Possible Replacement For Serrano?

[sport3500]

My question with Martin is he the head coach in waiting after his dad retires at Florida State?

 

[FGT]

My question with Martin is he the head coach in waiting after his dad retires at Florida State?

Not officially. Not sure if there is an unofficial succession plan in place either. '11' as Mike Sr. is known as, wields as much power as any college baseball coach in the country. Even though he has never won it all, the consistency of success down there is unbelievable. I think whoever takes the reigns down there is going to have a tough act to follow.

 

[vol66]

Here's a fact about FSU baseball...the current roster has 25 kids from the state of Florida currently. They have 10 kids from other places. 5 of those 10 kids are from Georgia.

Rolling out of bed in the morning you have 30 men on a 35 man roster. That's why Martin Jr. would politely listen, then decline...and the budget as of 2013 is about the same for UT and FSU.

 

[bowlinggreenvol]

Here's a fact about FSU baseball...the current roster has 25 kids from the state of Florida currently. They have 10 kids from other places. 5 of those 10 kids are from Georgia.

Rolling out of bed in the morning you have 30 men on a 35 man roster. That's why Martin Jr. would politely listen, then decline...and the budget as of 2013 is about the same for UT and FSU.

We need someone who has a niche connection to somewhere and can convince kids to come. I thought Serrano would do that with California and he has somewhat. We're either getting the leftovers or not enough, I don't really know.

Corbin has New England. McDonnell pulls the best out of Ohio and Indiana to UofL. Bianco is an Orlando native and does well in central FL. Cohen is from B'ham and pulls a lot of north AL kids to Starkville.

 

[vol66]

We need someone who has a niche connection to somewhere and can convince kids to come. I thought Serrano would do that with California and he has somewhat. We're either getting the leftovers or not enough, I don't really know.

Corbin has New England. McDonnell pulls the best out of Ohio and Indiana to UofL. Bianco is an Orlando native and does well in central FL. Cohen is from B'ham and pulls a lot of north AL kids to Starkville.

I don't disagree. I do think Simcox could help in a big way, but I don't know if he will have time.

 

[fryeguy93]

We need someone who has a niche connection to somewhere and can convince kids to come. I thought Serrano would do that with California and he has somewhat. We're either getting the leftovers or not enough, I don't really know.

Corbin has New England. McDonnell pulls the best out of Ohio and Indiana to UofL. Bianco is an Orlando native and does well in central FL. Cohen is from B'ham and pulls a lot of north AL kids to Starkville.

One of those hidden advantages Corbin has.

those NE and Upper Midwest guys are not "worn out" like some of the southern guys. They are also not "over scouted" so they are fresh and relatively safe from draft.

Of course those guys can get into Vanderbilt at nearly a full scholarship too. Something Tennessee and public schools can't normally do.

 

[indian rick]

Does our Baseball coach survive to coach another season

 

[jp1]

Does our Baseball coach survive to coach another season

My opinion only, I don't think he does. I am hoping he is retained though.

 

[sccshortstop]

My hope is that he gets one more. I do not know anything about the coach who is now at I think Dallas Baptist seams to have had a lot of success in a less than ideal situation. If we make a change I would think he would get consideration.

 

[vol66]

My hope is that he gets one more. I do not know anything about the coach who is now at I think Dallas Baptist seams to have had a lot of success in a less than ideal situation. If we make a change I would think he would get consideration.

Dan Heefner is in a pretty good spot at Dallas Baptist. He doesn't compete with football, women's basketball or even softball there. In fact, baseball is the only D1 sport in which the school competes.

Back in 2011 they could have hosted a super regional but the facilities weren't up to standards and they missed out. They ended up putting together 7 million dollars for a new facility to ensure that doesn't happen again.

Because it's a private institution we don't know what his salary is, but no doubt in the state of Texas, the budget is dwarfed by bigger state schools like Texas.

Heefner turned down Baylor in the past.

He's a good coach and he might be or might not be a good fit here, though recruiting in Texas is not quite the same as recruiting Tennessee versus Vanderbilt, talent wise.

 

[BruinVol]

Dan Heefner is in a pretty good spot at Dallas Baptist. He doesn't compete with football, women's basketball or even softball there. In fact, baseball is the only D1 sport in which the school competes.

Back in 2011 they could have hosted a super regional but the facilities weren't up to standards and they missed out. They ended up putting together 7 million dollars for a new facility to ensure that doesn't happen again.

Because it's a private institution we don't know what his salary is, but no doubt in the state of Texas, the budget is dwarfed by bigger state schools like Texas.

Heefner turned down Baylor in the past.

He's a good coach and he might be or might not be a good fit here, though recruiting in Texas is not quite the same as recruiting Tennessee versus Vanderbilt, talent wise.

He will also have a shot at the Texas job that is nearly almost certain to come open in a Few weeks


A new name to consider.

Chris Finwood at ODU.

Has been in the SEC and has been very successful

 

[ShowmeVols]

He will also have a shot at the Texas job that is nearly almost certain to come open in a Few weeks

BruinVol,
The irony of your comment is that if Serrano had succeeded here, we'd be worrying about losing him to Texas--and we'd still be having a conversation about possible replacements for him.
I'm sure you remember the rumors early in Serrano's tenure here that Tennessee would merely be a stepping stone to Texas for him.

 

[BruinVol]

BruinVol,
The irony of your comment is that if Serrano had succeeded here, we'd be worrying about losing him to Texas--and we'd still be having a conversation about possible replacements for him.
I'm sure you remember the rumors early in Serrano's tenure here that Tennessee would merely be a stepping stone to Texas for him.

I don't recall those but it would have made sense

Such a fine line between the pent house and the out house.

CDS will fall on his feet if this ends here

 

[bowlinggreenvol]

He will also have a shot at the Texas job that is nearly almost certain to come open in a Few weeks


A new name to consider.

Chris Finwood at ODU.

Has been in the SEC and has been very successful

Doubt Finwood leaves. He's from VA and followed AD Wood Selig to ODU when he left WKU. He loves working for/with him and the chance to do so at home is just icing.

Very successful? He has 7 losing seasons in 14 yrs as a head coach. His teams were average overall at WKU, outside of the 2009 run. We'd beat the piss out of Vanderbilt, UofL or UK on a Tuesday night and then 3 days later lose 2 of 3 to Arkansas-Little Rock. His teams played to the completion with the best of them.

 

[BruinVol]

Doubt Finwood leaves. He's from VA and followed AD Wood Selig to ODU when he left WKU. He loves working for/with him and the chance to do so at home is just icing.

Very successful? He has 7 losing seasons in 14 yrs as a head coach. His teams were average overall at WKU, outside of the 2009 run. We'd beat the piss out of Vanderbilt, UofL or UK on a Tuesday night and then 3 days later lose 2 of 3 to Arkansas-Little Rock. His teams played to the completion with the best of them.

I would throw out those years at VMI. I didnt even know he coached there until after seeing your post.

He did a hell of a job at WKU taking them to 2 regionals and even won well into the 30s in the years he didn't go.

He's already taken odu to a regional and has 30wins already this year with an outside shot at a 2nd regional in 3 years there. He's a dang good coach IMO.

As far as the AD and his connection I agree it's big. I still think he wound Jump at the SEC.

 

[bowlinggreenvol]

I would throw out those years at VMI. I didnt even know he coached there until after seeing your post.

He did a hell of a job at WKU taking them to 2 regionals and even won well into the 30s in the years he didn't go.

He's already taken odu to a regional and has 30wins already this year with an outside shot at a 2nd regional in 3 years there. He's a dang good coach IMO.

As far as the AD and his connection I agree it's big. I still think he wound Jump at the SEC.

He did not do a hell of a job at WKU. He went on a run in the Sun Belt tournament in 2008 and stole the leagues one bid. 2009 was a great season and that team proved they could play with almost anyone in the country, when they took Ole Miss to the Regional final in Oxford. 2008-09 had a few JUCO's that added what they lacked before and after. Without that roster he never finished never higher than 4th in the league. He's by no means a bad coach but he hasn't warranted an SEC job IMO. A lot of mid-major coaches have had way better runs than Finwood at and the SEC has spat them out. No one really came calling after back to back regional appearances at WKU and SEC experience.

 

[BruinVol]

He did not do a hell of a job at WKU. He went on a run in the Sun Belt tournament in 2008 and stole the leagues one bid. 2009 was a great season and that team proved they could play with almost anyone in the country, when they took Ole Miss to the Regional final in Oxford. 2008-09 had a few JUCO's that added what they lacked before and after. Without that roster he never finished never higher than 4th in the league. He's by no means a bad coach but he hasn't warranted an SEC job IMO. A lot of mid-major coaches have had way better runs than Finwood at and the SEC has spat them out. No one really came calling after back to back regional appearances at WKU and SEC experience.

The WKU tenure wasn't enough to warrant an sec job I agree but taking odu to a regional was impressive. If he makes one this year(longshot) then that would be a Gamechanger for his resume


It wasn't like he took over a highly successful WKU program. They weren't very good before he got there iirc

 

[bowlinggreenvol]

The WKU tenure wasn't enough to warrant an sec job I agree but taking odu to a regional was impressive. If he makes one this year(longshot) then that would be a Gamechanger for his resume


It wasn't like he took over a highly successful WKU program. They weren't very good before he got there iirc

He had been a HC for 9 years after WKU how long does one need? You look at Finwood's "resume", I watched his teams every weekend for 4 years.

 

[BruinVol]

He had been a HC for 9 years after WKU how long does one need? You look at Finwood's "resume", I watched his teams every weekend for 4 years.

I am impressed with his 9years since becoming HC

Both coaches before and after him at WKU were fired and he won in the northern most school in a pretty dang good baseball conference

Now he is doing the same at odu all the while being the northern most school with poor facilities in a hell of a baseball league

Again I don't think he is a hot name right now but if he somehow gets hot and makes another regional this year he will deserve some real consideration IMO

 

[OldTimer]

Candidly speaking, it doesn't really matter whomever's resume says "what" as long as our administration doesn't put all the necessary resources in the program...

 

[BruinVol]

Candidly speaking, it doesn't really matter whomever's resume says "what" as long as our administration doesn't put all the necessary resources in the program...

We have debate that here a lot but if that is true then hiring a coach that has done more with less is important.

I have mentioned Greg goff before. What he did at Cambell was remarkable. That place is a hole on the ground. That coupled with what he has done in just 2 years at la tech is exceptional. He's worth a look for sure IMO

 

[vol4life03]

Old timer I keep hearing hat was is actually going on with that? I mean what is hard to undersdsNd about if the baseball team is good it's just more money for the university .... If they would spend a little bit of money to get a good program going then it will be with t to go get a really good coach

 

[OldTimer]

Old timer I keep hearing hat was is actually going on with that? I mean what is hard to undersdsNd about if the baseball team is good it's just more money for the university .... If they would spend a little bit of money to get a good program going then it will be with t to go get a really good coach

DeerPark who may have more "insight" than anyone on the baseball forum posted this a while back......

I posted some of this on another forum, but I want to weigh in with it here as well.

The baseball program here isn't going to be as successful as other teams in this league until the administration decides to devote resources to support the program at the same level other schools in this league are. There are plenty more factors than just a facility. If you want to focus on one thing, that's fine, but it's not the whole story.

The fact is, other schools in this league are spending twice as much (or more) on baseball than Tennessee is and our staff is being asked to be competitive with them anyway.

What areas are they outspending us? Travel, for one. Most teams in the league are using charter flights for trips longer than 3 hours. Ours busses virtually everywhere. They can't fly commercial out of Knoxville because of the size of the travel party. So where other teams are spending an hour on a flight, our team is on a bus for 6 hours. They're actually getting to fly to Missouri this weekend, but only because two sleeper busses couldn't be secured like the last time they went there.

Another area is that UT has decided not to spend the money it costs (about $5-6000 per game) to produce every baseball and softball game for an SEC Network+ stream, instead choosing to devote resources to do a better production for a smaller number of games. UT is one of the only schools choosing to do it this way. Most schools are streaming all of their baseball and softball games.

Our stadium and stadium situation hurt our fan support as much as anything on the field. UT makes it very difficult for a fan to come to a game. There is virtually no parking (although the new garage on the old Stokely site will help some), and once fans get to the gates, they find a stadium with terrible concessions and no atmosphere. You can blame marketing or whatever, but the biggest problem is that fans are used to coming to first-class facilities to watch UT games. They get that at Neyland, Thompson-Boling, Regal Soccer Stadium and Lee Softball Stadium, but they get the exact opposite at LNS. On the days we do draw a decent crowd, the amenities like restrooms and concessions are completely overwhelmed. Not solely because of mismanagement, but because the facilities lack the ability to serve that many people in a timely fashion.

There are a half-dozen other examples I can cite, but those are a couple of the big ones. None of these issues are the single reason UT baseball is not succeeding, but as part of the full picture, it's tough to compete.

The bottom line is this. If you want to blame Dave Serrano for the team underperforming, that's fine, that's your right. There are certainly numbers that support that position and I won't dispute that at all. But if you think that just hiring a new coach is going to change everything, then you're wrong. You're free to disagree with that, but it's the truth.

The best we can hope for out of the program with the current level of investment is middle of the pack. True, we're not currently achieving even that. But this is a deeper problem than just getting rid of a coach with a proven track record.

Rod Delmonico was an abrasive jerk, but he was an above-average coach that was able to be successful until other programs started investing in baseball like UT was doing in the 90s. As other programs rose, ours fell because we didn't match the new investments. We fell further behind and dumped Rod. Hired Todd Raleigh on the cheap and let the program fall even more while spending even less on it. They promised Serrano additional investments to get him to come here and he made less in his first few years here than he was making at Fullerton to help make those investments a reality. They never came and now we are where we are.

You can label all of this as "excuses" if you want, but they're the realities that Serrano is working with. They are the same realities that the next coach will deal with, whether that's next year or in five years.

 

[bowlinggreenvol]

I am impressed with his 9years since becoming HC

Both coaches before and after him at WKU were fired and he won in the northern most school in a pretty dang good baseball conference

Now he is doing the same at odu all the while being the northern most school with poor facilities in a hell of a baseball league

Again I don't think he is a hot name right now but if he somehow gets hot and makes another regional this year he will deserve some real consideration IMO

He won when WKU was in the Sun Belt. No Rice, no USM, no ODU, no La Tech. All schools ahead of WKU now that they're in CUSA.

ODU may have "crap facilities", I don't know their facilities, but they have more money than WKU. At least 4 years ago they did. They doubled the AD's salary and gave Finwood a nice raise.

Finwood's career is no better than Raleigh's pre-UT. No better than John Pawlowski's pre-Auburn. If you a hire a mid-major coach, you want one who's consistently won. Finwood has 1 conference championship in 14 years.

 

[BruinVol]

He won when WKU was in the Sun Belt. No Rice, no USM, no ODU, no La Tech. All schools ahead of WKU now that they're in CUSA.

ODU may have "crap facilities", I don't know their facilities, but they have more money than WKU. At least 4 years ago they did. They doubled the AD's salary and gave Finwood a nice raise.

Finwood's career is no better than Raleigh's pre-UT. No better than John Pawlowski's pre-Auburn. If you a hire a mid-major coach, you want one who's consistently won. Finwood has 1 conference championship in 14 years.

WKU was the northern most School in the sunbelt, a good baseball league, and did very well. Much much harder to win at WKU than FAU/FIU/Troy/south al....ect


Odu, the northern most school in cusa, is far far far harder to win than rice/southern miss and others in that league that is a hell of a baseball league.

I will have to look up CTR resume
But I the sunbelt/cusa experience is way ahead of the southern conference IMO.

Pawloski was a big name when he got the auburn job