CONWAY, S.C. — In his 18 seasons as Florida’s head coach, Kevin O’Sullivan has been voted Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year three times by his peers.

The first time was 2010, when O’Sullivan guided the Gators to an SEC regular-season championship in his third season. O’Sullivan won the award again in 2014, and four years later, he was honored a third time.

Two conditions existed in each of those seasons: Florida won the SEC and was a top-3 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Neither is true in 2025. Florida (38-20) finished tied for 10th in the SEC (15-15) and opens the NCAA Tournament here at the Conway Regional on Friday against East Carolina as an at-large selection.

 

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Still, one can make a sound argument that the job O’Sullivan did with this year’s team is arguably the best of his career, and if the league’s coaches had honored O’Sullivan with his fourth SEC Coach of the Year award, there would have been no need for an investigation by Commissioner Greg Sankey.

As they say on social media, IYKYK.

Here is what they know:

• Florida is the first team since the SEC expanded in 1992 to make the NCAA Tournament after starting 2-10 or worse in conference play. The Gators lost 11 of their first 12 SEC games.
• The Gators have overcome the loss of starting center fielder Kyle Jones, starting second baseman Cade Kurland, starting catcher Luke Heyman and left-handed reliever Frank Menendez to season-ending injuries. They have also been without starting shortstop Colby Shelton for a month due to a hand injury.
• Left-handed starter Pierce Coppola, who opened the season as the No. 2 starter, missed the majority of the regular season due to injury. Coppola returned late in the regular season.

“I’m looking at the BP rounds today and we literally got 10 position players that are healthy,” O’Sullivan said Thursday after his team practiced at Coastal Carolina’s Springs Brooks Stadium. “We have two others that we are trying to redshirt, and we got [pitcher] Caden McDonald, who came in as a two-way player, and he just started taking BP a couple of weeks ago out of necessity. He hasn’t had an at-bat all year long.

“Our best players got better, and that’s exactly what happened.”

One of those players is sophomore right-hander Liam Peterson, who will start Friday against East Carolina (33-25), which received the American Athletic Conference’s automatic bid by winning the conference tournament as a No. 6 seed. Lefty Ethan Norby (7-5, 3.81 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for the Pirates.

Peterson (8-3, 4.10, 68 IP, 12.6 K/9) got a taste of the NCAA Tournament as a freshman and started in Florida’s final game of the College World Series, a 6-0 loss to Texas A&M. Peterson recorded only one out on 28 pitches, walking four and giving up a pair of earned runs.

Unquestionably gifted on the mound, Peterson re-evaluated his mental approach in the offseason and, rather than overthink, he learned to rely more on his right arm. The results helped the Gators fend off disaster as his teammates dropped one by one.

Peterson is eager for another turn in the postseason spotlight.

“I didn’t have the best postseason last year,” Peterson said Thursday. “I think through that failure, I learned a lot about myself and what it takes to pitch at an elite level. I think last year just helped prepare me well.”

While the Gators are the No. 2 seed in the Conway Regional, host Coastal Carolina (48-11) is the hottest team in the field. The Chanticleers are the No. 13 national seed and have won 18 consecutive games, including the Sun Belt Conference regular-season and tournament titles under first-year coach Kevin Schnall, who took over for longtime coach Gary Gilmore this season. Coast Carolina faces No. 4-seed Fairfield in Friday’s second game.

Florida enters the regional with 18 wins in its last 24 games, including a 15-5 record against SEC opponents. This is the Gators’ first meeting against East Carolina in 31 years.

Pirates middle infielder Dixon Williams is a threat the Gators know all about. He hits for power (13 HR), average (.296), has a good eye (47 walks) and is speedy on the bases (22 SB). He can play second or shortstop for an East Carolina team that peaked at the right time.

“Anytime you win a conference tournament, they are playing their best baseball at the end of the year,” O’Sullivan said. “I know they’ve had some injuries, probably similar to us. They have a real No. 1 in Norby. You know, they try to apply pressure on the bases. They try to apply pressure with a short game. It’s going to be challenging for us, no question.”

That is nothing new for the Gators. They have faced more adversity than most teams in the field.

As O’Sullivan watched batting practice Thursday, he was reminded how much.

“I think a lot was learned last year about staying the course, and we honestly, last year, we played playoff baseball for a good six, seven weeks, and we kind of put ourselves in the same position this year,” O’Sullivan said. “You know, to be sitting there at 1 and 11 in the league and having to go through the injuries that we’ve had to go through, if I said it’s been enjoyable [to make it here], that would be a huge understatement.”