Hal Baird is a retired college baseball coach. From 1980 to 1984, Baird coached at East Carolina University. In 1985, he became the head coach at Auburn University where he remained until 2000. While at Auburn, he became the school's most successful head coach in history, winning a total of 634 games and he led his team to the 1994 College World Series and the 1997 College World Series. He is a member of the East Carolina University athletic Hall of Fame, the Auburn University Hall of Fame, the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Hal Baird was a standout in baseball for 15 years as a player, assistant coach and head coach at East Carolina (ECU). A 1971 ECU graduate, Baird helped the Pirates to a Southern Conference title and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1970. In the league championship game against George Washington, Baird struck out a Southern Conference record 20 batters. His 105 strikeouts in 1971 ranks among the top performances in school history. Following his college career, Baird played for the Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals organizations where he earned All-Gulf Coast League, All-Florida Instructional League and All-Southern League honors. He went on to serve as an assistant coach at ECU from 1977-79 before being named head coach in 1979. Over the next five years, Baird led the Pirates to a pair of ECAC-South championships and three NCAA Tournament appearances. He finished his coaching career at East Carolina with a record of 145-66-1. His record as coach of the Auburn Tigers is 634-328-0. From 1985-2001 he won more baseball games than any coach in Auburn history. His overall coaching record is 779-394-1 (.663). Baird guided the Tigers to three NCAA Regional titles, an SEC Western Division Championship and an SEC Tournament Championship and 10 times during Baird's Auburn tenure his teams finish the season ranked in the top 25. His Auburn teams won at least 30 games in every season he was the head coach and the program participated in nine NCAA Regionals during his stay, including seven in his last eight years at Auburn. Ten Auburn players earned All-America honors under Baird's tutelage while a total of 51 players were drafted off of Baird's teams, which included Gregg Olson, Bo Jackson, Frank Thomas and Tim Hudson. In 2010 former Auburn and major league star, Frank Thomas,