Gators Baseball Parts Ways With Craig Bell

The Florida Gators Baseball program has parted ways with longtime assistant coach Craig Bell after 15 seasons.

The news comes two days following the Gators’ disappointing loss to Oklahoma in the Gainesville Regional championship game.

Kevin O'Sullivan is parting ways with Craig Bell, who has been on his staff for 15 seasons. https://t.co/PKzSgkqpZ0 pic.twitter.com/bXtyMlpUCx

— Nick de la Torre (@delatorre) June 7, 2022

A Successful Run

Bell had served as an assistant throughout the entirety of head coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s tenure in Gainesville since 2008. Throughout most of his tenure, Bell was the third base coach. Additionally, he was heavily involved with the Gators’ recruiting efforts.

During Bell’s run, the Gators appeared in the College World Series seven times. This includes a national championship in 2017. Florida never missed the NCAA Tournament and captured five SEC championships during that timespan.

Bell was instrumental in helping 28 Gators players reach the MLB, and has had a total of 98 players drafted.

Future Implications

In recent years, Kevin O’Sullivan has looked to hire fresh, young faces in the effort to adapt to the game’s evolving landscape that now heavily aligns with analytics usage.

With Bell now out of the picture, O’Sullivan will not have anyone on his coaching staff who has been with the program for longer than three seasons.