OXFORD | Mike Bianco, throughout the College World Series, returned to the Hilton Garden Inn after games and hurriedly signed autographs and took pictures with fans before eating a sandwich and preparing for the next opponent.

There was a routine to it, as he wanted to acknowledge supporters waiting for him and the team while also being aware of the clock that was ticking toward what was next.

But on Sunday night, after beating Oklahoma 4-2 to complete the championship sweep and win the national title, Bianco got back to the hotel and told himself to bask in the scene, slow down and take it all in.

“There was finally no game tomorrow,” Bianco said. “I stayed around and signed anything people wanted and took every picture possible. It was time to just enjoy it.”

When he got to his room, his wife, Camie, had picked up Firehouse subs and a couple bottles of La Crema pinot noir. Bianco is a bit of a wine connoisseur, so a $20 bottle of red after a national championship is humorous, but he’ll remember that meal forever.

It’s one of the few things he remembers sharply about that day when recalling it on Wednesday. There’s a certain fog to the scene on the field after the game and in the days since that he called the busiest 48 hours of his life.

Emotions are high and overflowing, but it’s almost too much, too big, an overload, the culmination of 25 years as a Division I head coach and accomplishing the biggest occupational goal.

There was an impressive throng of fans at the Tupelo airport when the team landed from Omaha, and there were thousands in the Grove for the Rebels walk of champions through the Grove. Bianco had questioned whether enough fans could get back to Omaha by Monday for the Grove welcome, but it was a monumental collection of people just like everything else.

That Monday return was an opening act to Wednesday, when the Rebels paraded through downtown Oxford and finished the night at Swayze Field in front of approximately 10,000 fans. The grandstand was full like a Saturday SEC game, and left field overflowed similarly to postseason baseball.

Team introductions were welcomed by thunderous roars, including crescendos for Tim Elko and then when Bianco emerged from the dugout holding the championship trophy over his head. It’s the pivotal image of the day for me, a man 30 days removed from his tenure being in extreme peril to now displaying his pelt in front of supporters.

"The first night for me at least, it's so surreal," Bianco said. "It almost is like a dream. It's almost foggy to think back of that. I don't know if it's just the emotional rush, the exhaustion, the bigness. I don't know. You remember it, but I'm probably going to remember this a lot clearer."

Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter jokingly had Elko display two potential poses for a statue before telling the team captain, “We’re going to make it happen, my man.”

The team took a victory lap, and people spoke — chancellor Glenn Boyce, Governor Tate Reeves, mayor Robyn Tannehill, Carter, Bianco and several players including Elko at the end, who finished his final time at Swayze Field by starting a Hotty Toddy.

It was hot, and the speeches were a little long — Bianco admitted he went over his allotted time because he didn’t look at his notes but instead talked with heart and emotion — but it wasn’t about the words or the schedule of events.

Wednesday was about a celebration and a cleansing. Everyone together — fans, players, coaches and all supporters — sharing the moment that has been a long time coming and closing the book on this special team that played championship baseball on the road after weeks of basically elimination games in the regular season.

Ole Miss baseball healed a fanbase these past weeks, pulverizing the WAOM moniker into dust and allowing the Rebels to win the party because they won the game, because they won the whole damn thing. The scene at Swayze, just like the scene with 20,000 in Omaha, celebrated the connection fans feel to this program — and by extension to all sports at Ole Miss.

Louisville coach and former Ole Miss assistant Dan McDonnell told me years ago that Bianco’s advice to him when he left for Louisville was to hang a tie on the back of his office door and say yes to every speaking engagement and to every fan interaction.

Bianco sold then-Ole Miss athletics director John Shafer on a program plan back in 2000 as much as a team plan, and that included ways to connect with the fan base. And not just surface level but to actually connect with the fans and the community.

And Bianco has done that as well as anything he’s accomplished in the two decades since. Fans feel like they know the players, because they do, and they greet them each week on the field after series.

Any angst toward Bianco wasn’t because he’s unlikable or a bad representative of the university. It’s because fans wanted the ultimate success so badly, knew it was possible and hurt along with the players and staff when seasons fell short of Omaha. It was emotional and it mattered. Bianco built that level of care.

Families shared tears and unforgettable moments wherever they could experience things together this past week. Thousands invaded middle America to witness it, celebrate it and be in it with people who had the same feelings. That was why people were in the Grove, and that’s why Swayze overflowed on Wednesday.

Bianco had to get on a flight to Cary, North Carolina, following the ceremony. He starts his Team USA assignment as manager today, and he took Jacob Gonzalez, Hunter Elliott and Mason Nichols with him. He was running late because he didn’t want to rush off as soon as the schedule of events ended.

He wanted to soak it all up, see it clearly and remember it.

"It's just been overwhelming in a good way, and very touching, to see how much it meant to (to everyone)," Bianco said.

Wednesday was a party. A rebirth, really.

Ole Miss isn’t any longer a program of what-if or a team that should have but didn’t. The Rebels are national champions led by a championship coach and supported by a fanbase that cares and shows up and deserved the past two weeks.

That was the celebration Wednesday. And just like everything else lately, Ole Miss did it big and beautifully.