I had hopes he would succeed but had reservations when he was the clear fallback plan after Ray waited over a month to make the hire. I dont know if he would have even gotten a sniff had it not been for Ray putting all his eggs in the O'Sullivan basket. That said, as another poster mentioned earlier, Kingston really is Muschamp 2.0. He did good off the start but has been a steady decline since then. Switch football terminology with baseball and they are saying essentially the same things. It is one thing to have injuries and have a sub .500 record in SEC. It is another thing to keep getting embarrassed in mid week games against teams that our players, back ups or not, should be able to beat. Whether it is their ace pitching or not, our hitters should do better. I dont see things better next year but maybe I am blind to what he can do. However I have lost interest. At least as a Coastal alumni and having a daughter there now, I was able to enjoy baseball immensely last night as they whipped Clemson for the second time. Something Carolina could not sniff doing.
Sorry to say it but I am done with Kingston
- Thread starter CCUIrmo
- Start date
Whether you and I are done is of little importance. It all depends on whether or not Ray is done - unless those in authority are done with Ray, which I consider unlikely.
If I'm Ray T, I would be using back channels to see if any big name coaches would be interested. If not, then might as well give Kingston one more year. If next year he gets all his pitching back and he still struggles then you have to make a change.
Kingston is in his fifth year. Our hitting is probably last in the SEC. Our fielding is really bad. We do not have a catcher on the team. I mean our catcher has had so many passed balls and his handling of the pitchers is bad. He cannot manage a game. Our second baseman at times looks like an all star and then at times he looks like a player just beginning to play baseball. His batting he is so inconsistent he will stand at the plate and watch 3 balls go down the middle without swinging the bat then he walks back to the dugout with no emotion whatsoever. Sorry but you will not see him on a MLB roster. The fundamentals of baseball are not to beat yourself with walks, not making the routine plays and playing sound fundamental defense. Make the routine plays and then help your pitcher with hard plays, the ones that make ESPN highlights. Lastly the players on our team seem have developed apathy. The recruiting needs to pick up. We used to have a recruiting class ranked in the top 5. Now our classes are ranked in the top 20. Not going to win in the SEC with mediocre recruiting. I used to spend around $1000 every baseball seaon on tickets,concessions, travel. This year I have not been to one game. I am not going to pay$40 for gas, $10 for parking, $30 for concessions to watch this team. Carolina fans have shown they are willing to pay the price for a good product. Our history speaks for itself. We need someone who can recruit, teach the fundamentals of baseball and teach them how to win, which is easy. As they say do not beat yourself. We all know how we always give the other team a chance to win with walks, errors and not playing baseball the way it should be played. Just like our pitiful softball team with Beverly Smith that team does all the things to lose and not being able to recruit really good softball players. I mean Beverly Smith has won 5 games in the SEC the last couple of years. Awful. Tanner needs to make a change as soon as he can. He may make the change after the NCAA womens tourney is over. Hope so anyway.
Horrible hire. He’s actually worse than Holbroke.
Exactly. 2023 doesn't necessarily have to end in Omaha (although that would be nice), but it definitely has to end in June.
If you have to teach fundamentals at this level, then there's a problem with your recruiting.
You have to figure out who plays where, and develop team chemistry, something which has been missing for the past 10 years.
My friend you hit the nail on the head. Recruiting look at our roster with the exception of Will Sanders, and our Noah Hall there is not one player on this team who will get drafted by MLB. MLB has already reduced their minor league system to 20 teams and the MLB draft has been reduced as well. I think Josiah Sightler with his improvement this year someone will take a chance. Last spring I attended the regionals and super regionals. As I waited outside I got to talking with a gentleman about baseball in general. He was a scout for a MLB team. He told me that MLB was reducing their minor league system to 20 teams because there are so many American players who have this entitlement attitude that when they get drafted they do not want to put in the extra work to become a MLB player. He told me time and time again MLB has drafted players out of high school and college and they got really nice signing bonuses and then after that they think they are entitled to a spot on a MLB roster. On the other hand players from other countries work harder, put in the extra work. That is why you see MLB rosters full of players from Central America countries and countries like Korea, Japan. Another thing we discussed is some schools going to the fake grass and fake dirt and MLB teams lower the scores on players that play on these type of playing surfaces. Ray Tanner knew what it took to win and he recruited highly recruited players. Ray had some really good teams because he could recruit. Those are facts. Ray left the cupboard full when he left and Holbrook did not recruit well and he was in over his head. The same with Kingston simply put he cannot recruit. Ray never should have left the dugout but that is for another time. Shame that we as Gamecock baseball fans have to put up with this. This is Kingstons fifth year, this is also the fifth year for the coach at Tennessee. Say no more. We all know how this story is right now.
You may not need to teach them, but you certainly have to reinforce them. It is never a bad thing to get drilled on the fundamentals. That's why you practice.
I remember Madison Stokes one handing a pop-up once. He dropped it and it cost a run. At practice the week after, he had a bunch hit to him and was constantly reminded to 2 hand all of them. Every single one that came his way in games after that, he 2 handed.
The minors are not independent like they used to be, e.g., there's no such thing as the International league nor the Pacific Coast league any longer.
There have to be more than 20 minor league teams. Doesn't each MLB franchise own or have an affiliate at each level (perhaps no more than one in class A or some such)?
We may wish Ray had never left the dugout. I wish USC had never left the ACC. The reality is that Ray isn't returning to the dugout (this has been stated numerous times in numerous threads) , nor the school to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Once Ray got it going, we were consistently in the post-season, but did not make it to Omaha every single year. It's realistic for USC to make the June dance each season and aspire to make it to Omaha, but not realistic to expect to make it to Omaha each season.
As has also been stated numerous times in number threads over the past few years, the Holbrook hire looked good on paper. It just didn't pan out. Holbrook was a great #2 person at USC and, as it turned out, not a great #1.
Is there a difference in recruiting players who can help you win vs players with MLB potential? How much overlap is there?
He lost me by always making such lame excuses. He sits there and explains away every mistake like it is bad luck. Time for him to move on for sure.
Tommy Moody must have a weather vain in the broadcast booth. He blamed the wind so many times this year.
Methinks Tommy has to act a certain way in public which may or may not reflect his personal opinions.
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Well if you are truly sorry that you are "done with Kingston" imagine your complete remorse when you decide you are "done with Tanner"
Seriously. gamecock fans like this puzzle the crap out of me....
After reading yesterday that Kingston would be returning for another year, I was expecting some discussion here, but don't see a link. Perhaps I missed ir or perhaps it is just full blown apathy?
Tired=apathy, IMO.
I did state that barring something egregious (sorry, one losing season in and of itself is not egregious, although two in a row at USC might very well be), Kingston would be back for 2023.
The seat begins to warm......
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