Oh man. Now I understand why he was ticked. Brutal.

The left side of the IF has not been good defensively in the games I have been to. Lots of errors. Also, lots of really bad decisions that do not show in the book as errors. Those are almost more frustrating.

(03-30-2015 11:08 AM)mac6115cd Wrote:  We are bad; however, we're young. UC now has the coach, facilities and budget to raise the program. It will take some time but, I'm sure it will come.

On what do you base your "coach" comment?

What has Neal done to make you think he is the next big deal in coaching? Was it because he coached on a team that went to Omaha? It's a big jump to make the calls on your own.

Every time you make a coaching change you lose some players. But Neal ran off plenty. You don't have 22 freshmen on the team if you don't run off players. And when you have 22 freshmen, your talent pool is very thin.

I have not seen much to say we have the coach. Not saying he can't do it. I just don't see much going on right now. We are definitely young but a lot of this youth may not be the right youth.

When you are replacing 22 players a year on a 35 man roster it reflects on the coach. I don't care if you have a coaching change, you don't have that many leave without the coach being an issue.

I am sure that I will hear that he is changing the culture of the program. The culture of the program was just fine. The kids had fun, they won at a decent rate and most of all they maintained a very high grade point.

As I have said here before, when you stop having fun, you play poorly and probably leave the program. He is changing the culture all right. Looks like we will have a revolving door of one and dones that move on. We can then replace them with freshmen that have no business playing D1 but are here because we have so many annual openings.

Sounds like a rosy future.

The fact that we arent back to our Powerhouse stature is upsetting to me too guys. I say can him and let his 22 freshman play for someone that didnt recruit them. Im sure the new coach would keep all of them too, zero turnover I'm guessing.

Or. We let this guy build the program the way HE wants to, let him develop the players that WANT to be here, and see how this team performs when these twenty two 18 year old kids are seniors. If the talent doesnt develop and we are still getting blown out weekly, then itll be clear that Neal doesnt have it.


Im not even a baseball fan! I HATE baseball. If it were up to me we would trash the whole program and start the varsity lacrosse program immediately. Bail on the dying sport and dive in as soon as possible to the ever-growing one, PLUS maybe pique the interest of the ACC just a teeny tiny bit more. Even I'm willing to have some patience and see how Neal develops this thing he is building.

(03-31-2015 09:29 AM)The T-Shirt Wrote:   The fact that we arent back to our Powerhouse stature is upsetting to me too guys. I say can him and let his 22 freshman play for someone that didnt recruit them. Im sure the new coach would keep all of them too, zero turnover I'm guessing.

Or. We let this guy build the program the way HE wants to, let him develop the players that WANT to be here, and see how this team performs when these twenty two 18 year old kids are seniors. If the talent doesnt develop and we are still getting blown out weekly, then itll be clear that Neal doesnt have it.


Im not even a baseball fan! I HATE baseball. If it were up to me we would trash the whole program and start the varsity lacrosse program immediately. Bail on the dying sport and dive in as soon as possible to the ever-growing one, PLUS maybe pique the interest of the ACC just a teeny tiny bit more. Even I'm willing to have some patience and see how Neal develops this thing he is building.

You're insane...

(03-31-2015 09:44 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  

(03-31-2015 09:29 AM)The T-Shirt Wrote:   The fact that we arent back to our Powerhouse stature is upsetting to me too guys. I say can him and let his 22 freshman play for someone that didnt recruit them. Im sure the new coach would keep all of them too, zero turnover I'm guessing.

Or. We let this guy build the program the way HE wants to, let him develop the players that WANT to be here, and see how this team performs when these twenty two 18 year old kids are seniors. If the talent doesnt develop and we are still getting blown out weekly, then itll be clear that Neal doesnt have it.


Im not even a baseball fan! I HATE baseball. If it were up to me we would trash the whole program and start the varsity lacrosse program immediately. Bail on the dying sport and dive in as soon as possible to the ever-growing one, PLUS maybe pique the interest of the ACC just a teeny tiny bit more. Even I'm willing to have some patience and see how Neal develops this thing he is building.

You're insane...

Because of my first two paragraphs or the last one? I know, any mention of lacrosse stuff always freaks out the baseball diehards. Truthfully, in a perfect world we would have both, I really dont hate baseball THAT much. But that would be too many schollys plus the added schollys on the womens side. But I digress, though that last paragraph was a bit of an exaggeration (I still stand by lacrosse>baseball in many ways, but its a personal preference and no need to get into that here) I think my first two paragraphs are quite sane.

All of it.

Jesus, you hate any critical thought that doesn't fit your version if the world, don't you? Just pisses you off.

In the future, maybe save the calories expended from typing snark rather than offering an adult response.

(03-31-2015 10:25 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  All of it.

Jesus, you hate any critical thought that doesn't fit your version if the world, don't you? Just pisses you off.

In the future, maybe save the calories expended from typing snark rather than offering an adult response.

Theres criticism and then theres over the top pessimism. Ive been critical of UC things before. hank Hughes after a few games into the season, or that time i was burned at the stake for my pulp fiction mick cronin offense comment.

Theres only so many times i can roll my eyes at the screen before i gotta type something snarky.

You arent happy unless youre unhappy, are you? If you head out now, you can probably catch Tubs on his second round of golf today, might help you relax and cheer up a bit.

You know, it is possible to comment by criticising what you are watching if you believe it is warranted, right?

How many games have you even gone to? Do you have imany insight or are you just in partisan attack mode?

(03-31-2015 10:40 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  You know, it is possible to comment by criticising what you are watching if you believe it is warranted, right?

How many games have you even gone to? Do you have imany insight or are you just in partisan attack mode?

I get what he's saying, but the attack mode doesn't do him any favors. On baseball, as long as UC is in the AAC, cutting baseball is a non-negotiable. It's a conference with very strong baseball programs, and it would be folly to cut it. The same holds true if the Big 12 offers a lifeline. I can't claim to know the inner workings of the athletic department, but often feel like there needs to be a stronger tie to the Reds (this is coming from someone living out of town, so take it for what it's worth).

I'm a big fan of lacrosse as a sport, and it's future in the U.S. I do believe adding lacrosse has its merits. Lacrosse is booming nationwide, and our region has a relative lack of lacrosse programs (I believe that Bellarmine and Ohio State are the closest D1 schools). I live in Denver, and remember the University of Denver debating about baseball vs. lacrosse about 15 years ago when they went D1 in all sports. The two big state schools didn't sponsor baseball, the Rockies were selling out every game, and the time seemed right. Denver, though, looked at its student body (quite a few kids from the east coast), the growing popularity of lacrosse in Colorado, and they chose lacrosse. Flash forward a few years - they built a 3,000 seat lacrosse-only stadium, which they're now considering expanding, and have been to two Final Fours. The university is the spiritual center (for lack of a better word) for lacrosse in Colorado, and there are no other D1 schools in the west.

But, getting back to the conference situation, cutting baseball and adding lacrosse (not that this is an either/or situation) is the absolute wrong thing for UC to consider at this moment. It makes UC less desirable in conference expansion, which is the prize that all eyes need to be on at the moment. If you have a big donor who wants to build lacrosse, add women's rowing as well for balance. But just cutting baseball, or adding lacrosse and cutting baseball, doesn't work at this moment. We're already at the lower limit of sports that major conferences want to see, and cutting one like baseball - with strong ties to the south - would be incredibly detrimental. I won't get in to what it would do for older donors who, while they may not attend games, would have great difficulty with baseball going away.

You want to say something positive, nobody is drowing that out. Be my guest. Have an opinion. How is Coach Neal knocking it out of the park? All good.

Hell, this guy is slamming opinions when he admits to not having much insight or interest in the topic. That is crazy. Getting tired of any criticism being yelled down by the same 3 guys. It a not a personal affront to the alma mater.

It's a forum. Opinions are fine even if they do not fall in lockstep with a particular person's view. You want an echo chamber, start a blog.

(03-31-2015 11:56 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  You want to say something positive, nobody is drowing that out. Be my guest. Have an opinion. How is Coach Neal knocking it out of the park? All good.

Hell, this guy is slamming opinions when he admits to not having much insight or interest in the topic. That is crazy. Getting tired of any criticism being yelled down by the same 3 guys. It a not a personal affront to the alma mater.

It's a forum. Opinions are fine even if they do not fall in lockstep with a particular person's view. You want an echo chamber, start a blog.

I wasn't talking about you being in attack mode - Sorry. I was referring to other poster. But, hey, I unwittingly got you a bit worked up. How about that?

(03-31-2015 11:50 AM)geef Wrote:  

(03-31-2015 10:40 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  You know, it is possible to comment by criticising what you are watching if you believe it is warranted, right?

How many games have you even gone to? Do you have imany insight or are you just in partisan attack mode?

I get what he's saying, but the attack mode doesn't do him any favors. On baseball, as long as UC is in the AAC, cutting baseball is a non-negotiable. It's a conference with very strong baseball programs, and it would be folly to cut it. The same holds true if the Big 12 offers a lifeline. I can't claim to know the inner workings of the athletic department, but often feel like there needs to be a stronger tie to the Reds (this is coming from someone living out of town, so take it for what it's worth).

I'm a big fan of lacrosse as a sport, and it's future in the U.S. I do believe adding lacrosse has its merits. Lacrosse is booming nationwide, and our region has a relative lack of lacrosse programs (I believe that Bellarmine and Ohio State are the closest D1 schools). I live in Denver, and remember the University of Denver debating about baseball vs. lacrosse about 15 years ago when they went D1 in all sports. The two big state schools didn't sponsor baseball, the Rockies were selling out every game, and the time seemed right. Denver, though, looked at its student body (quite a few kids from the east coast), the growing popularity of lacrosse in Colorado, and they chose lacrosse. Flash forward a few years - they built a 3,000 seat lacrosse-only stadium, which they're now considering expanding, and have been to two Final Fours. The university is the spiritual center (for lack of a better word) for lacrosse in Colorado, and there are no other D1 schools in the west.

But, getting back to the conference situation, cutting baseball and adding lacrosse (not that this is an either/or situation) is the absolute wrong thing for UC to consider at this moment. It makes UC less desirable in conference expansion, which is the prize that all eyes need to be on at the moment. If you have a big donor who wants to build lacrosse, add women's rowing as well for balance. But just cutting baseball, or adding lacrosse and cutting baseball, doesn't work at this moment. We're already at the lower limit of sports that major conferences want to see, and cutting one like baseball - with strong ties to the south - would be incredibly detrimental. I won't get in to what it would do for older donors who, while they may not attend games, would have great difficulty with baseball going away.

The lacrosse comment was tongue in cheek or however that phrase goes. I dont actually wanna cut baseball, and adding lacrosse is likely a very long way off, which is a shame. I know the title IX logistics of it all.

Ive been to one game tbh. Not that i know how to evaluate a sport that measures its success in failure ie 37% being a great batting average. What i do understand is time. Ive never once said Neal is "hitting it out of the park". Im simply stating that he hasnt had time to. I want all UC programs to be successful, which is why, despite my dislike of baseball, that i want them to do well.

And attacks? Really? Maybe ill give you the Golfgate jab, but come on, thatll never stop being funny. A little smart a$$ery is nothing to get this upset about.

On phone, excuse any typos.

If you have anything to add that actually deals with comments about the baseball program this year, this is the thread. If not, its not a requirement that you participate in a thread just to use as a pulpit.

How about adding Men's lacrosse and women's softball.

Need to find somebody to write a few checks to add sports though.

(03-31-2015 10:07 AM)The T-Shirt Wrote:  

(03-31-2015 09:44 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  

(03-31-2015 09:29 AM)The T-Shirt Wrote:   The fact that we arent back to our Powerhouse stature is upsetting to me too guys. I say can him and let his 22 freshman play for someone that didnt recruit them. Im sure the new coach would keep all of them too, zero turnover I'm guessing.

Or. We let this guy build the program the way HE wants to, let him develop the players that WANT to be here, and see how this team performs when these twenty two 18 year old kids are seniors. If the talent doesnt develop and we are still getting blown out weekly, then itll be clear that Neal doesnt have it.


Im not even a baseball fan! I HATE baseball. If it were up to me we would trash the whole program and start the varsity lacrosse program immediately. Bail on the dying sport and dive in as soon as possible to the ever-growing one, PLUS maybe pique the interest of the ACC just a teeny tiny bit more. Even I'm willing to have some patience and see how Neal develops this thing he is building.

You're insane...

Because of my first two paragraphs or the last one? I know, any mention of lacrosse stuff always freaks out the baseball diehards. Truthfully, in a perfect world we would have both, I really dont hate baseball THAT much. But that would be too many schollys plus the added schollys on the womens side. But I digress, though that last paragraph was a bit of an exaggeration (I still stand by lacrosse>baseball in many ways, but its a personal preference and no need to get into that here) I think my first two paragraphs are quite sane.

pretty much all of it....it's just crazy talk

and I'm not a baseball diehard. I don't even like college baseball. But I still recognize what you are saying here as bat%@^ crazy.

Okay... This has gone way beyond funny anymore. I am not, in any way shape or form, arguing for and/or seriously proposing shutting down baseball for lacrosse. Would be ridiculous to waste the gem of a baseball stadium weve constructed. And NO, we cannot, as of now add lacrosse. I have studied Title IX and all of its outdated intricacies inside and out, and it is way out of our financial means to pull off the addition of what would be at least 2 womens teams before getting the lacrosse team on the drawing board. My comment was to emphasize that I, someone who could live without hearing about the difference between a BA, OBP, and Slugging percentage for the rest of my life, would like to give the coach a chance to be successful. Why would i suggest patience for the baseball program and then condemn it all in the same post? It went a little like this:

Paragraph 1: Sarcastic narrative.
P 2: Level headed thoughts, all but ignored so far in the thread.
P 3: Hyperbole.

Now, back to baseball (hopefully for good), I presented my opinion that I think that some semblance of patience and understanding be had given the circumstances surrounding our program. I did so in a rather sarcastic manner, because... why not. Besides, I see no better option than letting Neals already in progress plan play out until definitively proven ineffective. The ceiling for his recruits and this team wont be clear for a few years. A bunch of freshman are struggling against a tougher OOC schedule than this program is used to (something Neal has been trying to do since he got here, no more padding the win column with even more teams like Niagara) and we are surprised there are less wins than usual (which really there weren't that many in the past anyway)? Come on. And guess what? There aren't gonna be many wins the rest of the season either. This conference is d@mn good at baseball with, i think, at least 3 ranked teams right now, and a couple others in the top 50. I sure hope the attitude that is already festering doesn't boil over into something that causes brash and probably detrimental action.

Bearcats fall to Wright State last night 5-3. Ian Happ continues to carry the Bearcats by knocking in a couple runs.

We have a legit chance to break the 41 loss mark of Coach Gordon back in the early 90s.