OPINION |
The tributes will roll in and stories will be told on Saturday, May 18, after Keith Guttin coaches his final home game in 42 seasons as Missouri State’s head baseball coach. At least 100 of Guttin’s former players are expected to attend “Keith Guttin Day” at Hammons Field.
A few hours later, an invitation-only event in Guttin’s honor will be held a couple of blocks from the ballpark. To all of this, in his final formal media gathering of the season and perhaps his career, Guttin put his fingers to his lips to shush a question about the hubbub.
“That’s all supposed to be secret,” Guttin said, jokingly, about the far-from-secret plans. Given his choice, the man who’s always tried to put his players in the forefront and remain behind the camera lights and microphones would rather avoid it all.
What are his emotions headed toward the finish line of a marathon career?
“I’m just trying to beat Southern Illinois tomorrow,” Guttin said, noting that a long-time friend and booster had just dropped off a cake at his office. “I guess I’m gonna feel a little fatter.”
Guttin has tried to stay away from the emotions
One of the Ozarks’ all-time coaching icons paused for a few seconds before saying he doesn’t want to sound like he doesn't appreciate all the good wishes from so many. He said he’s tried to sidestep the inevitable emotions that will come with the final out of the final game, whenever that is. In true Guttin fashion, he’s trying to keep the focus on his players.
The Bears are headed to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Evansville, Indiana, next week as a No. 6, 7 or 8 seed. It’s been an underachieving season, proving that real life rarely serves up warm and fuzzy Hollywood-type scripts.
But there’s still a chance to write a happy ending. The Bears (22-31) beat Southern Illinois 11-4 on May 16 at Hammons Field to open a three-game series. It was their third victory in a row. A hot finish would make the inevitable a lot sweeter.
Missouri State plays host to SIU again at 11 a.m. on May 17 before the grand home finale at the same time the following day, with Guttin bobbleheads handed out to all ticket buyers.
“I’ve tried to stay away, but it’s starting to come,” Guttin said of the approaching finish line. “I’ve had guys that came to the game (May 14 against Oral Roberts) because they couldn’t be here Saturday. Texts and calls. It’s all good. But we’ve got three games to play this weekend and then the conference tournament.
“As I’ve told our team before, somewhere in this country a six, seven or eight seed is going to win its conference tournament. It might as well be us. Let’s write our own story.”
His history with the program dates back to 1976
What a story it’s been since Guttin was handpicked by Bill Rowe, whom he played for at Missouri State in 1976 and 1977, to take over the reins as head coach in 1983 at the age of 26. He spent three years as an assistant to Rowe, meaning he’s been a part of Missouri State baseball for 47 seasons.
The resume he’s compiled speaks for itself:
- A career record of 1,395-926 ranking Guttin second among active coaches all-time and 12th on the NCAA career list.
- Guttin is the second-winningest coach in Missouri Valley Conference baseball history and his teams have won a combined 21 regular-season or league tournament titles in the Valley or Mid-Continent Conference.
- Missouri State has had 21 players selected in the first 12 rounds of the MLB draft since 2010 and 137 of his former players have signed pro contracts. Twenty-one have gone on to play in the big leagues.
Guttin’s coaching career has spanned from Missouri State’s move into the Division I era of its athletics to the bombshell news last week of the school’s move to Conference USA and the FBS level in football beginning in 2025.
While he won’t be around to coach in CUSA, he offers his successor (associate head coach and former player Joey Hawkins is presumed the leading candidate) some advice. It’s not unlike the Bears’ leap into the Missouri Valley Conference in 1991 for baseball from the Mid-Continent Conference.
“Raise a lot of money, because the other schools have it and they spent it,” Guttin said. “Whether it’s NIL or recruiting or extra things, it’s gonna have to be done.”
“I like the Valley a lot. We’ve been in it 33 years. It was a huge upgrade from the Mid-Continent in baseball. It’s a challenge for everybody going forward.”
Making the jump from the Mid-Continent to the Valley
The Mid-Continent days saw the Bears pile up lots of wins, including a memorable Sunday in May of 1984. After a rainy week in Chicago, they won four seven-inning games that day to claim the tourney title. Unfortunately, the league was not great in baseball and didn’t have an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The jump into the Valley, where Wichita State had just won a College World Series and Creighton also had gone to the CWS, opened a whole new phase of Bears’ baseball. It took only a few years to beef up recruiting depth, as Missouri State went to six NCAA Tournament in eight seasons from 1995-2003.
The rivalry with Wichita State and its legendary coach Gene Stephenson was a healthy one. Missouri State was one of the few league opponents that never backed down from the Shockers’ aura.
“The competition was a step higher, which meant you had to commit more things,” Guttin said of the Valley. “Also, you have to give credit where credit is due. Wichita State was a national power when we got in that league. They set the bar very high. You either challenged them and met (the challenge) or you went by the wayside.”
College baseball has changed over his four decades
That '03 season, of course, saw Missouri State win a regional at Nebraska and a Super Regional at Ohio State to reach the College World Series. It’s one of the great accomplishments in the school’s athletics history. The next season, Hammons Field opened and the days of playing at wind-swept Meador Park seemed like a distant memory.
It’s all a part of many things that Guttin has seen change in the baseball program over the last four-plus decades.
“There’s a lot more to everything, just being a coach at this level,” Guttin said. “There’s a lot more in terms of recruiting, compliance, fundraising, facility arrangements. Data and analytics is now very en vogue.
“The players’ work ethic hasn’t changed. They have always worked hard. They’ve always wanted to get better and they have always wanted to win. That hasn’t changed. It’s just that everything around it has. Now you have NIL, the portal. Just a lot of moving parts that aren’t there.
“It used to be that you'd get in your car and drive to Meador Park. Nobody was around, games or practice, and you just played and it was baseball. Now there are so many other things involved.”
All of those peripheral things would seem to make this a perfect time for Guttin to call it a career. But he said that’s not the case. He just felt it was the right time.
“It was my decision, based on a myriad of things, but I’m not gonna miss that part of it,” he said of the off-the-field demands of the job.
Guttin hasn't lost his fire during farewell tour
Guttin announced his decision in November and has received some unique gifts from opponents this spring. He got cowboy boots from Oklahoma State, a cowboy hat from Southern Mississippi, three fishing poles and an umbrella at Arkansas (an ode to the late-night rain game in the 2017 NCAA Regional at Fayetteville).
“I didn’t announce my retirement in November to get gifts,” he said. “I announced it to let people know there’s a transition in place and potentially things would continue as normal and let our current players know and be transparent with them.”
Guttin hasn’t lost his fire. He stands in his traditional spot when the Bears bat, in front of the Bears’ dugout on the outfield end. He’s inside the dugout on that same end when the team is on defense, intently studying every pitch — and every umpire’s decision.
MSU softball coach Holly Hesse, who also retired this spring after 36 seasons, said she recently gave Guttin a hug and good-luck wishes when the two saw each other on campus. She joked that they were tied in ejections this season, with two, to which Guttin was stunned.
“Holly is way too nice to get ejected,” Guttin said, laughing.
Guttin, by the way, broke that tie with his third ejection of the season, earlier this month at Southeast Missouri State.
“People ask me how many objections I’ve had in my career. I don’t know. I’ve had a few,” Guttin said. “I don’t know if that’s competitiveness or stupidity. You can’t help your team if you’re not there. I’ve never gone out with the intention of firing up my team. I don’t know my record or the team’s record after ejections. I just go out because I think something was incorrect or done wrong.”
Final season has been a frustrating one
It’s been a frustrating season and probably a tribute to Guttin’s patience that he hasn't been tossed more often. The Bears have lost 14 games when leading after the sixth, seventh or eighth innings. The offense has been powerful, with a league-leading 104 home runs as sophomore Zack Stewart and freshman Caden Bodenpohl have led the way. Pitching and defense have been inconsistent, to put it kindly.
There’s no sugarcoating that it’s been a disappointing season to this point, with only a minimal amount of time to make it right. Guttin said he is “absolutely” disappointed for the players.
“No question there’s been disappointment and frustration, but we have an opportunity here,” he said. “Everybody starts 0-0 next week and we’ll take our best shot.”
And when the final out does occur, Guttin said he hasn’t given any thought to how he will feel. He plans to watch games from the Hammons Field seats next season, probably spending a lot of that time alongside Rowe.
“I don’t know. I’ve never had to do it,” Guttin said of his future perspective. “The question is kind of, is the bad feeling you get in your stomach after a loss better than no feeling? I don’t know yet. But I’ll find out.”
Meanwhile, he’s clearly rooting for Hawkins to become his successor much like he was Rowe’s coach-in-waiting 42 years ago.
“Whoever is named will do a great job and keep the program competitive,” Guttin said. “Let’s be honest, we haven’t met our own expectations the last few years. It’s probably a good time for a different voice to come in and get it refreshed.”
15 memorable MSU games under Keith Guttin
Lyndal Scranton lists his most memorable Missouri State baseball games during the Keith Guttin era:
March 5, 1983: Missouri State defeated Indiana State, 8-2 at Meador Park, in Guttin’s first game as Bears’ coach.
May 9, 1993: Bill Mueller scores the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the Bears beat Wichita State 7-6 in the regular-season home finale at Meador Park.
April 8, 1995: Steve Hacker hits home runs in both ends of a doubleheader sweep of Wichita State at Meador Park, part of his school-record and NCAA-leading 37 home run season.
May 17, 1997: The Bears beat Wichita State on the Shockers’ home field, 8-4, to win the MVC Tournament and earn an automatic berth to the NCAA regionals.
May 29, 1999: Matt Cepicky hit a two-out, two-strike home run at Arkansas against the No. 8-ranked Razorbacks to send an NCAA regional game to extra innings. The Bears won 9-8 on Dan Firlit’s single in the 10th.
May 26, 2002: The Bears beat Wichita State to stay alive at the MVC Tournament, but in another extra-inning game later that day fell to the No. 15 Shockers 7-6. But the first win was enough to assure an at-large NCAA bid.
June 1, 2023: Bob Zimmermann shut out Nebraska 7-0 to give Missouri State its first NCAA regional championship, a few hours after the Cornhuskers’ 9-5 win forced a deciding game.
June 8, 2023: Tony Piazza's grand slam capped a seven-run sixth inning as the Bears won the Super Regional 13-7 at Ohio State and earned a trip to the College World Series. Shaun Marcum also homered for the Bears.
June 14, 2003: With a national audience watching on ESPN from historic Rosenblatt Stadium, the Bears fell to No. 1-ranked Rice 4-2 and 6-foot-9 All-America pitcher Jeff Niemann in their first College World Series game.
April 2, 2004: Playing the first game in Hammons Field, Southern Illinois scored a run in the top of the ninth and beat the Bears 3-2 in front of more than 8,000 fans.
May 31, 2015: Winning their school-record 19th game in a row, the Bears beat Iowa 3-2 at Hammons Field to win the NCAA Springfield Regional. It marked the school-record 48th victory over the season.
June 6, 2015: Matt Hall, in the greatest start in school history, threw a complete-game one-hitter as the Bears beat Arkansas 3-1 to even the Super Regional at a game apiece.
June 7, 2015: Arkansas, playing on its home field because the Bears were unable to host the Super Regional due to the Springfield Cardinals playing at Hammons Field, won 3-2 to end Missouri State’s season a whisker away from the College World Series.
June 4-5, 2017: Arkansas beat the visiting Bears 11-10 in an NCAA regional game that began on June 4 and, after a lengthy rain delay, ended around 3 a.m. The Bears got a measure of revenge about 16 hours later, beating the Hogs 3-2 for the regional championship.
May 29, 2022: Capping an improbable run to an MVC Tournament title on its home field, sixth-seeded Missouri State beat Southern Illinois 13-3 to earn its 12th NCAA Tournament berth under Guttin.
