Sports Feature story

Leaving behind a legacy; gopher baseball head coach john anderson retires after 43 seasons

The longest coaching tenure at the University of Minnesota with 43 seasons as the head of the Golden Gophers baseball program, John Anderson never thought he would make it past his first. 

Anderson, who is retiring at the end of the 2024 season, wanted to be not just a coach to his players, but a mentor. 

For many years, Anderson helped his players achieve their potential to become consistent performers and the best versions of themselves.

Anderson never practiced his philosophy of creating not just great baseball players, but great men to himself. Anderson said he wasn’t such a humble or patient coach and believed with his off-balance nature, players struggled to become their best selves. 

For Anderson, the best version of himself didn’t come around until a decade after his start as the head of the program.

A beginning to a legacy

Anderson walked on the team in 1974 under head coach Dick Siebert. He suffered an arm injury the following year, making him contemplate leaving the University for good. 

“Regardless if I was injured or not, I think my career would have been short; right place, right time, I guess.” 

Anderson stayed with the program as a student coach and then graduate assistant until Siebert died in 1978. George Thomas, assistant coach to Siebert, later became head coach, leaving Anderson to become his assistant. 

Thomas didn’t stay long before he decided to leave the position, putting 26-year-old Anderson at the helm of the program. 

“I tell people all the time, I was available and I was cheap–probably not too far from the truth,” Anderson said. 

Hired by then-Athletic Director Paul Giel, Anderson didn’t understand one thing: why him? 

“For some reason, he saw something in me I probably didn’t see in myself,” Anderson said.

First years of growth and change

Like many first-year coaches, Anderson wanted to protect his career the only way he knew how:  by winning. 

In his inaugural year, the Gophers won the Big Ten tournament championship and made an NCAA tournament appearance. That same year, Anderson was awarded the Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year.  

For the next decade, Anderson won several championships and made five additional NCAA tournament appearances. 

After 10 years, he started to realize repeated patterns and performances in himself. 

“As a young coach you're really focused on winning, trying to see if you can do this, you're trying to protect your career,” Anderson said. “You get so caught up in just the winning piece.” 

Anderson knew if he didn’t make changes, he wouldn’t be in the business anymore. 

Rick Aberman, a sports psychologist, started working with Anderson and his staff. Anderson said Aberman became his saving grace to his career.

Aberman helped Anderson look at himself from within and realize that to become an effective leader and mentor to his players, he had to change. 

“If I hadn’t met Rick [Aberman], I probably would’ve crashed and burned somewhere along the line,” Anderson said. 

During one game, Anderson recalled ranting at an umpire and yelling from the dugout until one of his players came over to him and said he was out of control and not helping the team by acting out in the heat of the moment. 

Anderson said if he was going to teach his players to manage their emotions, actions and behaviors; he was going to need to practice what he preached. 

“I transformed myself into a different leader, a different person, more connected into trying to develop the whole person that’s just focused on winning and I think we won more and we played more consistently,” Anderson said. “It was scary.”

“It’s never about him”

It’s no surprise that in his almost 50 years of coaching the Gophers, Anderson has made an immense impact on the program, his current and former players, coaching staff and fans. 

Former Gopher and retired Minnesota Twins pitcher Glen Perkins said that to him, Anderson was and is much more than just a head coach.

“He’s always been a guy that looks ahead,” Perkins said. “He doesn’t like to talk about himself. It’s never about him.” 

Perkins played for the Gophers in 2003 and 2004 before getting drafted in the first round by the Twins. 

Perkins said that Anderson knew he had a career in baseball beyond the Gophers and Anderson wanted to protect that. 

“He basically wanted to protect me from myself,” Perkins said. 

When the Gophers made it to the Big Ten Championship in 2004, Perkins said Anderson essentially “shooed” him away from pitching the game.

“Don’t come near me, stay away,” Anderson said to Perkins. 

Eventually, Anderson let Perkins pitch in the last inning for the Gophers where they would go on to win the championship. 

Anderson’s impact goes well beyond his former Gophers. 

Dave St. Peter, the president of the Minnesota Twins, said Anderson is an “absolute legend in each and every way.” 

“He’s an institution for us,” St. Peter said. “I can make the case that he’s inconsideration for a Mount Rushmore of Minnesota baseball, in terms for what he has meant.” 

St. Peter said he and Anderson have become close friends and often talk about the current state of college baseball. But St. Peter said the greatest achievement (out of the many he has garnered) Anderson will leave behind is the 95% graduation rate among his players. 

“It’s remarkable,” St. Peter said. “We’re going to miss him.” 

The beginning of a new chapter: retirement

Half a century later, Anderson is ready to leave behind a legacy. 

Anderson, who turns 69 in May, had retirement on his mind for several years. 

He saw 14 different athletic directors come and go along with endless changes to several programs, Anderson knew it was time for change within his own. 

 “I think it's time for me to let the next guy have an opportunity and I want to do some other things in my life… it’s time,” Anderson said. “It’s time.” 

Going into his final season with the Gophers, Anderson is the winningest coach in Big Ten history with 1,365 wins overall and 614 against conference opponents. 

Anderson made the retirement announcement before the start of the season to ensure his team had the opportunity to process, letting it be about his players and their season, not himself. 

“I have had plenty of seasons and I want to try to focus on being the best version of myself, so I can help them have the best possible season,” Anderson said.

Anderson said he is ready for a change of pace. He is ready to look at the world each day from a different place. Ready to look at each day differently with a new goal. 

Before Anderson can do that, the Gophers have a series of road games in California, Florida, Arizona and Washington for the first half of the season starting Feb. 16. 

The early season road games come as U.S. Bank Stadium is replacing the turf, along with the baseball window, Anderson said. 

“We’re crisscrossing the country in all four time zones the first seven weekends,” Anderson said. “This is going to be a challenge.” 

The Gophers didn’t officially see home field until April 2 starting in the second half of the season, wrapping up his final year in the maroon and gold.  

Anderson said the team endured all the road games but playing on the road cost them eight to 10 games played fewer than other teams. 

“Those 8-10 games are crucial to player development,” Anderson said. “It’s been an interesting year in a lot of different ways. I like that our team is still growing and getting better.” 

With an overall record of 20-19, the Gophers are two home series and one away series away from wrapping up regular season play. 

With retirement coming around the corner for Anderson, all eyes are on him. 

But he doesn’t want that and never has. 

 “I appreciate that,” Anderson said. “It’s humbling. But in some ways, it does take away from the kids and their experience and their season.” 

The players and Anderson himself have handled this attention fairly well. 

With the attention comes the reflection. 

“My reflections have more been looking back on my footprint on what it's been like as a college coach and how it's been changing and how I’ve been adapting,” Anderson said. 

There’s no doubt Anderson will leave behind a John Anderson-sized hole in the Golden Gopher baseball program. He just hopes his successor can maintain the support from the players and alumni of the program. 

“The next leader of the program is going to have to be able to adapt,” Anderson said. 

The Gophers are back in action on May 3 for a home series against the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cornhuskers. 

This home series is one of the final two that will be dedicated to Anderson’s career at Minnesota.

Most people when it comes to retirement would use words like “exciting” or “relieving.” But John Anderson has a different set, actually three specific words, to describe the nearing of his career: 

“It’s been fine.”