Hogan can pass Uhls today in career wins at Southeast

~ The Redhawks skipper played and coached under Uhls.

Entering this season, Mark Hogan figured it was inevitable that he would become the winningest coach in Southeast Missouri State baseball history.

Now that the time is almost here -- entering this weekend's series at Murray State, Hogan needs just one victory to tie the record and two wins to break it -- he realizes even more how much pride he will feel when it does happen.

"It's a heck of an honor," Hogan said.

What will make the accomplishment extra special for Hogan is that he will surpass the person for whom he played in college, a man he considers one of his mentors and to whose family he has remained extremely close.

The late Joe Uhls set the previous standard for Southeast baseball, compiling a 373-257-5 record in 25 seasons from 1960 to 1984.

Uhls led Southeast to a third-place finish in the 1976 NCAA Division II College World Series. That squad featured Hogan as a player, and the next season Hogan served as a student assistant coach under Uhls.

About 30 years later, Hogan -- a Cape Girardeau native who graduated from Central High School -- is poised to pass Uhls, considered a legendary figure in Southeast sports history and a charter inductee into the university's athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.

"I think coach Uhls was a great coach," said Hogan, whose team's locker room at Houck Field House is named after Uhls. "I think about him every day from a coaching standpoint, things I learned from him, and he gave me my coaching start after I was done as a player."

"It's a special joy to have the relationship I had with him, and the relationship I have with his family now. I remember him dearly."

Added Hogan: "To break the record of somebody I respected and treasured like coach Uhls is something I consider a very special accomplishment."

Hogan, who has led Southeast baseball to by far its most Division I success, has a 372-305-1 record in his 13th season at his alma mater.

Hogan has twice led Southeast to the NCAA tournament, in 1998 and 2002, and he owns the longest current streak of OVC postseason baseball tournament appearances with 12, having yet to miss that event during his tenure at Southeast.

In addition, Hogan has directed Southeast to a school-record 37 wins twice, and he is the only baseball coach in school history to win 30 games in a season, something he has accomplished six times.

Before returning to Southeast, Hogan was the head coach at Wallace Junior College in Alabama and at Division II West Alabama.

Hogan's overall 26-year coaching record is 757-562-3 -- but it is what he has done at Southeast that stands out to him personally, especially since he has a large and vocal personal rooting section comprised of family members and longtime friends at every home game and many road contests.

"Cape Girardeau is where I grew up, the place I loved and where my family is from," Hogan said. "It was a dream of mine to come back and coach here, and when I got the job it was such an honor.

"It's been like a magic carpet ride since I've been back. I love the town and the university. I've had so many great moments."

Another one will take place any day now.