stated "Hal (Baird) always pushed me. He would always compare me to Bo (Jackson) in center field. He would say, 'Maybe if you work a little harder, you can climb that wall.' I would always say, 'Coach, there's only one Bo Jackson.' He pushed me and got me ready to play at the next level and I'm very thankful for that. I was lucky to play with Hal. He had so much experience with major leaguers that he could easily compare you and tell you what you were lacking. He really prepared me for the next level." Major league pitcher Tim Hudson said, "When I got drafted, I thought that A-ball was a step down from SEC baseball. It wasn't quite as good as AA, but it definitely got you better for what to expect at the next level. I'm just thrilled that I had the opportunity to play here (at Auburn) and play under Coach Baird. He was vital to not only my career, but a lot of the other pitchers who came through here." Baird was named head coach at Auburn in 1985 and immediately turned things around. The Tigers had suffered through three consecutive 10th-place conference finishes and one eighth-place mark in the previous four years. Auburn showed improvement with a 30-22 record in his first season and, in 1986, advanced to the SEC Tournament for the first time in six years, finishing third in the league standings. By 1987 Baird had led the Tigers to a 42-18 mark and an 18-9 conference record with a third-place finish in the SEC. Both the overall and conference wins set new Auburn records for a single season, both of which he topped later on in his career. Baird's 1995 team not only won 40 games, but it did so quicker than any team in SEC history, taking just 45 games to reach that accomplishment. Auburn won the SEC Western Division en route to finishing with a school-best record of 50-13 and, for the first time in school history, the 1995 Tigers were the No. 1 seed at an NCAA Regional and spent part of the season as the top-ranked team in the country. During the 1990s, Baird's teams won 68.1 percent of their games. Baird pitched professionally from 1971–1976, with 4 of those years at the AAA level. He was inducted into the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Hall of