LAWRENCE — As the Men’s College World Series is unfolding this month, Kansas baseball coach Dan Fitzgerald is preparing for the Jayhawks’ 2025 season.

Fitzgerald’s squad missed out on the NCAA tournament this season, despite the fact KU took a step forward in the second year of his rebuild. The positives, like a series win against TCU, sweep against Texas Tech and trip to the semifinals of the Big 12 Conference tournament, weren’t enough. They were weighed down by opportunities gone by, like being swept by Texas and suffering tough nonconference losses against Illinois-Chicago (twice), Washington State and Kentucky.

But while Fitzgerald understands Kansas held its fate in its own hands, he wouldn’t be opposed to the NCAA tournament expanding to 72 teams — as was discussed by some when the 64-team field was announced in May. Plenty of teams had more compelling cases to be in the field this year than the Jayhawks, he acknowledged, but he still considered his side one of the best 64 in the nation. With the nature of automatic and at-large bids forming the field, there’s a path in his mind to allowing more worthy teams to make the postseason.

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“I think Mike Rooney has come up with the greatest plan for the NCAA tournament,” Fitzgerald said in the days following the selection show. “It’s 32 host sites with play-in games for the fourth spot on Thursday night. So, you end up with, whatever, 32, and then 64 — it gives you 70-some teams with the play-ins and they’re hosted so it’s a two-of-three, regional format, and then the 32 goes down to 16 and that becomes your super regional.”

It’s a move that would take time and buy-in from the people who make those decisions, but Fitzgerald noted it would bring more life to the sport. After 16 teams compete in the play-ins to get the field from 72 to 64, 32 college campuses could enjoy the opportunity to host in the NCAA tournament. Fitzgerald’s goal is to get Kansas to a point where it is one of those 32 teams, and he wondered aloud how captivating the atmosphere would be in Lawrence.

There was debate this year about the order of the teams that hosted NCAA regionals, as well as if some should or shouldn’t have. Fitzgerald said in an expansion era, teams like Louisiana Tech, Duke and Dallas Baptist − all No. 2 seeds in their four-team regions − would have been able to host. That, in his mind, would only enhance the sport.

There was a debate this year about which bubble teams should have made the field, and while Fitzgerald has acknowledged the committee has a hard job he has also spoken to a feeling of how subjective the process can be and is looking for more transparency. Of course, as Fitzgerald said, the debates about bubble teams wouldn’t go away with expansion. Expansion would, though, give a team like TCU this year, or Kansas State the year before, a better chance.

To be in a spot where Kansas could have a chance, Fitzgerald said it’ll be about both taking care of business and building a better RPI — which hurt the Jayhawks this season. The answer lies somewhere in the middle of putting together a schedule that helps develop your team best and playing the RPI game. He also explained there won’t be a situation next season where they have to find a late, nonconference weekend series, like there was this season when they scheduled Pacific in mid-April.

“I think it’s a combo of yes,” Fitzgerald said. “The schedule will change. I think there’s some RPI — we had some RPI killer. But a lot of that was because of the schedule set-up.”

Once the selection show ended, Fitzgerald said he turned the TV off, walked into a team meeting and started exit interviews as the focus turned to next season. There’s a need to wrap up the year, and explain to the players that when Kansas does reach the NCAA tournament it’s because of a season like this. There’s a need to have discussions with players about their careers, whether they’re planning for after college or what remaining in college would look like — at KU or elsewhere.

There are a lot of moving parts as Fitzgerald and his staff look to put together the Jayhawks’ 2025 roster. There’s the transfer portal and the MLB draft to think about, so even in the certainty of having someone committed or on the roster there can be some uncertainty. But Fitzgerald is confident in their recruiting, and those who are on the team next year will look to build on what’s already been established.

“Jake English’s impact on this program was certainly felt on a daily basis the last two years, but the foundation he built will be felt in 10 years,” Fitzgerald said about the senior. “That guy’s the most important dude we’ve had in this program since we got here. Like, he bridged the old staff to the new staff and is a great picture of what development looks like going from a — kind of a not every day player his sophomore year to first-team All-Big 12 catcher.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas' head baseball coach would welcome NCAA tournament expansion