UCF baseball earns first NCAA tourney win
Former Florida Gators coach Jay Bergman took over the UCF baseball program in 1983 and set his sights on leading the Knights to the postseason.
Six years later, on this date in 1989, Bergman steered the Knights to a 6-4 win over Georgia Tech to open the Gainesville Regional. It was the first NCAA Tournament victory in UCF history.
The Knights followed the big win with a 10-7 victory over the host Gators before falling 10-1 to Miami and 5-2 to Villanova to end the season and their NCAA Tournament run.
UCF closed the 1989 season with a 30-9 record and a foundation to build on as the program began to make regular NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Knights won Atlantic Sun Conference championships in 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004 during Bergman’s tenure. He won three A-Sun coach-of-the-year awards during the stretch.
Bergman’s run at UCF ended amid controversy when he was accused of harassing an equipment manager during the 2008 season. He was originally fired, but he reached a settlement with the school that allowed him to retire.
He finished with a 994-594-3 record during 26 seasons.
“I put a lot of hard work into the program and was fortunate to have the opportunity to build it from the bottom up, starting when it was Division II and we had two scholarships,” Bergman told CoastalCarolinaOnline.com in 2009 after accepting a job leading the Morehead City Marlins. “At that time, I did all of the maintenance on the field, had no assistant coaches and basically had to do it all. When you build something like that, it creates a great ownership, and I am always indebted to the University of Central Florida for giving me the opportunity.”
In 2011, Bergman resigned as manager of the Marlins, a college summer league baseball team, but agreed to remain an adviser to the club. The 81-year-old lives in Houston, Texas.