Sean McDermott enters his fifth season as head coach of the UIC Flames baseball program in 2026, and his 27th season on the coaching staff.
It was announced on June 15, 2021 that Sean McDermott had been elevated to the acting head coach and will assume permanent leadership of the program.
The UIC baseball program has evolved into a perennial league champion and regional contender over the course of the last decade, and Sean McDermott has played an immense role in the Flames' maturation process every step of the way since his arrival in 1998. McDermott works primarily with UIC's offense and defense, and the Flames have thrived in both departments during his tenure.
In the summer of 2013, McDermott was promoted to Associate Head Coach after serving as assistant coach for the previous 15 seasons.
With McDermott on the bench alongside head coach Mike Dee, UIC rattled off nine consecutive 30-plus win seasons from 2000-08, including seven straight campaigns of 35 victories or more from 2002-08. In 2017, the squad matched the 2002 and 2003 squads with a school-record 39 wins.
The 2025 MLB draft saw the Flames lone pick Luke Nowak selected in the 17th round, 518th overall to the Kansas City Royals. In his lone season at UIC, Nowak had the hottest bat in The Valley, batting a conference-leading .387, collecting the second-most stolen bases (28), third-best in total hits (86) among the best in the MVC.
After the 2024 season, another pair of Flames were selected in the MLB Draft. Zane Zielinski was the first member from UIC off the board, selected 268th overall in the ninth round by the San Francisco Giants. Zielinski turned in a .363 batting average, second-best on the Flames. He also belted eight home runs, stole 20 bags and committed nine errors in 245 chances all season long at short stop.
Ryan Smith was selected 283rd overall in the same round by the Houston Astros, after finishing his second season in Chicago with a strong showing in conference play, surrendering just one run in 22 innings pitched. He also struck out 42 batters in 35 innings and surrendered the fewest hits (30) than any Flames pitchers with 30+ innings on the bump throughout the season.
Charlie Szykowny (San Francisco Giants/ Ninth Round, 270th pick) and Cole Conn (Athletics/ 12th round, 346th pick) became the first pair of Flames to be drafted after UIC’s first season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference in the 2023 draft Szykowny made an immediate impact in his lone season in Chicago, leading the team in batting average (.335), runs scored, hits, triple, home runs, RBI and slugging percentage. Conn spent his entire collegiate career with the Flames, batting .273 across 500 at-bats, and sported .986 fielding percentage with only 14 errors in over 800 chances.
The Flames final pick as a member of the Horizon league came after the 2022 season, when Nate Peterson was selected in the 8th round, 252 overall by the Milwaukee Brewers. Peterson shined in his lone season in Chicago, striking out a conference-leading strikeouts (102) and strikeout-to-walk ratio en route to earning First Team All-League Honors.
Scott Ota became the 16th player from UIC to turn pro since 2016, being drafted by the New York Mets in the 10th round of the 2019 draft, leaving a collegiate career as UIC’s RBI leader (163), second in career home runs (33), triples (15) and at-bats (763).
Four players were picked in the 2018 MLB First-Year Player Draft. Horizon League Pitcher of the Year and NCBWA All-American Ryan Campbell was the second highest selection in program, as he was taken in the fifth round by the Cincinnati Reds. The conference's Relief Pitcher of the Year, Charlie Cerny, was also nabbed on day two by the Oakland Athletics. On the final day of the draft, catcher Aaron Ackerman (Los Angeles Dodgers) and pitcher Reid Birlingmair (Oakland Athletics) were selected.
In 2017, UIC saw a program and Horizon League record six players taken in the 2017 MLB First-Year Player Draft in Connor Ryan (Cincinnati Reds), Rob Calabrese (San Francisco Giants), Mickey McDonald (Oakland Athletics), David Cronin (Chicago White Sox), Jake Dahlberg (St. Louis Cardinals) and Cody Bohanek (Houston Astros). In addition, Mitchell Schulewitz signed as an undrafted free agent (Kansas City Royals). Two other players joined the pro ranks in 2017 in Ricardo Ramirez and Jack Andersen.
They follow former standouts Steve Carlson (New York Yankees, 2001), Curtis Granderson (Detroit Tigers, 2002), Wes Gilliam (Arizona Diamondbacks, 2002), Kevin Ryan (San Diego Padres, 2002), Kevin Nelson (New York Yankees, 2003), David Haehnel (Baltimore Orioles, 2004), Jordan DeVoir (New York Yankees, 2004), Ryan Gehring (Minnesota Twins, 2004), Mike Hughes (Anaheim Angels, 2004), Nelson Gord (Schaumburg Flyers, 2004; Houston Astros, 2007), Bryan Russo (Schaumburg Flyers, 2004), Justin Johnson (Baltimore Orioles, 2006), Ryan Zink (New York Yankees, 2007), Zach Peterson (Kansas City Royals, 2007), Kevin Coddington (Cincinnati Reds, 2008), Adam Worthington (Arizona Diamondbacks, 2009) and Tomas Michelson (Tampa Bay, 2014), Ryan Hinchley (Chicago White Sox, 2015), Jeff Boehm (Los Angeles Angels, 2015) and Trevor Lane (New York Yankees, 2016) as UIC players playing professionally since McDermott's arrival alongside Dee.
One of the most notable professional products to develop under the current coaching staff while at UIC is three-time Major League Baseball All-Star Curtis Granderson, a Flames outfielder from 2000-2002. In November 2011, Granderson was given the AL's Silver Slugger award and finished fourth in the MVP voting. In September of 2012, he became just the fifth Yankee all-time to post back-to-back 40 home run seasons, a list that includes Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and Jason Giambi.
The 2025 season saw the Flames finish 22-33, maintaining a 16-11 record against the MVC en route to the fourth seed, the highest overall seed since joining The Valley. Luke Nowak earned All-Conference First Team honors and became the third consecutive student-athlete from UIC to earn a share of the Newcomer of the Year award. Dillon Schueler was also named to the All-Conference Second Team and Tommy Egan collected All-Conference Honorable Mention.
The Flames wrapped up their second season in the MVC with a 35-20 overall record, and a 16-11 conference record to earn a fifth seed in the conference tournament. Kendal Ewell took away both the Joe Carter of the Year and Newcomer of the Year after ranking top five in nearly every offensive category including batting a conference-leading .392.
Ewell wasn’t the lone recognized after the 2024 campaign. Zane Zielinski earned All-Conference First Team and Defensive Team honors. Reece Lawler also collected All-Conference First Team honors on the mound and Jackson Bessette collected Second Team honors for his work behind the plate. Hurlers Brandon Bak and Dillon Schueler collected Honorable Mention recognition. McDermott nearly earned postseason recognition, finishing in second place in the Dan Callahan Coach of the Year voting.
After a July 1st, 2022 announcement that UIC would be joining the Missouri Valley Conference, the Flames baseball team finished its first season of competition with a 28-25 overall record, and a 13-14 mark in MVC play. Coach McDermott's squad earned UIC baseball's first-ever Missouri Valley Conference victory over eventual MVC Champion Indiana State on March 31, 2023, by a 10-7 final score. Flames third baseman Charlie Szykowny was named the conference's Newcomer of the Year following the season. The Flames also earned a berth in their first-ever Missouri Valley Baseball Championship, earning the sixth seed and adding their first all-time victory in the Missouri Valley Championship over seventh-seeded Belmont before falling to first-seeded Indiana State and second-seeded Missouri State to end the season.
In one of UIC's most-viewed social media videos of the 2022-23 academic year, coach McDermott was seen running the bases with UIC baseball's Team Impact Player Stefan Lazarevic after the stands had emptied following a May 7 home game. The video received over 56,000 views on Twitter alone.
UIC went 14-11 in its final season of Horizon League competition in 2022, earning the three seed in the Horizon League Championship. The Flames lost a heart-breaker to sixth-seeded Northern Kentucky in an extra innings elimination game.
The Flames posted yet another 30-win season in 2021, despite a modified schedule due to COVID-19 that saw UIC play 39 of its 48 games against Horizon League opponents. Despite entering the Horizon League Championshop as a two-seed, the Flames fell to host Wright State in the second round before being eliminated by number four Milwaukee in eleven innings in the double-elimination format.
The 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, after the Flames had played just 16 total games, including wins over Georgetown and Army.
The Flames won the Horizon League Baseball Championship under McDermott's leadership in 2019, and competed in the NCAA Louisville Regional, taking on number one Louisville and number two Indiana.
UIC continued to rewrite the record book in 2018. The Flames set program records for strikeouts (pitching) in a single season with 403 and fewest earned runs allowed with 140. They also matched the 2017 squad by allowing the fewest earned runs in program history (174). UIC ranked third in the country with a 2.98 team ERA, and third with eight shutouts. It was the second consecutive season that the Flames ranked in the top three nationally in both categories.
In 2017, UIC matched the school record with 39 wins while securing a Horizon League championship and the program's fifth NCAA Championship appearance. UIC participated in the Hattiesburg Regional, hosted by Southern Mississippi.
UIC also flourished defensively in 2017. The Flames led the entire NCAA in fielding percentage at a mark of .984. The team's average of 0.63 errors per game was the lowest in the country and UIC tied Stony Brook for the fewest defensive miscues in the NCAA in 2017 at 35.
In 2014, UIC received national attention for its performance at plate as seven Flames' hitters recorded batting averages well over the coveted .300 mark. UIC ended the campaign ranked 11
th in the country in batting average (.304) and 10
th in on-base percentage (.393). The Flames also averaged 6.6 runs per contest which stands as the 16
th-highest mark in all of Division I ball for the 2014 season.
In 2012, the Flames boasted four players that hit over .300 in Alex Grunenwald (.345), Joe Betcher (.311), Jon Ryan (.302) and Alex Lee (.300). UIC's hitting turned red hot during the final stretch of the 2012 season as the Flames made a Horizon League title game run. In the tournament, UIC tallied a .357 team batting average with eight homers, five triples and 11 doubles.
Execution in key situations helped the 2008 NCAA Regional team, which ranked in the Top 20 nationally in both sacrifice flies (34) and sacrifice bunts (60). In 2007 the Flames exploded on the offensive end when it counted most, outscoring their opposition in the Horizon League Championship by a 35-10 margin with a team batting average of .417 and 23 extra-base hits in three games to sweep their way to a league title and NCAA Regional bid. In 2006 the Flames led the Horizon League in team batting average, home runs, stolen bases and on-base percentage while setting school records in runs per game and hits per game. Eight UIC players hit .300 or better that season to spur a final team batting average of .325. The Flames also hit 115 doubles and 53 home runs while averaging of seven runs of offense per game.
A year earlier the Flames set a school record for runs scored in a single season (429) while batting .307 with 120 doubles to key UIC's road to an NCAA Regional berth. McDermott has also played a major role in the development of UIC's infielders and catching corps, shoring up the defensive side of the Flames[apos] game while coaching the same players to success at the plate. McDermott served as the chief recruiter for the Flames during his first nine seasons and was instrumental in bringing the top-notch recruits that have played a big part in resuscitating a program that has gone on to produce well over 300 wins, 10 Horizon League regular season titles, six Horizon League tournament crowns and six berths to the NCAA Regionals.
McDermott joined the Flames after serving three years as head baseball coach at Viterbo College in LaCrosse, Wis. During his stint with the V-Hawks, the squad set a single-season record for wins with 32 victories in 1997, and then made their first-ever appearance in the NAIA Regional Tournament in 1998. At Viterbo McDermott's teams set several school records, including runs scored, home runs, walks, hits, RBI, and doubles. In 1997 he led Viterbo to 32 victories, which is the best single-season win total in the program's history. Prior to his position at Viterbo College, McDermott served as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at Princeton University for two seasons.
Additionally, he was the head baseball coach at J. Frank White Academy and a graduate assistant coach at Lincoln Memorial University, both located in Harrogate, Tenn. McDermott began his collegiate playing career as a second baseman at Indian Hills Community College in Centerville, Iowa before transferring to Lincoln Memorial University, where he played shortstop for two seasons.
McDermott, a 1993 graduate of Lincoln Memorial, and his wife, Lois, have four sons: Jack, Joe, Thomas and Finn.
E-Mail Coach McDermott at smac@uic.edu.
Twitter Handle: smacball4
