Lindsay Ross Meggs: the face behind Huskies baseball 2010’s successful and the torchbearer for the next decade
SEATTLE – Whether you are a fan of Lindsay Meggs or not, there is no doubt that the 62-year-old brought more fond memories than disappointment. Despite the team’s current struggle, the face behind the Washington baseball team 2010 success, likely than not, still have the magic wand in his hands.
Following the dismissal of Ken Knutson, the UW Huskies immediately turned to Meggs towards the close of July 2009 to give them a new line of direction and focus. The team wasn’t expecting a superman kind of change even though they knew they had the service of a proven coach that could get the best out of the young men at his disposal.
Meggs, before signing, already had impressive records that painted the picture he was the man the team needed. He was with Chico State in the ’90s and clinched two Division II National titles. He also won the Coach of the Year for Indiana state. With these records, The Huskies expected better play and performance than previous coaches managed, and Meggs didn’t disappoint.
Okay, the Huskies did not exactly go off firing at all cylinders, but there was more than a glimmer of hope when the former Kansas City Royals Player took over the locker room. The team struggled in the first few games, but as the season progressed, Meggs was able to inspire belief in his boys, and the team established a level of confidence that earned them a better all-season record than they managed the previous year.
By the end of the season, the team finished 28-28, with an extra five wins compared to last season, and were ninth in the standings. The second season was no better as the team finished Tenth, but Meggs was already setting the works for a better future. He revamped the Locker rooms and pushed for improvement and renovation of the team facilities. He notably anchored Husky Ballpark renovation, including replacing Bleachers with Permanent seats and an increased capacity of 2500 seats.
His job with the school team, especially in the renovation of the school facilities, was enough for the Management to extend his contract in 2012 with three additional years to the former agreement, which would see him stay till 2018.
The real turnaround for the Huskies started in 2014 when they finished runner-ups in the conference, trouncing teams they had been billed to fall against. Despite being picked at the Preseason to finish among the bottom before their shocking feat, Meggs and his boys had a 21-9 record, with most of their loss being extremely close. Nevertheless, their finish earned the Huskies their very first Post-season feature after a decade of disappointment.
Meggs was highly praised and, as recognition for his efforts with the team, won the 2014 Pac-12 Coach of the Year.
While Meggs 2014 feats were tipped as a flash-in-the-pan performance, he quickly proved observers wrong and has since then been able to keep his team in the second or third positions up to 2018. He has taken the Team to Several NCAA Regionals, and the team made their debut college World Series trip since their establishment in 2018.
However, while Meggs time with the Huskies has been great from a general perspective, the past three seasons have seen a drop in standard. The team finished 9th in the conference and were set to endure an inevitable disastrous 2020 season before the Covid-19 brought games to a premature end.
Will the team recover just like their Football colleague seem to be doing under Jimmy Lake is a question that only time will reveal? For Now, though, the face responsible for the team 2010’s success still look set to stay and bring back much better days than is already experienced.
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