska), Steve Kemp (Player, Southern California), Russell Martin (Player, Southwestern), Marty Miller (Coach, Norfolk State), C.J. Mitchell (Umpire and Pioneer), Tony Thompson (Umpire).
 
To be eligible for the College Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, players must be out of college for 15 years and have completed one year of competition at a two-year institution in the CCCAA, NJCAA or a four-year NCAA (Division I, II or III) or NAIA institution. Ballot-eligible coaches must be retired for two years or be active and no less than 75 years old.
 
Along with the Hall of Fame inductees, the Night of Champions presented by Prairiefire will celebrate the winners of the 2023 College Baseball Foundation awards including Matt Shaw, University of Maryland (Brooks Wallace Award), Paul Skenes, Louisiana State University (National Pitcher of the Year), Caden  Grice, Clemson University (John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year) and Kevin Brooks of Angelo State University who the CBF just announced as the winner of the Skip Bertman Coach of the Year.
 
"Each year when the College Baseball Hall of Fame inductees are announced, it creates a tremendous level of pride and appreciation for those that have given so much to the college game," said Craig Ramsey, Chair of the College Baseball Foundation Board of Directors. "Inducting the newest Hall of Fame members and celebrating top performers from this past year will officially close out the achievements of the 2023 season. Then we will eagerly turn the page to the start of the 2024 college baseball season the very next day."
 
Each year, more than 190 representatives nationwide vote on the College Baseball Hall of Fame induction class. The voting body is comprised of national and regional college baseball media, active and retired coaches, former players, former inductees, college baseball historians and members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) collegiate baseball committee.
 
Metheny, who found out in November he was being inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, retired from coaching following his 37th season at the helm and left the game as the Division II leader in all-time victories.
 
He finishes his storied career with 1,324 career victories across from 679 losses and three ties to push his career winning percentage to .660 over 37 seasons, averaging just over 35 wins per season.
 
SE collected a 9-1 win over Harding in the series opener on March 31 and that win secured Metheny the NCAA Division II record-setting 1,315th win.
 
Metheny is ranked among the top 20 on the all-time wins list regardless of division, climbing to 19th on the list just behind Larry Cochell who has 1,331 after finishing his career in 2005 as the head coach at Oklahoma.
 
If that list is narrowed to coaches who have picked up all of their victories at one school, Metheny would rank eighth behind Rod Dedeaux who spent 44 seasons at Southern California.
 
His connection with Southeastern has spanned more than 40 years from his beginnings as a player, through being a graduate assistant, an assistant coach and ultimately taking over as the head coach for the 1981 season.
 
Metheny guided the SE baseball program through its successful transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II, and in just the second season at the D-II level he led his squad to the NCAA Division II World Series in Montgomery, Ala., and on June 3, 2000, Southeastern earned its first National Championship.
 
That title earned him the 2000 National Coach of the Year honor at the American Baseball Coaches Convention.
 
While a member of the NAIA, his teams made seven trips to the NAIA World Series and earned three runner-up finishes.
 
His teams claimed 15 conference championships and he has earned conference coach of the year honors nine times and regional coach of the year seven times.
 
He coached 54 players who have signed professional contracts and has guided 35 players to a total of 42 All-American honors.
 
Among those are a pair of National Player of the Year honorees in Alan Cartwright in 1982 and Cary Ammons in 1997.
 
In January of 1999, he was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame while at the American Baseball Coaches Convention in Atlanta, Ga.
 
He was inducted into the Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010.