If we fire Lemonis
- Thread starter travis.sixpack
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No, because they still think Dan McDonnell and Louisville would walk on his knees over broken glass to come to Oxford and they know he won't come here because 1: He already told us 'No' once. 2: We would have just ****-canned his best friend.
That makes sense. Do y’all think it will be tough to hire a top-flight coach after firing Lemonis 2 years removed from a NC? Do we have pull an LSU-Brian Kelly and throw more money at someone?
This is a ridiculous thing to worry about. It will be a very attractive job for any coach. No one will say, you know that would be a good job, but they just fired a coach after 2 last place finishes, so I’ll pass. And even if one did, would you want a coach who is afraid of reasonably high expectations?
Three million to Vitello and a million in incentives. Plus enough NIL money players will be better off financially than minor league draftees. That is what it's going to take to get back to Omaha and win. So let's adjust and do it.
It's a great idea, but us getting a coach from any one of the big blue-blood teams in the SEC is a dream. Nice dream, but a dream.
Us paying $3 million is an even more elaborate fairy tale of a dream as well….along with the notion that we have to do that to get back to Omaha.
There are plenty of top flight coaches who would come, but not many are household names to most around here. Hell, most people still can’t get past the same names we had during the last search (McDonnell, Godwin, etc.).
Realistic names of candidates in no particular order:
Justin Haire - Campbell - taken the Camels to 4 straight regionals and won the conference title 4 straight years. 7 years total at Campbell and appears to have built a very stable program. Only 42 years old….plenty of upside here. This is the guy all the Lane Burroughs supporters wish he was.
Tom Walter - Wake Forest. Taken 3 different programs to the regionals….record at Wake isn’t great but they are a doormat program. Possible national seed team this year. 13 years at Wake so may not be interested in leaving.
Lane Burroughs - La Tech. Obviously from Cohen tree. 2 regionals in 8 full years as HC were the past 2 seasons. Currently under .500….probably doesn’t get much of a look based on current trend unless a lot of guys told us no.
Dan Heefner - Dallas Baptist. 10 regionals and 2 Supers at DBU….including 8 straight postseason appearances. Still pretty young guy in mid-40’s. Excellent resume overall and probably my favorite realistic candidate. 15 years at DBU so again maybe a guy that’s hard to pull due to existing roots.
Butch Thompson - Auburn. Everyone knows story here. Two CWS appearances at Auburn but some down years as well (which isn’t unusual for Auburn). Amory native, so could be interested in coming home. A little on the older side, but not too much. Recruiting at MSU should come a bit easier than Auburn, so perhaps has a higher ceiling.
Chris Pollard - Duke. 4 regionals in 9 years and looks headed for a 5th this year. Also took App State to 1 regional. Holds a Masters degree from MSU in PE / Health Ed in 2004 (unsure if he attended in person or online). Similar resume to Walter at Wake Forest - had some high marks of success at a historical doormat program.
Chuck Jeroloman - UF (hitting coach). High risk / high reward here. UF hit 122 HR’s last year under his direction. Has a very similar resume to Cohen before he took the UK job. Played SS at Auburn in the early 2000’s. Very young guy in early 40’s. Tons of Florida ties and also did a stint under Schlossnagle at TCU. Will very likely be a HC somewhere in the next 2-3 years max.
Nick Mingione - UK. Another former assistant / Cohen tree guy. On his way to only his 2nd regional in 7 years at UK, but might be a national seed. Still pretty young and would probably crawl to Starkville for the job, but likely a no-go for most of our fanbase. Put him in the Burroughs category where we’d probably need a few rejections to get serious with him.
Jeff Mercer - Indiana. Yeah, yeah, I know. But he has a strong resume for an only 37 year old. Already has taken both Wright State and IU to regionals, and has IU in the mix to host this year. Obviously was Lemonis’ successor at IU.
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1. I currently expect Lemonis to be back
2. I’m not sure any of these names are an improvement, though I’ve always been intrigued by Dan Heefner.
Bianco has a damn good record with his recruits and a Natty. Lemonis has a Natty and a mediocre/poor record with his recruits. I don't get the "who is gonna come here after we fire a coach" stuff. Where's the evidence it matters? We got Leach after firing a coach with a winning record. Do we have an AD who will make good decisions? That's the key here.
Him being back is certainly possible and that might end up being the best move if we get a new pitching coach.
As far as improvement, its always going to be a gamble. The only “sure things” out there are Corbin, McDonnell, Godwin, etc., and those types of guys aren’t coming. We don’t have an elite candidate with strong MSU ties out there like we did when we brought Cohen from UK. Closest things are Butch and Mingione, who are each a poor man’s Cohen from a resume standpoint. Doesn’t mean either wouldn’t work out, but still.
You are in luck! Our S&C coache just left town bc of his wife’s new gig
The list should be Godwin, Nate Thompson and Haire. It wouldn’t get past that.
I wanted to come and ask why nobody ever talks about Gary Gilmore at Coastal Carolina, but I didn't realize he's a CCU alum and has been the head coach there for 27 years.
I found this list on Wikipedia. It's actually pretty interesting how many coaches have been at their current spot for over 10 years. Minnesota's coach has been there since 1982!
en.wikipedia.org
I found this list on Wikipedia. It's actually pretty interesting how many coaches have been at their current spot for over 10 years. Minnesota's coach has been there since 1982!
List of current NCAA Division I baseball coaches - Wikipedia
While I don’t think Heefner would leave DBU, he’d be my first call (I can listen to him talk baseball all day especially hitting) - his son Luke plays for him at DBU and he has a 2024 son committed to playing there and a 2027 son in the pipeline.
I’d try to make him a top 8 paid coach
After I hire him, I ask if he’s good with Zach Dechant (TCU baseball S&C), if so, I make him the highest paid (if that’s what it takes) S&C for baseball
I’d try to make him a top 8 paid coach
After I hire him, I ask if he’s good with Zach Dechant (TCU baseball S&C), if so, I make him the highest paid (if that’s what it takes) S&C for baseball
"Lemon Is Fired" was some tricky breaking news just now.
You'd be surprised what we can and are willing to do in baseball. Money is no problem there. It's whether we choose to do anything big or keep dragging it out.
I wanted to come and ask why nobody ever talks about Gary Gilmore at Coastal Carolina, but I didn't realize he's a CCU alum and has been the head coach there for 27 years.
I found this list on Wikipedia. It's actually pretty interesting how many coaches have been at their current spot for over 10 years. Minnesota's coach has been there since 1982!
List of current NCAA Division I baseball coaches - Wikipedia
Yeah, Gilmore is up there in age. He also, incredibly, recently survived a bout with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and is still going after 30+ years coaching.
I have never seen a group of college baseball fans as spoiled as you guys are!**
I hope we don't have many repeats of yesterday before Lemonis is let go. I shudder to think of what the reaction might be.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Lem ends up the next coach at CC if it doesn’t work out here.
Define "anything big". Because if we want big time name recruits, PG metrics and all that jazz, then we've got the man for the job. You can already see our transformation into big velo and launch angle bombs.
Second option is a guy like Lane Burroughs or Butch Thompson, who are in the mold of Cohen, and will create tough, hard-nosed players, but maybe without all the fanfare of the top guys (but still highly rated guys).
Those are the only options. Hiring a bigger name is not a realistic option (Corbin, McDonnell). Godwin is not a bigger name, so don't even go there.
Launch angle bombs? Damn goat, I thought you were an engineer, civil, but engineer nonetheless
so tell me, does a ground ball have a launch angle?
I LOVE football. But I also know that we will never be able to truly compete for NC in football. I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I would be perfectly fine focusing our resources on baseball, because we are known for it, and can actually compete nationally. I'm not saying get rid of football, so put your keyboards down.
I think very highly of Butch, but his volatility in terms of results would feel a lot like what we are experiencing currently.
I don’t think hiring Mingione is a good idea. I was for it at one point in 2018, but this year will only be the second time he’s ever gotten them to a Regional, and he’s been there 7 seasons.
Your second sentence is 100% correct, but have you seen UT's record this year? Not to mention, all things being equal, I would prefer the State baseball roster not be littered with roid raged batflipping peacocks. Are we sure Veal Meat is the guy?
So you’d rather the team look like a bunch of Sunday league beer drinkers?
sign me up for the team that looks like they’ll take your soul on the field, then proceeds to beat your *** so bad that you can’t get up for your girlfriend off it
With expanded playoffs coming and after what you saw tcu do last year and you have no hope?
It's a great idea, but us getting a coach from any one of the big blue-blood teams in the SEC is a dream. Nice dream, but a dream.
Since when is TN a "big blue blood" baseball team? And, just NO to Vitello anyway
Stability in the baseball coaching staff is probably more important than any other sport because you've got guys committing in the 9th and 10th grade. That's why I was hoping Lemonis could give us that given we had not had much stability since Cohen. But if we miss Hoover 2 years in a row keeping Lemonis is going to go over like a turd in the punchbowl.
Hopefully the ridiculous early commit stuff will settle down with the new rules.
I'd take Bianco in a heartbeat over what we got coaching for us now. I think he'd do really well in Starkville.
Nope. Just compare NIL budgets between us and the blue bloods. Schools like TCU don't have to survive an SEC West schedule, and forget the reality of trying to get wins, a school like us has to make it through that schedule without significant injuries because we don't have the depth. Hope I'm proven wrong. But Dak's year in 2014 was our best shot, and I don't see that happening again in my lifetime.
The irony of that is our “best shot” was in 2014 with a 2 star quarterback that had one other scholarship offer from ut Martin.
Tadlock or OConner should be first calls. Put Butch with them. Second group would be Burroughs , Godwin, Heefner.
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