The Ohio baseball program has seen 21 U.S. Presidents, a pair of World Wars and the sinking of the Titanic. Since beginning humbly in 1892, the Bobcats have taken 15 league crowns and enjoyed 77 winning seasons, posting 1,662 victories.
In the program's 112 years, no man has been at the helm for more of those victories than Joe Carbone.
With Wednesday's 9-4 defeat of Cleveland State, Ohio's 16-year head coach won his 465th ballgame, surpassing Bob Wren as the all-time win leader in the program's storied history. Carbone extended that record to 466 with a win at Miami yesterday.
The wins mean nothing to me; they really don't. It's the success of the players that played for us that we care about
Carbone said. We care about the kids getting better graduating becoming good baseball players and good citizens. That means more to me than however many wins we have when I leave here.
Carbone has a pair of Mid-American Conference titles on the shelf to go along with two conference Coach of the Year awards. Those honors, along with 466 victories, however, take a backseat to molding quality young men in his mind.
I truly do enjoy the players
he said. I'm sure they don't think that I do sometimes when I'm giving them hell about going to class or doing this or doing that
studying harder or working harder on their skills
being competitive and being tough
being smart and working harder than the next guy and making sure what you learn in baseball carries you over into your real life. Hopefully they understand that when they leave.
Cory Corrigan, vice president of the Ohio University Credit Union, pitched for Carbone in the early '90s, earning first team All-MAC honors in 1992.
When you go four years through Coach Carbone's program and you graduate on time
and you've done the right things
more than likely you're going to be successful in life
Corrigan said. Because those are the types of things that he filters down to you constantly
through his actions or through his words.
Partners in crime
Carbone is quick to attribute his success to his players, to his family, and especially to his right hand man, associate head coach Bill Toadvine. The duo played together at Ohio and have been together for all 466 wins.
Carbone jokes that he's in charge of the wins and Toadvine is in charge of the losses, but he's well aware of his pitching coach's effect on the program.
I'll take one thing of credit in this whole deal: hiring a good assistant
