The American Baseball Coaches Association has a long tradition of recognizing the achievements of baseball coaches and student-athletes. The ABCA/Rawlings All-America Teams are the nation's oldest, founded in 1949, and the ABCA's awards program also includes the ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Awards, the ABCA/Diamond Regional & National Coaches of the Year and several other major awards such as the ABCA Hall of Fame and the Dave Keilitz Ethics in Coaching Award.

In order to earn the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award, programs must be coached by ABCA members that posted a GPA over 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the entire academic year.  2015-16 was the inaugural year for the award.