Living a dream

Mike Fox knows that there are very few easy games in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In fact, the Carolina baseball coach believes at least half of the conference’s 12 teams could be good enough to go all the way this season. That’s high praise, even for a conference considered by most experts as one of the best in college baseball.

“We’ve got eight teams in our league who can beat anybody on any given day,” Fox told ACC Nation recently. “And I think there are six, at least six, teams, maybe more than that, at least six that can make it all the way to the College World Series.”

Of course, the Tar Heels are one of those teams. They began last week as the No. 1 team in the country in one poll, and even though they lost to UNC Greensboro on Tuesday, that’s all but forgotten after a weekend series sweep of No. 7 North Carolina State. The three wins had to put smile on Fox’s face.

“That’s our focus now to play well in the league and put ourselves in position to go into the ACC Tournament and hopefully win some games and be a pretty good seed and get a chance to host a regional,” Fox said. “That’s our goal. This league prepares you for the NCAA Tournament. There’s no question about that.”

Fox has had plenty of success at Carolina, where he also happened to play in the late 1970s. After spending time coaching at high school and at the Division III college level, Fox was named Carolina’s coach in 1999. In his first seven seasons, Fox led the Tar Heels to 287 wins and six trips to the NCAA Tournament. This season Carolina is 34-8 overall and 15-6 in the ACC after the wins over State.

This team has enough talent to make it to the College World Series, which would be the first time since 1989 that the Tar Heels have reached that point. As for Fox, his last appearance in the CWS was as a Carolina senior in 1978. That year he was named to the College World Series all-tournament team.

Being back at his alma mater and having them ranked among the nation’s best is almost as good as it gets. While he’d love to get back to Omaha – “But I want to take 25 guys with me,” he said – he realizes how lucky he is. He tells his wife that, if he ever wakes up in a bad mood, just to smack him.

“To come back and coach at Carolina just has been a dream come true for me,” Fox said. “I wake up every morning and realize how fortunate I am.”

- Patrick Hite