Game starts tonight @ 6. Temperature is supposed to be 72 at game time. Coach Norwood guaranteed today that they would be in the Sunbelt tournament and make their run & I Believe!!!

How many make the tournament?

8

Got to move up three slots.

(04-01-2014 03:32 PM)RBL Wrote:  Game starts tonight @ 6. Temperature is supposed to be 72 at game time. Coach Norwood guaranteed today that they would be in the Sunbelt tournament and make their run & I Believe!!!

When are we gonna start our run? They won't likely do it making 15 errors and allowing 33 runs in a three game series against the 7th place team Louisiana Monroe. And we're dead last in 10th place. My dad was from Missouri, so they're gonna have to show me.

By the way, we just lost to mighty Stephen F. Austin 3-1 today.

We will start the run on Friday

(04-01-2014 09:23 PM)RBL Wrote:  We will start the run on Friday

I have confidence in Coach Norwood. We'll see what happens. Still a long way to go.

Couple of differences in our program and other Sun Belt schools. We have a nice baseball field. Other teams have stadiums that resemble minor league ballparks. ULL draws 3000 fans and Texas State draws 2500 for their good games. We may draw that for the season.

(04-01-2014 09:53 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(04-01-2014 09:23 PM)RBL Wrote:  We will start the run on Friday

I have confidence in Coach Norwood. We'll see what happens. Still a long way to go.

Couple of differences in our program and other Sun Belt schools. We have a nice baseball field. Other teams have stadiums that resemble minor league ballparks. ULL draws 3000 fans and Texas State draws 2500 for their good games. We may draw that for the season.

I know, "who could we get that would be any better." I like Norwood, and I like the way he coaches. He runs, bunts, and does all the thing I like about baseball, but win. Never has pitching. He obviously can't recruit on the D-1 level(Sun Belt).

(04-01-2014 10:46 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  

(04-01-2014 09:53 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(04-01-2014 09:23 PM)RBL Wrote:  We will start the run on Friday

I have confidence in Coach Norwood. We'll see what happens. Still a long way to go.

Couple of differences in our program and other Sun Belt schools. We have a nice baseball field. Other teams have stadiums that resemble minor league ballparks. ULL draws 3000 fans and Texas State draws 2500 for their good games. We may draw that for the season.

I know, "who could we get that would be any better." I like Norwood, and I like the way he coaches. He runs, bunts, and does all the thing I like about baseball, but win. Never has pitching. He obviously can't recruit on the D-1 level(Sun Belt).

We can't get anyone better and we won't. He'll be here for awhile and will win at a higher rate than any other coach we could get. Four straight wins against Oklahoma, at OU, is pretty impressive to me. This is simply not an easy place to win at- but Norwood will get it done.

(04-01-2014 11:27 PM)mjs Wrote:  We can't get anyone better and we won't. He'll be here for awhile and will win at a higher rate than any other coach we could get. Four straight wins against Oklahoma, at OU, is pretty impressive to me. This is simply not an easy place to win at- but Norwood will get it done.

Just how do you know we can't get anyone better and that we won't? Unless, you've got the AD's ear? Maybe that's why you been saying for years that Shields wasn't in danger of being fired, and you've been correct.

Yes, and I've said before on this board, four straight wins over Oklahoma is impressive. What's not impressive is the inability to win conference games. He can beat Oklahoma every year, but can't even play .500 ball in conference. Sure, he lucked out one year, had a bad season, his team got hot and obviously played lights out to win the tournament. Kind of like Shields did several years ago in Hot Springs. I'll say one thing for you, you've got to be a great fan. I've never seen anyone who supports poor to mediocre teams and coaches more than you do.

I guess if he stays as long as Shields has, he's bound to win sometime. Maybe our coaches are on the 13 year plans here. I guess
Chris is a hog fan too. He too evidently believes in the old saying, that a "blind hog will eventually find an acorn."

All that said, despite all our disagreements, I do sincerely believe you are a great fan. You'd have to be, to be that supportive of nothing better than you're getting from our basketball program, and I'll add the baseball program too.

(04-02-2014 11:06 AM)LRTrojan Wrote:  

(04-01-2014 11:27 PM)mjs Wrote:  We can't get anyone better and we won't. He'll be here for awhile and will win at a higher rate than any other coach we could get. Four straight wins against Oklahoma, at OU, is pretty impressive to me. This is simply not an easy place to win at- but Norwood will get it done.

Just how do you know we can't get anyone better and that we won't? Unless, you've got the AD's ear? Maybe that's why you been saying for years that Shields wasn't in danger of being fired, and you've been correct.

Yes, and I've said before on this board, four straight wins over Oklahoma is impressive. What's not impressive is the inability to win conference games. He can beat Oklahoma every year, but can't even play .500 ball in conference. Sure, he lucked out one year, had a bad season, his team got hot and obviously played lights out to win the tournament. Kind of like Shields did several years ago in Hot Springs. I'll say one thing for you, you've got to be a great fan. I've never seen anyone who supports poor to mediocre teams and coaches more than you do.

I guess if he stays as long as Shields has, he's bound to win sometime. Maybe our coaches are on the 13 year plans here. I guess
Chris is a hog fan too. He too evidently believes in the old saying, that a "blind hog will eventually find an acorn."

All that said, despite all our disagreements, I do sincerely believe you are a great fan. You'd have to be, to be that supportive of nothing better than you're getting from our basketball program, and I'll add the baseball program too.

Coach Norwood is not a miracle worker but he has made our program respectable and even gotten us to the NCAA tournament. I do believe he is the best coach we could get, at this point in time, for our program. At yesterday's luncheon he mentioned that he has finally gotten past the scholarship restrictions, due to poor APR scores, that he inherited. Said he never made this public before because he didn't want to sound like he was making excuses. I think he can build a competetive team here in a very difficult league (5th in the RPI last year). Will he ever get us to number 1 in the country like ULL. I really doubt it. But I don't think future NCAA tournament bids are out of the question. However, like you have pointed out- he does need to get were making the Sun Belt tourney is routine rather than a fight up until the last weekend of the season.

(04-02-2014 12:00 PM)mjs Wrote:  Coach Norwood is not a miracle worker but he has made our program respectable and even gotten us to the NCAA tournament. I do believe he is the best coach we could get, at this point in time, for our program. At yesterday's luncheon he mentioned that he has finally gotten past the scholarship restrictions, due to poor APR scores, that he inherited. Said he never made this public before because he didn't want to sound like he was making excuses. I think he can build a competetive team here in a very difficult league (5th in the RPI last year). Will he ever get us to number 1 in the country like ULL. I really doubt it. But I don't think future NCAA tournament bids are out of the question. However, like you have pointed out- he does need to get were making the Sun Belt tourney is routine rather than a fight up until the last weekend of the season.

I don't know what you call respectable, but I'm guessing that your definition is different from mine. I'd also be willing to bet that our Yes, we backed into the tournament title one year, after barely making it in to the tournament, thus making the NCAA.

I'm ashamed to say that I'd be satisfied with playing .500 ball in the Belt at this point. If after six years and we're still in the cellar, and fighting every year to even go to the tournament, how many years is it going to take to get to playing at a .500 clip? How many more years until maybe we can contend for the league title?

I don't know that anyone could ever bring this dismal baseball program out of the doldrums, but I damn sure would be trying every five years or so by trying a new coach. Our program may be too far gone to ever make it respectable. Not so with the basketball program. It's never been as low as the baseball program is now.

Maybe this program will never be able to win the conference baseball title, but it sure would be nice at this point to have team that can play .500 ball in the Belt.

(04-01-2014 09:53 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(04-01-2014 09:23 PM)RBL Wrote:  We will start the run on Friday

I have confidence in Coach Norwood. We'll see what happens. Still a long way to go.

Couple of differences in our program and other Sun Belt schools. We have a nice baseball field. Other teams have stadiums that resemble minor league ballparks. ULL draws 3000 fans and Texas State draws 2500 for their good games. We may draw that for the season.

Yes, but the simple fact of the matter is teams like ASU and UALR want to be considered strong SBC Teams...we have to be able to consistently finish at or near the top of the league, despite teams like ULL, Texas State, South Alabama, and Georgia Southern next year.

Raffo's done an amazing job at ASU the last 6 years, but even he knows that he is eventually going to be judged by whether or not we can consistently stay in the top of the SBC. While we've had one good season where we finished 2nd...finishing 7th and 8th doesn't qualify for what we want.

No one nationally notices or cares about a mediocre Sun Belt program,...but the top ranked programs can get noticed, and baseball is one of the few games where you don't have to have amazing facilities to be able to walk in and beat the best.

Well I already purchased my baseball season tickets so I will hope that Coach Norwood will deliver on his promise. Guess I want be seeing LRT at any more games? Or maybe on a beautiful day at the ballpark.

(04-02-2014 01:31 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(04-01-2014 09:53 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(04-01-2014 09:23 PM)RBL Wrote:  We will start the run on Friday

I have confidence in Coach Norwood. We'll see what happens. Still a long way to go.

Couple of differences in our program and other Sun Belt schools. We have a nice baseball field. Other teams have stadiums that resemble minor league ballparks. ULL draws 3000 fans and Texas State draws 2500 for their good games. We may draw that for the season.

Yes, but the simple fact of the matter is teams like ASU and UALR want to be considered strong SBC Teams...we have to be able to consistently finish at or near the top of the league, despite teams like ULL, Texas State, South Alabama, and Georgia Southern next year.

Raffo's done an amazing job at ASU the last 6 years, but even he knows that he is eventually going to be judged by whether or not we can consistently stay in the top of the SBC. While we've had one good season where we finished 2nd...finishing 7th and 8th doesn't qualify for what we want.

No one nationally notices or cares about a mediocre Sun Belt program,...but the top ranked programs can get noticed, and baseball is one of the few games where you don't have to have amazing facilities to be able to walk in and beat the best.

I believe you have a facility that can actually be referred to as a stadium, while we have a ball field. We get friends and family at our games- I assume you get significantly more than that. I assume recruits care some about those things. I'm not sure what our ceiling is in baseball. The Sun Belt is a good league- This likely helps our recruiting, but I can't see us ever being one of the top teams in the league on a consistent basis. I think regularly being in the top half would be quite an accomplishment for us. If you finish there, you certainly have a shot at winning the tourney in any given year. Maybe if we ever could get to the top of the league things could change here. I guess success begets success. Certainly changing coaches is not the answer right now. Last thing we need to do is "start over" at this point in time.

[quote='mjs' pid='10628996' dateline='1396470473']

I believe you have a facility that can actually be referred to as a stadium, while we have a ball field. We get friends and family at our games- I assume you get significantly more than that. I assume recruits care some about those things. I'm not sure what our ceiling is in baseball. The Sun Belt is a good league- This likely helps our recruiting, but I can't see us ever being one of the top teams in the league on a consistent basis. I think regularly being in the top half would be quite an accomplishment for us. If you finish there, you certainly have a shot at winning the tourney in any given year. Maybe if we ever could get to the top of the league things could change here. I guess success begets success. Certainly changing coaches is not the answer right now. Last thing we need to do is "start over" at this point in time.


Exactly when is changing coaches the right answer in your eyes? How many years do you give a coach to accomplish what you think is acceptable, mediocrity? Just curious, since you don't evidently believe in coaching changes.

Volleyball, Basketball (men & women's) and Baseball are my sports that I have Season Tickets for and I am ok with all my teams coaches.

(04-02-2014 04:17 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  [quote='mjs' pid='10628996' dateline='1396470473']

I believe you have a facility that can actually be referred to as a stadium, while we have a ball field. We get friends and family at our games- I assume you get significantly more than that. I assume recruits care some about those things. I'm not sure what our ceiling is in baseball. The Sun Belt is a good league- This likely helps our recruiting, but I can't see us ever being one of the top teams in the league on a consistent basis. I think regularly being in the top half would be quite an accomplishment for us. If you finish there, you certainly have a shot at winning the tourney in any given year. Maybe if we ever could get to the top of the league things could change here. I guess success begets success. Certainly changing coaches is not the answer right now. Last thing we need to do is "start over" at this point in time.


Exactly when is changing coaches the right answer in your eyes? How many years do you give a coach to accomplish what you think is acceptable, mediocrity? Just curious, since you don't evidently believe in coaching changes.

Not sure I would go that far, but I don't think firing coaches every few years will "magically" make us a top 25 team. Building this baseball program is a long term process. Coach Norwood has a ton of energy and enthusiasm, but I worry he might burn out before his job is completed.

(04-02-2014 05:37 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(04-02-2014 04:17 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  [quote='mjs' pid='10628996' dateline='1396470473']

I believe you have a facility that can actually be referred to as a stadium, while we have a ball field. We get friends and family at our games- I assume you get significantly more than that. I assume recruits care some about those things. I'm not sure what our ceiling is in baseball. The Sun Belt is a good league- This likely helps our recruiting, but I can't see us ever being one of the top teams in the league on a consistent basis. I think regularly being in the top half would be quite an accomplishment for us. If you finish there, you certainly have a shot at winning the tourney in any given year. Maybe if we ever could get to the top of the league things could change here. I guess success begets success. Certainly changing coaches is not the answer right now. Last thing we need to do is "start over" at this point in time.


Exactly when is changing coaches the right answer in your eyes? How many years do you give a coach to accomplish what you think is acceptable, mediocrity? Just curious, since you don't evidently believe in coaching changes.

Not sure I would go that far, but I don't think firing coaches every few years will "magically" make us a top 25 team. Building this baseball program is a long term process. Coach Norwood has a ton of energy and enthusiasm, but I worry he might burn out before his job is completed.

Where do you people keep getting this bull**** that some of us think a coaching change will result in Top 25 teams. I've never said that or even dreamed about that. Would like to have a team that would be in the top 50 some though. I think most fans want their teams to be competitive in their league year in and year out. And by competitive, I mean in contention for the league championship most years. I'd want them to go to post season at least most years. That's not impossible, although it has been here pretty much in basketball and baseball.

Wonder how many years you think this process will take in baseball. It hasn't happened in twelve years in basketball. How long do you expect the average fan to wait for these things to happen? Evidently thousands have already given up in basketball. Baseball is pretty much family and girlfriends, so I guess they don't have much to lose there.