In the 32 years Baum has been head coach at MSU, his team has never been in the position it is now. And it’s only fitting the regular season title would come in his last chance at it.

Since the very beginning of the season when the players found out it was going to be Baum’s last year, they made it their personal goal to work harder than ever before to make sure it was a year like no other.

And that’s exactly the way it turned out.

The Spartans were able to check off their first goal of the season on Sunday after a 1-0 win over No. 6 Northwestern.

But it wasn’t an easy road to the regular season championship. The squad started out the year 2-4 and it appeared it was going to be a tough season for Baum to go out on.

However, the team rallied behind the strong core of seniors who weren’t ready to send Baum out on a bad note. The Spartans rallied and lost only once in the final 11 games of the regular season.

At this point, no matter what happens in the Big Ten Tournament and the ensuing NCAA Tournament, Baum has shown why he is such a great coach and why he has been able to stand the test of time.

He found a way to get this year’s team reorganized after the rough start and he led them through the trenches — where the Spartans defeated three of four ranked opponents down the stretch.

Despite MSU’s slow start, Baum wasn’t worried.

His ability to keep a level head allows his players to relax and never think they are down and out of any situation.

Baum is known for this calm demeanor and that’s the reason many recruits decide to come play at MSU. He can never be found screaming in a player’s face or hollering at the referee.

All he has to do is give that look and it’s clear what he’s thinking. Those eyes have been watching and playing soccer for more than a half century and there’s no doubt he knows what he’s talking about.

Baum’s commitment to MSU stretches back to 1966, when he played goalkeeper for the Spartans and led the team to two straight national championships.

After his soccer days were done, he knew he wanted to make his way back to MSU and give something back to the soccer program he cared so much about. And Baum has just kept on giving back for the past 32 years.

He led the Spartans to 22 winning seasons during his tenure and owns an overall record of 317-228-53.

His impact on all of his former players was evident Sunday when a slew of alumni came back to celebrate Baum’s final stand as head coach.

Many of Baum’s former players have gone on to pursue careers around the game of soccer — much to his credit.

“Immediately following my senior year, he was always supportive of my efforts to play professionally and then in my professional working career I’ve often drawn on the principles Joe has taught all of his former players,” said Tom King, who played for Baum in 1981 and 1982 and now serves as the managing director of administration for U.S. Soccer.

Baum’s face — with his trademark straggly gray beard — has become the face of not just the MSU men’s soccer program, but the Big Ten conference as well. His commitment to staying at MSU instead of moving on to a bigger soccer school shows his love and devotion for this community and this university.

Baum isn’t ready to completely hang up the whistle just yet. Instead of leaving the program completely, he has decided to stay on staff and serve as a volunteer assistant coach — much to the delight of Damon Rensing, who will step in as head coach after serving under Baum for 10 years.

Baum has done so much to positively affect MSU. It’s only fitting that his last season will be one full of new special memories.