(02-27-2017 05:09 PM)Rick Gerlach Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 05:06 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 03:06 PM)curve Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 12:39 PM)MemOwl Wrote:  

(02-26-2017 11:56 PM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  Karlgaard is going to have to do a lot of soul searching this summer bout the decline of two of our top three sports under his watch. Still early in baseball, but looks like another season filled with excuses, a regional exit (or potentially missing the tournament entirely, the way we are playing so far) and no tangible action by the AD to stop this decade-long slide.

What are his degrees of freedom? should there be a bigger recruiting budget? do you want a coaching change?

Not sure what all AD's can do except hire coaches, build facilities and run ticket sales.

Our facility is first class
Our coach is a legend
We sell a lot of tickets (and I don't think you are worried about tickets as much as you are about wins and losses).

We are in that perhaps risky zone of a coach approaching old age whom everyone believes is entitled to "go out on his own terms"

I can't think of a situation where that ended well, but there probably is one. Hard to recall now, but John Wooden actually left UCLA at 65. OG was 67 when we won the title in 2003.

What part of our facility makes it first class? Sure, the new scoreboard is great, but our marketing team needs to improve tremendously on making it more fun for the fans.

Take a look at UT, A&M, UH, TCU, or hell even Texas Tech's locker room try to convince youself ours is nicer. Reckling Park needs a lot of updating.

Unfortunately, that is a much greater factor now than it ever has been. If you compare TCU baseball to Rice baseball, I think one of the only advantages Rice has over TCU is education. Obviously in the long run, nothing is more important than that. That is what makes Rice so special. But not all kids are thinking that way when they are being recruited. Luken Baker for example. Why wouldn't he go to a school like TCU when he knows he will be drafted in three years? Go there, have more fun, and enjoy the first class facilities.

EXACTLY! I've been trying to make this point for a while now. This applies to baseball, but is even more true for football and basketball.

Why should I go to Rice when the only thing better is the education? If I go into a interview at age 25 for a consulting or banking job in Houston, and I had a 3.8 GPA in finance at Texas while playing football, nobody is going to be saying "Why did you go to Texas instead of [Rice, Harvard, Yale, etc.]?" Instead, they are going to be like "Damn, I wish I could've played football at Texas, that's every kid's dream growing up [At least before they started sucking]."

Now, whether most athletes at UT, A&M, etc. end up having 3.8 GPAs in finance is a different topic, but I don't think (all things being equal) that Student-Athlete (especially in a revenue sport) in competitive major from big state school is at much of a disadvantage to Rice Student-Athlete with the same major in the work force.

Only in the sense that if you're likelihood of graduating is 90% at Rice, and 55% at UT, or less at other schools, that gets factored in.

But in terms of the point you're trying to make, I agree with you.

I'm sure the LF for SELA has a 3.8 for his General studies degree though because he was on the honor roll! Don't forget a lot of schools strongly discourage tough majors for their athletes.

I'd agree a degree from A&M or UT is perfectly fine for most of these players' selected majors (even TTech or UH or TCU) but you'd have a tough time convincing me For SELA or DBU or SHSU or ULL...

(02-27-2017 02:23 PM)Leoguy Wrote:  For comparison, the team began the 2016 baseball season 3 - 5, including the Minute Maid debacle (0-3). So, we're no worse off, (wins & losses wise) than at this point last year. Rice schedules very tough competition before beginning conference play and it shows. These next two weeks the staff and players will be up against some very good competition. I will admit it's discouraging to watch the team struggle. Go Owls!

(02-27-2017 02:28 PM)LonghornOwl Wrote:  I'm as disappointed in the start as anyone, but then I think back to last year's Regional and how well the Owls played. I think this team is much better than last year's. I will be surprised if, by the end of the first third of the season, the team is not clicking in all phases.

It's early in the season. We didn't have a stellar season last year, but made the post-season. As I remember, last year at this point, the board was on suicide watch.
Not sayin' that this team is Omaha material yet. But they will get better.

The Owl baseball team usually improves as the season progresses. It is best in May when finals are over with. Yes, I was disappointed by the poor fielding in the last home stand.

(02-27-2017 12:14 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  As mentioned here before I'd take a look at the SELA coach. If he can turn that program into one that comes and beats up on us at home he deserves a look. Plus he's a Tulane grad from when they were successful if I remember correctly.

I've advocated for this before on multiple occasions. I'm probably biased. Grew up playing baseball with Riser from little league through high school, had a bunch of classes together throughout high school. Sharp guy, smart guy. Has always valued academics. I think he would definitely "get" that part of Rice. His degree, I'm almost positive, is in biomedical engineering.

I'm not sure he'll be at SELA much longer if he continues his success, but I would most definitely take a look at him when Wayne retires. He's developed SELA into a pretty strong and consistent program (and yes, he played OF on Tulane's CWS team in '05 that if I remember correctly beat us in the SR).

(02-27-2017 09:21 PM)picrig Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 12:14 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  As mentioned here before I'd take a look at the SELA coach. If he can turn that program into one that comes and beats up on us at home he deserves a look. Plus he's a Tulane grad from when they were successful if I remember correctly.

I've advocated for this before on multiple occasions. I'm probably biased. Grew up playing baseball with Riser from little league through high school, had a bunch of classes together throughout high school. Sharp guy, smart guy. Has always valued academics. I think he would definitely "get" that part of Rice. His degree, I'm almost positive, is in biomedical engineering.

I'm not sure he'll be at SELA much longer if he continues his success, but I would most definitely take a look at him when Wayne retires. He's developed SELA into a pretty strong and consistent program (and yes, he played OF on Tulane's CWS team in '05 that if I remember correctly beat us in the SR).

I live in New Orleans and there are definitely some Tulane fans who preferred either him or Cannizaro over Jewett (and were saying that before Tulane's ice-cold start). Supposedly they chose Jewett over Cannizaro, and Cannizaro would have come to Tulane. Instead, Cannizaro ended up at Miss St.

(02-27-2017 09:21 PM)picrig Wrote:  His degree, I'm almost positive, is in biomedical engineering.

Yep. Received in 2007.

According to this June 1, 2016, profile in the Lafayette Advocate (just before the SELa-Rice Regional game), Riser's 72-page senior thesis was on "how to damage bone cells to simulate stress fractures, then rebuild them with potassium injections."

Also: "Riser’s father was a doctor, his mother a nurse. Riser was supposed to go to medical school. ... Riser even had a job lined up at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center making $80,000 a year out of college."

(02-28-2017 03:36 AM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 09:21 PM)picrig Wrote:  His degree, I'm almost positive, is in biomedical engineering.

Yep. Received in 2007.

According to this June 1, 2016, profile in the Lafayette Advocate (just before the SELa-Rice Regional game), Riser's 72-page senior thesis was on "how to damage bone cells to simulate stress fractures, then rebuild them with potassium injections."

Also: "Riser’s father was a doctor, his mother a nurse. Riser was supposed to go to medical school. ... Riser even had a job lined up at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center making $80,000 a year out of college."

Pretty impressive. Unfortunately, by the time we have an opening, he'll probably already have been hired by someone else. JK has stated that Wayne's contract is good through the 2018 season, and that he would not consider the possibility of making any coaching change before then. I'm not saying he is planning to make a change at that point, I'm just saying it's a non-issue for JK until then. So, unless Wayne suddenly changes his mind and decides to retire, he will be coaching us through next season, at a minimum. For me, the big question becomes: What happens after the 2018 season, if we have played poorly this year and next, but Wayne wants to keep coaching.