NEW ORLEANS – After leading Coastal Carolina to the championship series at the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Neb., head coach Kevin Schnall was named the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/ATEC Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, the Baseball America College Coach of the Year and the Perfect Game National Coach of the Year. 
 
In his first year at the helm of the Chanticleers’ program, Ron Maestri Sun Belt Coach of the Year Schnall led Coastal Carolina to a program-record and national-best 56 wins. The Chanticleers rattled off a 26-game winning streak, which included an unblemished 12-0 postseason run before falling to LSU in the national championship final. Along the way, Coastal Carolina captured the Sun Belt regular-season and tournament titles and the Conway Regional and Auburn Super Regional Championships, before making a 3-0 run in Omaha to advance to the championship series. 
 
The Chanticleers carried the longest-ever winning streak into the Men’s College World Series (23 games) and into the national championship round (26 games)—snapping a 77-year-old record 18-game winning streak entering the national championship by USC in 1948 in the process. 
 
Schnall is believed to be the fourth head coach to lead his team to the Men’s College World Series in his first year as a collegiate head coach, joining Louisville’s Dan McDonnell (2007), Florida State’s Mike Martin (1980) and Texas’ Cliff Gustafson (1968). Schnall’s 56 wins this season are the most ever by a first-year head coach, with CSUN’s Mike Batesole (52 wins in 1996) and Florida State’s Mike Martin (51 wins in 1980) also breaking the 50-win plateau.
 
Under Schnall’s guidance, the Chanticleers returned to the Men’s College World Series (2016) and the championship series (2016) for the second time in program history and became the second Sun Belt team to compete in the Men’s College World Series (Louisiana 2000). Coastal Carolina finished as the national runner-up, concluding the 2025 campaign ranked No. 2 in all five national polls.