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There’s an obvious sense of respect when Auburn coach John Pawlowski talks about the man who gave him his first opportunity as a coach, Clemson’s Jack Leggett.

The same can be said for the pride that oozes from Leggett when he talks about his former pitching coach, Pawlowski, one of his four former assistants who are now head coaches in the SEC.

Yet when both were prompted about each other on multiple occasions this week, the kind words quickly gave way toward more pressing issues in the coaches’ minds.

Neither had a reason to discuss the other’s team because there is no guarantee Auburn and Clemson will square off at this weekend’s NCAA
Regional, which starts today at Plainsman Park.

“Coach Leggett gave me my first opportunity to get involved with college baseball, and I can’t thank him enough for that opportunity,” Pawlowski said Thursday. “I had five years that I worked for him. It was a great learning experience for me and helped springboard my career. I am certainly
thankful for that.

“But we know that our challenge lies in Friday night with Jacksonville State and that’s where our focus is.”

The winner of today’s 6 p.m. Gamecocks-Tigers game will face the winner of today’s first game between Clemson and Southern Miss. Then, maybe, the coaches — one who’s been at his school for 17 years, the other who is just in his second – will open up and reminisce about the good old days, when Pawlowski served under Leggett during his first five years at Clemson.

Just don’t get your hopes up. Both are focused on the task at hand.

“It’s going to be a tough tournament,” Leggett said. “We know that Auburn is an outstanding ballclub so we are looking forward to the competition here.”

Pawlowski credits Leggett with jump-starting his career, one that sent him to Arizona State for one season before landing at the College of Charleston for nine seasons. The two faced off against each other in a number of non-conference games before Pawlowski joined the Tigers in 2009, making a potential matchup this weekend the first since Pawlowski came to the SEC.

“We were really never fortunate enough to beat Clemson,” Pawlowski said. “They’ve got a great program and rightfully so. Coach Leggett’s done a great job there.”

Pawlowski was one of Leggett’s first assistants at Clemson, but was the fourth to take over an SEC team. Florida’s Kevin O’Sullivan, Tennessee’s Todd Raleigh and Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin, who signed on with Leggett at the same time as Pawlowski, all served as assistant coaches under Leggett at some point in their respective coaching careers.

“The players really enjoy playing for him, and I really think that’s one of the reasons why he’s been so successful,” Pawlowski said. “He’s got a great mental approach to the game.”

Leggett’s approach is by no means traditional. His on-field antics, which previously included sliding into pregame huddles down the first-base line, are well-documented and have become part of the Clemson baseball tradition.

Leggett, 56, has toned down some of his traditions since a skiing accident, but still brings a fiery intensity to the field largely unseen in baseball.

“One of the things that makes Coach Leggett so successful is his aggressiveness and his mentality,” Pawlowski said. “I’ve always told him he’s a football coach in a baseball uniform.”

Leggett is a former football player. Pawlowski is not. Pawlowski carries an obviously laid-back demeanor on game days. There’s rarely much yelling from the dugout and he’s been ejected just once in his Auburn career for arguing with an umpire.

There’s not much chest-bumping and there aren’t many organized celebrations, outside the customary back-slapping that goes on at home plate after a home run.

“I think he’s a coaches’ coach when it comes to organizing and recruiting and preparing. On gameday, he’s a players’ coach,” hitting coach Link Jarrett said. “He wants them to go play and enjoy playing and play hard.

“He has a unique combination that I think is very successful at this level. The flexibility and their freedom to play the game with some confidence and looseness is important. He does a great job managing both ends of that.”

Though they might do things a little differently, Leggett and Pawlowski both said their relationship remains great. Leggett said this weekend has served as a great opportunity for him to reconnect with Pawlowski and his family.

There just won’t be a connection on the field unless both teams take care of business today.

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