AUBURN, Ala. – Whether a season ends in Omaha or Hoover, for Auburn baseball coach Butch Thompson, the next step is always the same.
"You keep plowing ahead," said Thompson, one week after the conclusion of his sixth season leading the Tigers' program.
After a 2-13 start to SEC play, Auburn posted a winning record in the second half of conference competition to earn a spot in the SEC Tournament in Hoover.
"Looking at that crowd, I can't think that I've ever seen a better first-day crowd for an SEC Tournament than we had that night," he said. "Our fans stayed with us. 'Our program needs us right now,' and they were there.
"That gives me hope as a head coach moving forward that if you continue to do things right, these people will be here for you."
After planning Auburn's summer calendar and meeting with players, many of whom are now playing summer baseball, Thompson outlined his mindset.
"Think forward, prepare forward and attack forward," he said.All-American: Ryan Bliss homered to lead off Auburn's final game of 2021
While noting the productive seasons of many Auburn position players including All-American Ryan Bliss, Thompson seeks improvement in Auburn's home SEC record (4-11), knowing every victory is precious in an unforgiving league.
"The Southeastern Conference is not a developmental league. It's [about] producing," he said. "There were some phases and aspects of our team that were in a developmental phase. That's the difference."
Thompson and the Tigers will spend the next six months working on development so that they more closely resemble a finished product on Opening Day next season.
"We're into production from day one," he said. "That'll be a driving force and will be communicated to myself, to our staff and down to our players. That's how good the league has gotten. The developmental aspect has got to be taken care of before the season starts."
With the Major League Baseball Draft taking place July 11-13, a month later than previously, Auburn's 2022 roster will be in flux accordingly through the summer.
The transfer portal could also play a role in Auburn's roster management.
"We're aggressive and active," Thompson said. "But we're picky. I believe in the core group of players who are returning. I think we have a group that's committed to Auburn."
After the pandemic prevented Auburn from hosting camps in 2020, Thompson and his staff will host six camps this summer, five of which are already sold out.
"It's been so long and the response has been so great, we need to do an amazing job," he said.
Under Thompson, Auburn baseball reached three consecutive regionals, advanced to back-to-back super regionals for the first in program history and made it to the College World Series for the first time in 22 years.
While Auburn did not qualify for the 2021 NCAA Tournament, Thompson takes solace in the value of the journey, and the lessons it can provide.
"I commend these players and these coaches for hanging in there," he said. "Some of these players are the reasons why the expectations are built this way.
"We've got to find a way for us to use this. For these players to remember when they go through another challenge in life, hey, I've been through this before, and I survived something like this before.
"As much as we use Omaha to know that Auburn is capable of doing anything – and believe in that, and we should. We just got a different teaching point this year. We got the teaching point of, when adversity hits, you can survive. And you can still lead your family someday.
"We might do something even greater moving forward because we went through the Omaha journey that taught us we can do anything. We go through this journey this year to let us know that we can survive anything. If we can combine those two, we might get everything we've been dreaming about."'Find a way for us to use this': Butch Thompson wants to build on the lessons learned in 2021
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer