MEMPHIS — Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter decided to retain baseball coach Mike Bianco after the Rebels finished with a losing record and missed the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive season.

Speaking at an alumni event on Tuesday, Carter explained why.

"Coach B's had a great career with Ole Miss, built a lot of equity," Carter said. "I felt like he needed another year at least to try to fix it. We know next year's going to be a huge year."

Acknowledging that the last two seasons have not met the standard set for Ole Miss baseball, which won its first national championship in 2022, Carter hopes a major staff change will spark a return to prominence for the program.

After the Rebels' season ended with a walk-off loss to Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament, Carter said he and Bianco met to discuss staff structure.

"We are out in the market right now looking for a pitching coach, and I think that's going to be a really cool addition," Carter said. "It's really changing with the times, allowing Coach B to be more of a manager ... allow the pitching coach to really handle the pitchers. That's a big responsibility. You think about a roster of 40 or so, over half of those are pitchers, so you're spending a lot of time with those."

Bianco, a former catcher, has spent his career handling the responsibilities a pitching coach would normally oversee. The Rebels finished 2024 with the third-worst team ERA in the SEC at 5.88. In 2023, Ole Miss' 6.40 ERA also ranked 12th in the conference.

Firing Bianco, who clearly stated his intent to return following the conclusion of the season, would have been expensive. He signed a new contract following the 2022 national title that pays him $1.625 million annually.

A major financial squeeze is coming to college athletics with revenue sharing coming as early as fall 2025, with schools set to distribute up to about $20 million annually to their athletes. Power Five schools will also collectively owe 24% of $2.8 billion in damages to former and current athletes should an agreed court settlement receive approval from a judge.

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Ole Miss, which lost just over $8 million in the most recent fiscal year, is already taking steps in reaction to this news. The Rebels are putting their planned upgrades to Swayze Field on pause.

"It's an interesting time in college athletics," Carter said. "A lot of uncertainty around the financial piece of it, where we're going with the (revenue) sharing and a lot of different things there."

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Keith Carter: Ole Miss baseball on the hunt for pitching coach