Utah Utes baseball: 5 questions with coach Bill Kinneberg

Utah coach Bill Kinneberg guided the Utes to the Mountain West Conference championship and their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1960.

Question: What was the key to your team's postseason success, having gone from a losing record to win the Mountain West Conference tournament and two NCAA tournament games?

Answer: "I think that's something I'm going to and our coaching staff is going to analyze a lot this summer and think back, maybe, on some of the things we did well and some of the things we didn't do so well during the year. But I think the thing that really happened to us is we got tougher and it was mainly because some of the tough losses that we had. I knew at the beginning of the year that we were capable of being a pretty good team . . . Our guys got tough, they got determined and they played to their potential once we got within two weeks of the tournament. I think in that three week span we were pretty dangerous."

Question: Of all the things you've done in baseball, all the accomplishments, can you put this in perspective? How special was it?

Answer: "I think as time goes by I will reflect on it more and really appreciate what happened. I'm still in the stage where I'm thinking we're practicing and I think we're still playing. I haven't completely gone over the edge yet as far as going into the offseason. But to win the tournament and go to the regionals is one of the highlights."

Question: Can cold weather schools like Utah regularly compete with schools in warmer climates in baseball?

Answer: "I think the NCAA has done a nice job of evening the playing field. Everybody has the same amount of scholarships. We play the same amount of games... We have a starting point now. It's still difficult early in the year for any cold weather school to be real competitive in February and early March because of practice. We're behind at that point. But I think the cold weather schools have a chance to catch up and maybe be fresher at the end of the year than the warm weather schools. In my experience, I think as a club we were fresher than maybe some of the warm weather schools at this point and time."

Question: How beneficial would an on-campus facility be for this program?