what's lou piniella up to these days?

i kid I kid....

As long as Santa Ono doesn't have a St. Bernard, Lou might be interested.

Nice to see the team send Cleary out a winner this weekend

(05-18-2013 07:34 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  what's lou piniella up to these days?

i kid I kid....

I have no idea if it's realistic, but this got me spit-ballin': how about ex-Red Ron Oester?

(05-19-2013 12:46 PM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  Nice to see the team send Cleary out a winner this weekend

Agreed. If I heard correctly it also spoiled ND's conference tourney chance.

Hurt their NCAA chances.

They only have 31 wins. They should not even be close to being considered for the NCAA. But their name is Notre Dame.

(05-19-2013 02:01 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(05-18-2013 07:34 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  what's lou piniella up to these days?

i kid I kid....

I have no idea if it's realistic, but this got me spit-ballin': how about ex-Red Ron Oester?

Baseball is a sport where pro coaching doesn't translate well to college coaching and vice versa.

Aside from the obvious (e.g. recruiting), pitchers are managed very differently, the offense is different (although closer that 5 years ago due to the deadening of the metal bats)...and even the defense is somewhat different. Even with the offense and the now-deadened bats...pro players are stronger and able to use their power more consistently than college players...so you tend to see a bit more small ball in college. Watch Texas play...Augie runs that small ball nearly every chance he gets.

Pro is more dedicated to skill/player development...college is about winning every game you can.

Not saying it cannot be done, just pretty different and we should be careful before going out and getting more of a pro coach.

(05-19-2013 03:02 PM)Bearcat Otto Wrote:  They only have 31 wins. They should not even be close to being considered for the NCAA. But their name is Notre Dame.

Has nothing to do with their name. What was keeping them in the conversation was their RPI. Even after losing 2 of 3 to us, they are still sitting with a 47 RPI ranking. With the changes in the RPI this year of weighting road games more, they put themselves in a good position by playing just 11 out of conference games at home and spending the entire first month of the season on the road. In comparison, by the time ND played their first home game, UC had already played 11 OOC home games.

(05-19-2013 03:26 PM)tdbearcat Wrote:  Not saying it cannot be done, just pretty different and we should be careful before going out and getting more of a pro coach.

I wouldn't be worried about that at all. With Whit's college baseball background, I don't think he would go that route.

I am sure when Whit is negotiating with coaches they will ask for certain things that UC should find a way to make happen:

1) Max out scholarships
2) Improve Asst. Coaching salaries
3) Overall AD dedication to baseball success (money, fan support, etc.)

How Whit handles those questions will determine the type of coach we are able to get! I would love to see UC Baseball turn the corner.

(05-19-2013 03:54 PM)bearcatseminole Wrote:  I am sure when Whit is negotiating with coaches they will ask for certain things that UC should find a way to make happen:

1) Max out scholarships
2) Improve Asst. Coaching salaries
3) Overall AD dedication to baseball success (money, fan support, etc.)

How Whit handles those questions will determine the type of coach we are able to get! I would love to see UC Baseball turn the corner.

Don't forget recruiting budget. The last few years UC barely had enough in the recruiting budget to pay for gas back and forth to Indianapolis. An occasional flight could be worked into the budget but a request had to be submitted and approved. You only have small windows for in season recruiting and you cannot wait for bureaucracy to fit your schedule. Hopefully UC can fix this for the new coach. If not, I don't expect us to get an up and coming coach.

There are a great deal of hidden problems with the baseball program. It is much deeper than just the wins and losses.

Good point. You will see all the bigger programs on the road all summer evaluating as many kids as possible. There are some events you just cannot miss if you want to recruit good players.

The next coach will know this and insist on it.

Recently fired Georgia coach Dave Perno is a name that has popped up. He has 3 trips to the CWS on his resume. Recently his teams have not done as well, mostly due to a rash of injuries.

17 years too late. What was the first thing he said regarding recruiting about this area? Something about hes not going to recruit here because the players here arent any good? Even if that were true, which it isnt, why would you say that?

(05-23-2013 03:41 PM)subflea Wrote:  Recently fired Georgia coach Dave Perno is a name that has popped up. He has 3 trips to the CWS on his resume. Recently his teams have not done as well, mostly due to a rash of injuries.

Indeed he has, although he says he hasn't been formally contacted by UC yet:

Quote:Perno emerges as candidate at Cincinnati
Posted: 3:27 p.m. Thursday, May 23, 2013



David Perno
Curtis Compton / AJC
David Perno, a former player and assistant coach at Georgia, was the Bulldogs' head coach for 12 season.

By Chip Towers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

St. Simons Island —

It appears David Perno’s stay in the unemployment line may be a short one.

Just four days after being dismissed as Georgia’s baseball coach, Perno has emerged as a candidate for the same job at the University of Cincinnati. Perno acknowledged his interest in the Bearcats’ position Thursday but said he has not been formerly contacted by the school.

“I hope it moves that way,” Perno said of possibly landing the job. “I don’t know anything to this point, but I’m definitely very, very interested. Just doing homework on my end, that’s a great situation and they’re hungry to win.”

Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity asked for Perno’s resignation Sunday night, one day after the Bulldogs’ completed the 2013 season with a 21-32 overall record (7-20 SEC). Perno, 45, has been Georgia’s coach since 2002 and led the Bulldogs’ to three College World Series appearances, including the 2008 national championship game. Perno also helped Georgia reach the CWS as a player (1990) and assistant coach (2001).

But Perno’s teams had struggled since reaching the 2008 national finals, particularly in SEC play. He was 31 games below .500 in conference play the last five seasons. Over 12 seasons he was 399-334 and 160-189-1 in SEC play.

The Bearcats fired Brian Cleary, their coach of the last 17 years, last week. He was 435-528 at Cincinnati.

“It all came about fast and I didn’t have much time to think about it,” Perno said of Cincinnati’s interest. “But I did do my homework and I looked at their facilities and I was absolutely blown away. I saw that and talked to a couple of coaches and athletic directors and told them I’d definitely be interested.”

Meanwhile, McGarity, attending the end-of-the-year meeting of the UGA Athletic Board here Thursday said there is no timeline for hiring Perno’s replacement and declined to discuss potential candidates.

“We will hire a great coach. I’ll leave it at that,” he said. “We’re not boxing ourselves in saying we want to have it done by this date. We’ll do our due diligence. We have worked hard on this the last three days and will continue to work on it. But a lot of institutions are still in conference play and a lot will be in NCAA play. So we want to handle this the right way and be respectful of teams that have teams in NCAA play.”

Some names have emerged as strong candidates. Butch Thompson, who is associate head coach and pitching coach at Mississippi State, is considered one of the top head coaching prospects in the SEC. Thompson was Perno’s pitching coach at Georgia from 2002-05.

For what it’s worth, he has Perno’s endorsement.

“I would think he would be a great candidate,” Perno said. “He’s ready. He’s really a great person and he’s done a great job wherever he’s been. I’d probably still be coaching (at Georgia) had he never left. But that’s how it works sometimes.”

McGarity said dismissing Perno, a native Athenian he has known for decades, was difficult.

“Those are really the toughest days in our business, in our profession,” McGarity said. “In every situation we’ve had, they’re good people. A lot of them are friends. We’ve always said, and my staff has heard me say it many times, you have to do what’s best for the institution. It may not be best for the individual, but those are the decisions I have to make and I’m accountable for those. So, yeah, they’re extremely difficult. There’s not fun in that at all.”

Biggest obstacle I see is that he would be taking a huge reduction in pay and could probably get closer to the $450k he made at Georgia by going somewhere else.

(05-23-2013 04:18 PM)subflea Wrote:  Biggest obstacle I see is that he would be taking a huge reduction in pay and could probably get closer to the $450k he made at Georgia by going somewhere else.

I don't think he's gonna have options at the $300K+ level. Maybe not at the $200K level...this year anyways.

Perno is a hard-nosed, no-holds-barred college baseball coach. He will get results but it will be a MUCH different program than Cleary ran.

Thats very possibly a good thing...but UC needs to be ready for an SEC-style program and all that comes with it. I have seen him coach games in person...fun baseball to watch.

This sounds good. Don't think he is too worried about the wages. I think he would accept a reasonable offer from UC. He said he was blown away by the facilities. He also has lots of recruiting connections in the south which is very interesting.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/sports/2013/...eball-job/

(05-29-2013 05:45 AM)Vewb1 Wrote:  This sounds good. Don't think he is too worried about the wages. I think he would accept a reasonable offer from UC. He said he was blown away by the facilities. He also has lots of recruiting connections in the south which is very interesting.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/sports/2013/...eball-job/

UC's facility is absolutely top-half of Pac12 quality. So I am not surprised by Perno being impressed. I have heard very similar comments by West Coast coaches who attended a big scouting event at MSS about 2-3 years ago (Perfect Game National Showcase).

"Blown away" would be an accurate description of what they told me not only about MSS, but about Varsity Village and the campus in general. All that I know thought they could win at UC with those assets. I know some of them are interested as well.

Here is another data point. Wichita State fires legendary Gene Stephenson. He was there for 36 years, and compiled a 1837-675-3 record. Never one losing season. However, reached 40 wins once in last five years.

http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/04/2832508...enson.html

It is obvious how different the standards have been between Wichita State and Cincinnati. We'll see how serious UC is about its baseball going forward. I don't see the fanaticism for UC baseball getting to that level, but there is a lot of room for improvement, to say the least.