Some teams reach Omaha because they’re talented. Others get there because they’re tough. But every once in a while, you get a team that arrives because the players themselves refuse to let the season go any other way.
That’s the common thread between Ole Miss and North Carolina this week. Two programs with different histories, different rosters, different paths through June, but one shared identity: they’re player‑led, and their coaches are proud of it.
UNC coach Scott Forbes didn’t hide it. He talked openly about how his veterans set the tone long before he ever has to.
“There was a good piece I saw last night on Caden Glauber, and he credited his teammates,” Forbes said. “He said, ‘I was a little bit immature.’ With our leadership, if you’re immature in the wrong way, those guys are going to crush you before I crush you — in a good way — and make you understand, ‘Hey, it’s not all about you. It’s about our program.’”
That’s not a coach bragging. That’s a coach relieved. When your older players handle the accountability, the standard becomes something the roster polices on its own. It’s why UNC didn’t panic after dropping Game 1 to USC.
Taking it all in#Olemaha pic.twitter.com/6p44Ue2L66
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) June 10, 2026
It’s why they didn’t dogpile after clinching a CWS berth. They didn’t need to. They’ve been acting like a team with bigger goals for months.
Ole Miss isn’t built the same way, but the heartbeat is similar.
Mike Bianco has been around long enough to know when a team is wired the right way, and he’s been saying it for weeks. When he was asked what this Omaha trip meant to him personally, he didn’t talk about legacy or milestones. He talked about his players.
“You hear bits and pieces of their interviews, and it’s amazing how often they go back to their teammates and how much they love playing with one another,” Bianco said. “As coaches, when you talk about culture and all those different things, those things matter.”
He’s right. Ole Miss doesn’t get through the Auburn Super Regional without that internal glue. They don’t survive the ups and downs of the season without the transfers buying in, without the veterans setting the tone, without someone like Tristen Bissetta showing up and acting like he’s been in the clubhouse for four years.
Bianco made that point himself.
“He’s a guy who played in a really good program, came here and immersed himself into the team,” he said. “When you act like that, it makes a difference in the clubhouse and in the dugout.”
That’s the overlap between these two teams.
UNC has older guys who have been to Omaha before and know how to drag a roster forward.
Ole Miss has a mix of veterans and transfers who have chosen to buy into something bigger than their own stat lines.
Both teams have leaders who speak up, hold teammates accountable, and set the emotional temperature.
And both coaches trust their players enough to talk openly about it.
Bianco even pointed back to 2022, when he told his team not to just enjoy being in Omaha but to go win the thing. That message resurfaced again this year, not from him, but from Judd Utermark.
“He said, ‘We’re not just going there,’” Bianco said. “You go there to win.”
Touched down 🛬 pic.twitter.com/6fZMBhAf4y
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) June 10, 2026
Forbes said almost the same thing, just in his own way. His team didn’t dogpile because they weren’t done. They celebrated, sure, but they didn’t act like they’d reached the finish line.
“This team is hungry for more,” he said.
Two programs. Two dugouts. Two different routes to the same stage.
But the reason they’re both in Omaha is the same: the players run the room.
And when that happens, coaches don’t have to push their teams toward the moment. They just have to get out of the way and let them chase it.
