Former Redhawks not surprised Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Bieser moved up a step to Missouri

Cole Bieser remembers clutching the baseball as tightly as possible while he and his Southeast Missouri State teammates dogpiled on the field at Tennessee Tech after clinching the first of three consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles in 2014.

After the celebration had ended he handed it to his dad, Redhawks coach Steve Bieser.

Cole Bieser considers it one of his favorite memories playing for his dad, and on Thursday the Bieser family created another exceptional memory when Steve Bieser was named the head baseball coach at Missouri.

"Today's been crazy. We woke up to kind of that uncertainty of, 'What's going to happen?'" Cole Bieser said in a phone interview, "because he left yesterday to kind of do the final interview, and we kind of woke up on pins and needles thinking, 'What's going to happen? Is he going to get it? Is it going to be a heartbreak for us?'"

Steve Bieser called his family around 10 a.m. Thursday and was almost too excited to give his family the life-changing news.

"When we finally found out, it was just absolute elation for us," Cole Bieser said. "I was screaming in the house I was so pumped up, and mom was just beside herself with emotion. It's just been a whirlwind day. We got on a charter flight at 2 p.m., the rest of the family, to come out here and be with him. We're all in Columbia now. It's just been so much fun and so exciting to see the culmination of all the hard work and preparation to be able to be an SEC coach now. It's almost unbelievable."

But for those like Cole that have played for him, the move up isn't too hard to believe.

Former Redhawks pitcher Alex Winkelman thought that his credentials -- taking Southeast from a middle-of-the-pack OVC team to a perennial OVC championship contender -- and his Missouri roots made him an obvious choice.

Winkelman, now in the Houston Astros' minor league system, said Bieser runs his programs in a professional manner.

"He just handles himself so well and it's a business for him, and he treats you as his peer more than just completely as your superior," Winkelman said. "I think he's a serious man and he's just going to do whatever it takes to win, and I think that's awesome. He is someone who dreams pretty big, and when you talk to him and you're around him, you can see that he's looking big picture, looking for that next step. He's not going to settle. I think that's an infectious thing, which is what makes him a great coach. You hear how big his dreams are and then you want to emulate that or model yourself around that as well."

Bieser never shied away from setting his expectations high. He and his coaching staff didn't think building a program that could win a regional, super regional and even make it to the College World Series was out of the question.

The Redhawks made it to their first NCAA Regional since 2002 in Bieser's fourth and final season.

Branden Boggetto, who just completed his career as a four-year starter for Bieser, learned about Bieser's high expectations quite quickly when he arrived in Cape Girardeau.

He remembered missing a weight-lifting session, along with some of his fellow freshmen, the morning the team was leaving for a road game. Once the entire team was one the bus, Bieser pulled the freshman off of it to have a stern conversation with them in the locker room.

"I realized that he was mad because he wanted us to understand that he was holding us to a higher standard, that we need to strive to be excellent in every aspect of our lives whether that's in the classroom, community, faith or our family," Boggetto said. "That was sort of my wake-up call and really made me want to be better. But that's the affect Coach Bieser has on you. He makes you want to be the best that you can, and I think that's why he is such a great coach.

"Although I'll always be a Redhawk fan, I wish him and his family the very best in Columbia. I love him and want to thank him for not only making me a better baseball player but also a better person."

Joey Lucchesi, who became the first player to repeat as OVC Pitcher of the Year and also Southeast's highest draft pick in program history when he was selected in the fourth round a few weeks ago, echoed similar sentiments about Bieser, calling him, "one of the best coaches I've ever had in my life."

"When I came to SEMO, I was mature but I still had stuff to learn as a man and as a player, and he kind of taught me his way, and it kind of rubbed off on me as a player and as a man," Lucchesi said. "I really respect him. As a coach he just tells you how to do it. He'll yell if that's how he's got to do it. Everyone's got respect for him and they listen. Overall, he's a great guy and coach."

So how challenging will it be for the Redhawks to sustain the level of success that Bieser, a coach that Winkelman called "irreplaceable," brought to Southeast?

"It's definitely going to be a tough transition this upcoming year," Boggetto said. "It's going to be interesting to see how the team reacts to a new coach and coaching staff coming in, but I think that the values and lessons that Coach Bieser instilled in us is going to carry on for years and years to come, so it's going to be really exciting to see how the team kind of goes from here."

Cole Bieser said he likely will root for the Redhawks when his dad's current and former teams play in the future, but won't be mad if the Tigers are victorious.

He has complete confidence in the future of the Southeast program and that newly-selected athletics director Brady Barke will fill the position with a quality coach.

"As his son, I'm super excited for this, but as a former Redhawk, it is a little sad," Cole Bieser said. "We're looking at such a great coach leaving our program. I know the way the program has been built -- it's going to last. And I know that Brady Barke is going to bring in a guy that has those same values because those are the values that Brady holds -- the hardworking, blue-collar mentality.

"I know they're going to bring in a guy that as a baseball alum I'm going to be proud to call the head coach of my alma mater. It's just one of those things where things change, and I'm super excited for the future of Southeast regardless of who the head coach is because I know they're going to pick the right guy. It's just now I have two college baseball teams to root for."