Never far, Will Bolt is named UN baseball coach and is "motivated to go forward" | Baseball

Now, Bolt is back. Announced as the 24th baseball head coach of Nebraska's history, he will officially take office Monday after being revealed as Darin Erstad's successor on Friday afternoon. It will be presented at a press conference at 11:00 Thursday at the Memorial Stadium.

"It's the state, it's the people, it's Big Red's passion. This is how much everyone supports and supports the program. It's the blue-collar mentality, the values ​​of the Midwest, I could go on and on, "Bolt said in a radio interview on" Husker Sports Nightly. " how special Lincoln is, how special the Husker Nation is, how much I and my family love Nebraska.

"To be in this position, I feel so lucky and so motivated to leave."

Bolt will start with a five-year contract worth $ 300,000 per season, a salary that will place him firmly in half of the best Big Ten coaches, with a pool of money that will be "close or at the top of the Big Ten ranking ". "UN Sports Director Bill Moos said Friday.

After hiring his native son, Scott Frost, to lead the football program and his Lincoln counterpart, Fred Hoiberg, to coach men's basketball, Moos once again harnessed Nebraska's past for the coach to lead one of its flagship teams.

Moos stated that Bolt was the only person he had interviewed for the job and to whom he had offered the job.

"I like the fact that (Frost, Hoiberg, and Bolt) are all Midwestern people." The work ethic of the people of Nebraska and this part of the country, this humble pride, it's even better. really impresses, they are winners, and do not need to fight their head about it – just go out and do it, "said Moos. "And Will definitely has that."

Bolt was a tough player, and played for Dave Van Horn's Nebraska teams from 1999 to 2002, as the program went from anonymity to national power. A native of Conroe, Texas, Bolt was an assistant at Texas A & M for five seasons with Rob Childress, himself a Nebraska assistant coach under Van Horn.

According to at least one national university baseball expert, Bolt ticks the boxes that Nebraska needed to fill.

Although Bolt was not born in this state, his connections to the NU and his place in the history of the baseball program are well known.

A member of Van Horn's first recruiting class in Lincoln, Bolt was Nebraska's assistant head coach from 2012 to 2014 under Erstad's direction. He was responsible for graduate studies for the Huskers in 2004 and volunteer assistant for the Huskers the following season.

Erstad, in fact, is one of the people who recommended Bolt to Moos early in the coaching research.

"I know that Darin has always been a precious support for me, obviously giving me a job and taking a chance on me by coming out of college," said Bolt. "I'm just glad to have it in my corner … and he left us in a very good location, just from the point of view of the composition of the team and the success that they have had on the ground. "

As a player in Lincoln, Bolt started for four years and was captain of the 2001 and 2002 series teams at the College of Nebraska. He finished his career with six records: games played (251), games started (242), throws (922), hits (281), doubles (56) and assists (639).

He has often been compared to Van Horn in all areas, from the style of coach to behavior to behavior.

Now, he will try to bring back the Huskers to the success they knew when Bolt was in Lincoln as a Van Horn player.

"There are no expectations that will be higher than those we have in our program," Bolt said. "Expectations in our program are going to be higher than anyone would expect for us, day by day we will strive to reach the highest level, and you can not reach the top of the mountain without taking care of little things.

"This is going to be something that our guys are going to be preached to, probably until they're tired of hearing it."

Bolt's only other head coaching experience is at Texarkana College, where he earned a 140-82 record from 2008 to 2011 and won two undergraduate championships for area XIV colleges, as well as the Parkville Sluggers, a college team that played in the MINK club League.

Bolt was also a volunteer assistant at Texas A & M in 2006 and 2007. He has built his reputation over the last five seasons at College Station as a recruiter and coordinator of the Aggies' offensive.

"He will line up a team that will be relentless, and he will build something special at the University of Nebraska," Childress said in a statement. "I look forward to seeing the great accomplishments he's accomplishing, adding to his legacy to Lincoln."

According to D1Baseball.com, Bolt should be part of his coaching staff, native of Lincoln and former Husker Jeff Christy, as well as Sam Houston's assistant coach, Lance Harvell.