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2023 Texas Baseball


Fletch

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1 minute ago, HenryJames said:

Maybe Skip Johnson will come back.

He wasn’t good his last few years here or his first 5 at OU. Kuddos to him for this season but his shine has worn off overall considerably in the industry heading into this year.

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21 minutes ago, Spaceman_Spiff said:


Disappointing still. We’re not exactly overflowing with potential bullpen arms next year, but may its for the best.

We got plenty of arms on campus, another great recruiting class and Pierce is nails with transfers. The pitching coach hire is pretty fucking huge. Find a Skip type and we’re set.

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16 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

He wasn’t good his last few years here or his first 5 at OU. Kuddos to him for this season but his shine has worn off overall considerably in the industry heading into this year.

It was probably all falling apart a bit the last few Augie years and being a head coach when all you have basically been is a pitching coach is a learning process.  Maybe this is a blip for Skip(and I really hope it is) but I know the guy is a damn good pitching coach.

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43 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Yes, I believe Childress is the best choice. 

aggy had good pitching under Childress and he was a good pitching coach at Nebraska. Plus, he has experience recruiting the state. No idea if Childress would actually be interested but he's a name that makes a lot of sense. 

 

I'd probably go after Anderson first even though he is 63 but Childress would be right behind him and is likely more gettable at 53, from Texas, and out of a job.  the guy is a proven pitching coach.

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5 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

It was probably all falling apart a bit the last few Augie years and being a head coach when all you have basically been is a pitching coach is a learning process.  Maybe this is a blip for Skip(and I really hope it is) but I know the guy is a damn good pitching coach.

Skip basically was the head coach during Augie’s last few years. Made a lot of decisions in the program. I heard stories about Augie not even knowing players names his last few years. Might have been why the admin and people around the program were hesitant to hand him over the reigns because he played a pretty big role in how bad 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016 were.

He is definitely a great pitching mind. But the game has evolved a lot over the last decade and Skip was pretty behind on the times his last few years here when it came to embracing analytics and that sort of stuff. He was super old school Maybe he’s caught up and that’s helped cause the big turnaround at OU.

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How were Childress’ last few pitching staffs at A&M? Was it the hitting that let them down?

He had some questionable recruiting takes his last few years on the mound that really bit him. Dudes who shouldn’t have been offered by P5 programs. But I know overall he is considered a really good pitching mind.

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Just now, Hookem2147 said:

Skip basically was the head coach during Augie’s last few years. Made a lot of decisions in the program. I heard stories about Augie not even knowing players names his last few years. Might have been why the admin and people around the program were hesitant to hand him over the reigns because he played a pretty big role in how bad 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016 were.

He is definitely a great pitching mind. But the game has evolved a lot over the last decade and Skip was pretty behind on the times his last few years here when it came to embracing analytics and that sort of stuff. He was super old school Maybe he’s caught up and that’s helped cause the big turnaround at OU.

well if the admin fucked around and watched Augie shit the bed(assuming he was that out of it) as early as 2012 then said Skip can't be head coach because he failed at being head coach while not being head coach, I'm not gonna blame Skip for that.  That is just completely dysfunctional.  sounds like he took one for the team because no one wanted to fire Augie right after Brown and Barnes.  Par for the course for our fucking AthDept for about 8 years. 

Nobody really talked analytics in 2012/2013 in pitching that much then.

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3 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

well if the admin fucked around and watched Augie shit the bed(assuming he was that out of it) as early as 2012 then said Skip can't be head coach because he failed at being head coach while not being head coach, I'm not gonna blame Skip for that.  That is just completely dysfunctional.  sounds like he took one for the team because no one wanted to fire Augie right after Brown and Barnes.  Par for the course for our fucking AthDept for about 8 years. 

Nobody really talked analytics in 2012/2013 in pitching that much then.

Augie got way longer a leash that he should have.  Obviously there was the infamous story about the coaches all saying goodbye to each other before the 2015 Big 12 tournament in anticipation of getting fired  and we somehow won the tournament to make the postseason and save all their jobs. But it’s in the past now. 

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8 hours ago, Cajun said:

Ivan was far from a “sure MLB superstar” last year.  He’s still not that.  Neither is anybody else in college baseball.

Yea I agree I wasn’t necessarily saying that he was or is. I was asking more towards the comment that most kids that go the college route are “flawed talent” and when the last time a sure fire if there is such a thing actually went to college. 

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Lulz at y'all referring to Woody Williams and his 132 mlb wins as "the San Jac guy."  Not that we should necessarily hire him or anything.

I was hoping Nixon would stay and see if the new pitching coach could help him get back on track.

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6 minutes ago, WBT said:

Lulz at y'all referring to Woody Williams and his 132 mlb wins as "the San Jac guy."  Not that we should necessarily hire him or anything.

I was hoping Nixon would stay and see if the new pitching coach could help him get back on track.

For sure but main point being Williams has never coached at this level.

Nobody is diminishing his success as a player but that doesn’t always translate into being a great coach. From a coaching point of view, he is a “San Jac guy.”

Hopefully, Texas is hiring a pitching coach with more skins on the wall. 

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How were Childress’ last few pitching staffs at A&M? Was it the hitting that let them down?
He had some questionable recruiting takes his last few years on the mound that really bit him. Dudes who shouldn’t have been offered by P5 programs. But I know overall he is considered a really good pitching mind.

Interesting that he’s a name thrown around. He couldn’t even get his team to Omaha. Lost at home quite a few times it seems. We got rid of a guy who helped us get there in less time with probably less talent on the mound.

I don’t know the dynamics of our staff decisions both on who to take recruiting-wise or in-game decisions. I’ve been critical of the latter. I will say that our lineup is treated similarly to the staff in that there’s limited opportunities if you don’t start off in the circle of trust. That’s not an Allen thing. That’s gotta be Pierce.
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Just now, Had Enough said:


Interesting that he’s a name thrown around. He couldn’t even get his team to Omaha. Lost at home quite a few times it seems. We got rid of a guy who helped us get there in less time with probably less talent on the mound.

I don’t know the dynamics of our staff decisions both on who to take recruiting-wise or in-game decisions. I’ve been critical of the latter. I will say that our lineup is treated similarly to the staff in that there’s limited opportunities if you don’t start off in the circle of trust. That’s not an Allen thing. That’s gotta be Pierce.

That’s because aggy couldn’t hit. Nobody wants Childress as the head coach. 

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4 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

I will say that our lineup is treated similarly to the staff in that there’s limited opportunities if you don’t start off in the circle of trust. That’s not an Allen thing. That’s gotta be Pierce.

That’s just a college baseball thing in general. Pretty much every team has a bench that consists of a backup catcher, middle infielder, corner infielder and a 4th OF. I would say pretty much every college program only has 12-13 hitters they trust when they begin the season. Campbell, O’Dowd, Whitehead and Kash were pretty much our bench guys (then Campbell worked his way into the everyday lineup).

Don’t think that’s abnormal.

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6 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

For all y’all that think we can’t hire a coach from San Jac, which is one of the preeminent programs in all junior college baseball, where exactly do y’all think Skip came from?

Skip was the head coach at Navarro. At the time Skip was hired as the pitching coach it was considered a big hire because people thought he might get a head coaching opportunity at a smaller D1 school. 

You're comparing apples to oranges.

Also, track the success of any JUCO assistant that went to a D1 program and I would bet there's many more failures than successes. At least in comparison with coaches that already have a track record of success at that level. 

 

 

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5 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Skip was the head coach at Navarro. At the time Skip was hired as the pitching coach it was considered a big hire because people thought he might get a head coaching opportunity at a smaller D1 school. 

You're comparing apples to oranges.

Also, track the success of any JUCO assistant that went to a D1 program and I would bet there's many more failures than successes. At least in comparison with coaches that already have a track record of success at that level. 

 

 

I’m not comparing apples to oranges. He is a former MLB pitcher and an assistant at an elite baseball program. I’m not saying he’s the guy but to dismiss someone simply because he’s from JUCO is dumb. Especially when it’s a juco of that quality. Shit what was Gus doing before he got the gig here…?

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Just now, hobbes2702 said:

I’m not comparing apples to oranges. He is a former MLB pitcher and an assistant at an elite baseball program. I’m not saying he’s the guy but to dismiss someone simply because he’s from JUCO is dumb. Especially when it’s a juco of that quality

It’s dumb in the context of firing the D1 baseball assistant of the year from last season that finished 1st and 26th in team ERA the last 2 seasons. 

Rolling the dice on somebody with no experience as an assistant at this level makes no sense after firing Allen. If you’re firing a coach like Allen it’s to swing for a big name with proven success. Not for a “this assistant might be good” because of one success story from the JUCO ranks. 

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4 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

It’s dumb in the context of firing the D1 baseball assistant of the year from last season that finished 1st and 26th in team ERA the last 2 seasons. 

Rolling the dice on somebody with no experience as an assistant at this level makes no sense after firing Allen. If you’re firing a coach like Allen it’s to swing for a big name with proven success. Not for a “this assistant might be good” because of one success story from the JUCO ranks. 

We need a pitching coach. Allen might well be a fine coach but he is not a pitching coach. It’s not about success stories. It’s just the nature of baseball that great coaches aren’t necessarily the names you think. 
This program has proven many many times that baseball minds aren’t always the big splash 

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How many known pitching coaches are going to come here knowing that Pierce is always going to fuck with the room, it's what he does. He'll never leave that room alone, he believes he is a great pitching coach. I heard we are opening up the wallet for this hire. If he can't get a known zen master, I don't see any other explanation than his reputation as someone who will not only manage, but meddle. 

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3 minutes ago, Goodman said:

How many known pitching coaches are going to come here knowing that Pierce is always going to fuck with the room, it's what he does. He'll never leave that room alone, he believes he is a great pitching coach. I heard we are opening up the wallet for this hire. If he can't get a known zen master, I don't see any other explanation than his reputation as someone who will not only manage, but meddle. 

Is this bad? Pierce had a great reputation as a pitching coach at Rice. 

Almost every coach meddles in whichever room they think that’s their strength. Open the wallet and a big hire will happen. 

 

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13 minutes ago, Sir Ulrich said:

If they let Allen go the day after the season ended in Omaha then they're already zeroed in on at least a couple of great hires and it's just a matter of double checkout before making the move.

Yea I’ve said this. . You ain’t firing Allen right after the season unless you already have someone in mind 

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12 minutes ago, Sir Ulrich said:

If they let Allen go the day after the season ended in Omaha then they're already zeroed in on at least a couple of great hires and it's just a matter of double checkout before making the move.

This is my general thought. Texas wouldn’t have fired Allen so quickly unless they had a couple big names they were in play for. 

Kendall Rogers said something similar in one of those D1 baseball chats. He didn’t agree with Texas firing Allen but said he thought it was going to be a big hire because it’s the only thing that make sense with this entire ordeal. 

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9 minutes ago, Goodman said:

How many known pitching coaches are going to come here knowing that Pierce is always going to fuck with the room, it's what he does. He'll never leave that room alone, he believes he is a great pitching coach. I heard we are opening up the wallet for this hire. If he can't get a known zen master, I don't see any other explanation than his reputation as someone who will not only manage, but meddle. 

Pretty much all he's done is rack up top 25 ERA squads in the last 20 years so it's definitely deserved.

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Ok, Pierce makes his pitching coach hire and Tulo does move on...Tulo is a big loss, he has a way to communicate and our guys seem to have a good approach at the plate. 

Who do we want as our hitting coach?

I'd love it if Pierce could focus and own fixing our base running, outfield communication on balls in the gap & coaching 3rd base.

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1 minute ago, Goodman said:

Ok, Pierce makes his pitching coach hire and Tulo does move on...Tulo is a big loss, he has a way to communicate and our guys seem to have a good approach at the plate. 

Who do we want as our hitting coach?

I'd love it if Pierce could focus and own fixing our base running, outfield communication on balls in the gap & coaching 3rd base.

Miller has a good reputation with the hitters. Does some solid work behind the scene and honestly doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He and Tulo worked together on game plans, scouting reports, etc.

If Tulo leaves it might be smart to get an all-around guy in the volunteer spot. Someone who can assist in hitting and pitching a little (former head coach, high school head coach (ya boy Alaniz @Fletch, etc).

Just a thought.

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4 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Miller has a good reputation with the hitters. Does some solid work behind the scene and honestly doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He and Tulo worked together on game plans, scouting reports, etc.

If Tulo leaves it might be smart to get an all-around guy in the volunteer spot. Someone who can assist in hitting and pitching a little (former head coach, high school head coach (ya boy Alaniz @Fletch, etc).

Just a thought.

That's one option. Curious to see this play out.

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1 hour ago, Goodman said:

Ok, Pierce makes his pitching coach hire and Tulo does move on...Tulo is a big loss, he has a way to communicate and our guys seem to have a good approach at the plate. 

Who do we want as our hitting coach?

I'd love it if Pierce could focus and own fixing our base running, outfield communication on balls in the gap & coaching 3rd base.

 

1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

Miller has a good reputation with the hitters. Does some solid work behind the scene and honestly doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He and Tulo worked together on game plans, scouting reports, etc.

If Tulo leaves it might be smart to get an all-around guy in the volunteer spot. Someone who can assist in hitting and pitching a little (former head coach, high school head coach (ya boy Alaniz @Fletch, etc).

Just a thought.

Our boy lobo before last season started said David Freese has been spending time around the program and expect to hear something about him before the 2023 season. No idea if that still holds true. 
 

I do know a bunch of the studs from the Gus and Augie days have been spending more time around the program and like us, aren’t pleased with our pitching performance. Especially considering pitching and defense has been our identity since the Korean War

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