Official Tennessee at Kentucky Game 1 Thread - 7 PM - SECN/ESPN3

#176
#176
vol66 said:
These are some thoughts on the coaching staff regarding the question posed earlier about chemistry.

First, a little history. When CDS was hired he brought Coach Bergeron with him from Fullerton and he brought in Coach Mo. Coach Mo was managing a minor league team, but he was an assistant at UT when CDS was back in the day.

This is speculation. I think CDS thought he was gonna get the band back together and everything would be fine. Coach Mo is a very good hitting instructor and he's currently doing that at TCU, but I'm not sure he was Recruiting Coordinator material. I'm also not sure he was a fit offensively with what Bergeron likes to do. I think they underestimated how strong the SEC is and I think they were basing some of their decisions on their previous stint at UT as assistants. I think CDS has basically admitted as much, just the other day he said it took a year for him to realize that going .500 in the SEC is actually doing well.

If one goes back and looks at the misses we had in those first two years, I think it bears what I said above out. Coach Mo left, seemed like a mutual thing, I don't know the whole story maybe Deer Park, Frye or Showme do.

Anyway, Coach Aric Thomas comes in and assumes the Recruiting Co. duties and I think he's the reason we've seen an uptick in the recruiting. That said, while we are getting better players I'm not sure they fit "the system" offensively. I watched a lot of CSF games when they were in the tourney and we are recruiting bigger players, in fact even the pitching profile has changed, we're getting bigger there too.
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Thanks for the insight.
 
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#178
#178
Zetter said:
I'm officially off the Serano band wagon and have pitch fork in hand.
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I'm not there yet.......still have time. I still think we get to Hoover and with our starting pitching we have a chance. If our bats ever wake up and defense plays more consistent we can make a run.
 
#179
#179
OldTimer said:
I'm not there yet.......still have time. I still think we get to Hoover and with our starting pitching we have a chance. If our bats ever wake up and defense plays more consistent we can make a run.
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I love the idea but recent history says otherwise.
 
#182
#182
even though it would still have been a loss, it'd have been nice to see the vols plate a run or two.
 
#185
#185
vol66 said:
What questions do you have, not that I know the answers, but it's a broad topic.
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Have you gotten any feedback or read anything about the atmosphere in the clubhouse? I ask because I question if this is poor coaching or being a poor evaluator of talent in light of Serrano's history of success? I wonder if these kids aren't buying what the staff is selling? Are there internal issues? I'm still just shocked that after 3.5 years our talent is supposedly this lacking and this staff can't coach and succeed anywhere but the left coast. Something just isn't adding up in my aging mind.
 
#186
#186
CAVPUT said:
Have you gotten any feedback or read anything about the atmosphere in the clubhouse? I ask because I question if this is poor coaching or being a poor evaluator of talent in light of Serrano's history of success? I wonder if these kids aren't buying what the staff is selling? Are there internal issues? I'm still just shocked that after 3.5 years our talent is supposedly this lacking and this staff can't coach and succeed anywhere but the left coast. Something just isn't adding up in my aging mind.
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Sure. CDS has said some things over the course of the year that hint at issues. In the beginning when asked about leadership he said something along the lines that he hoped it would come along, that the team was so tight knit that he wondered if someone would step up. Obviously, if you think about who the natural leaders would be, you're talking about AJ, Stew, Senzel, VJax, maybe Cox. I don't really know any of them outside of meeting 3 out of the 5 after a Sunday game...but they don't seem particularly outspoken, I could be totally wrong.

Several weeks back he said "we've had some issues" some players not doing the little things right on and off the field, he didn't elaborate, but I took it to mean more behind the scenes than on the field.

I've also wondered, pure speculation, if several of the underclassmen as well as some of the older players who aren't getting to play might be a bit disgruntled. Before I continue here, a little disclaimer...some will call this an excuse, which is fine by me...

We lost 8 or 9 games due to weather. Those games all happened at the beginning of the season. That is the time in the season when many of these young guys would have had an opportunity. Take Eric Freeman, he's a RS freshman, he's been here two years and in 1 in a half seasons he hasn't thrown a pitch in a game. The Vanderford kid is a RS So. I think he might have pitched in a midweek game last year, his bio has no stats which would indicate I'm wrong on that, he hasn't pitched at all...Westphal and Zach Warren also missed opportunities early in the season as well...It also was an opportunity to shuffle guys around for instance, we started the season with Hall and Lance in the 1 and 2 spot, had we just gotten the 4 game Rutgers series in, that would have shaken itself out before the UCI series.

But more to the point take 3B, Moberg, Rodgers and Langhorne are sitting on the bench while a juco kid, Pruett has won the job, but that didn't happen until the half way point in the season. This suggests CDS didn't know what he had and part of the reason is those lost games.

Then factor in how all these guys feel about not getting to play when the guys that are playing are doing so poorly. There are bound to be issues.

Now stay with me here...once you get into the heart of the schedule practice becomes a routine, it's hard to make change because you are WAY past the time to evaluate, but to CDS' credit he has tried to make changes, Pruett is a good example. Lee is another, but why that took so long kind of baffles me, especially after the summer he had in the Cape. I think he has tried to rein in the base running, though he's not in charge of it, we are sitting at 8th in the league (SEC ONLY STATS) in steal attempts, and the last few years we've been at the top.

The one area that confuses me is the fielding. The past teams have been solid defensively as were his teams at CSF and UCI. I think, and I've said this a number of times this season, there seems to be a lack of communication and a lack of focus. Three examples from last nights game...A line drive to LF and Stew makes a good charge on the ball, if he scoops the ball, he has a chance to get the runner, but the ball gets under his glove. A ball into RF and the throw is cut off by Lee when he should have let it go. The throw away by AJ, I think that should have been Senzel, but either way, they were late getting there and the pitcher has to double clutch the ball and now AJ has to hurry the throw. That kind of stuff has been going on all season and you know that's not coaching, that's routine stuff in my opinion. Why the players aren't locked in more or are not communicating has puzzled me this season.
 
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#189
#189
vol66 said:
Sure. CDS has said some things over the course of the year that hint at issues. In the beginning when asked about leadership he said something along the lines that he hoped it would come along, that the team was so tight knit that he wondered if someone would step up. Obviously, if you think about who the natural leaders would be, you're talking about AJ, Stew, Senzel, VJax, maybe Cox. I don't really know any of them outside of meeting 3 out of the 5 after a Sunday game...but they don't seem particularly outspoken, I could be totally wrong.

Several weeks back he said "we've had some issues" some players not doing the little things right on and off the field, he didn't elaborate, but I took it to mean more behind the scenes than on the field.

I've also wondered, pure speculation, if several of the underclassmen as well as some of the older players who aren't getting to play might be a bit disgruntled. Before I continue here, a little disclaimer...some will call this an excuse, which is fine by me...

We lost 8 or 9 games due to weather. Those games all happened at the beginning of the season. That is the time in the season when many of these young guys would have had an opportunity. Take Eric Freeman, he's a RS freshman, he's been here two years and in 1 in a half seasons he hasn't thrown a pitch in a game. The Vanderford kid is a RS So. I think he might have pitched in a midweek game last year, his bio has no stats which would indicate I'm wrong on that, he hasn't pitched at all...Westphal and Zach Warren also missed opportunities early in the season as well...It also was an opportunity to shuffle guys around for instance, we started the season with Hall and Lance in the 1 and 2 spot, had we just gotten the 4 game Rutgers series in, that would have shaken itself out before the UCI series.

But more to the point take 3B, Moberg, Rodgers and Langhorne are sitting on the bench while a juco kid, Pruett has won the job, but that didn't happen until the half way point in the season. This suggests CDS didn't know what he had and part of the reason is those lost games.

Then factor in how all these guys feel about not getting to play when the guys that are playing are doing so poorly. There are bound to be issues.

Now stay with me here...once you get into the heart of the schedule practice becomes a routine, it's hard to make change because you are WAY past the time to evaluate, but to CDS' credit he has tried to make changes, Pruett is a good example. Lee is another, but why that took so long kind of baffles me, especially after the summer he had in the Cape. I think he has tried to rein in the base running, though he's not in charge of it, we are sitting at 8th in the league (SEC ONLY STATS) in steal attempts, and the last few years we've been at the top.

The one area that confuses me is the fielding. The past teams have been solid defensively as were his teams at CSF and UCI. I think, and I've said this a number of times this season, there seems to be a lack of communication and a lack of focus. Three examples from last nights game...A line drive to LF and Stew makes a good charge on the ball, if he scoops the ball, he has a chance to get the runner, but the ball gets under his glove. A ball into RF and the throw is cut off by Lee when he should have let it go. The throw away by AJ, I think that should have been Senzel, but either way, they were late getting there and the pitcher has to double clutch the ball and now AJ has to hurry the throw. That kind of stuff has been going on all season and you know that's not coaching, that's routine stuff in my opinion. Why the players aren't locked in more or are not communicating has puzzled me this season.
Click to expand...

Thanks 66.
 
#190
#190
Vanderford apparently had a back surgery in March, so that explains why he hasn't pitched this year.
 
#191
#191
vol66 said:
...Several weeks back he said "we've had some issues" some players not doing the little things right on and off the field, he didn't elaborate, but I took it to mean more behind the scenes than on the field....

...I've also wondered, pure speculation, if several of the underclassmen as well as some of the older players who aren't getting to play might be a bit disgruntled...

...Then factor in how all these guys feel about not getting to play when the guys that are playing are doing so poorly. There are bound to be issues...
Click to expand...

May have hit on something right there.

Add the additional pressure when someone does get their chance and then all hell falls apart.
 
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