(1) This year's trophy is on the line tomorrow night in Sugar Land in the rubber game of the series against Houston; and
(2) I just saw a tweet that UH is going to present Coach Graham with the existing Silver Glove Trophy. “That series has meant a lot to him over the years. It’s only fitting to let him keep it,” Todd Whitting said.

That's a cool gesture on their part. Apparently they'll create another trophy and continue to present the new one to the winner of the Silver Glove from here on but Coach Graham gets to keep the existing one.

I have another idea how the city can honor Wayne Graham. I honestly can think of only one other person who has done more for baseball in the city of Houston than Wayne and that's possibly Nolan Ryan. But consider Graham's background as a player growing up in the 1950's in the Heights, and then his 40-plus year career of being a head coach in Houston at the high school, junior college and college level, I don't think there is anyone who has been involved in Houston baseball more than Graham.

One of the cities' sporting endeavors should create a Wayne Graham Award, and present it to the most accomplished baseball player in the city each year, whether it be a high schooler, college or professional player. It could also go to a team instead of a player so I guess even little league teams would be eligible then.

Great idea.

One thing for sure. Nobody has meant more to Rice athletics in the last half century than Wayne.

Great idea. I wish the AD was leading the way on this, not UH. But good for them.

(05-14-2018 08:01 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  One thing for sure. Nobody has meant more to Rice athletics in the last half century than Wayne.

Well it's pretty clear Wayne doesn't want Rice to honor him (at least right now) so if not Rice, then the city of Houston should take the lead.

If we win tomorrow night, Wayne's career record vs UH will be 86 - 36. I doubt if any other coach is 50 games above .500 against another school

Pure conjecture but maybe Mike Martin or Danny Hall vs someone?

As of now, UH is safely in the field of 64. Let's get them started on a losing streak to make them sweat.

UH is much stronger offensively as of late. Fortunately, their shutdown relievers have been vulnerable recently, with Pulido blowing the Sunday UConn game. I think we will score some runs this time around, provided the approach at the plate is better than it was last weekend.

(05-14-2018 08:39 PM)Houston Owl Wrote:  If we win tomorrow night, Wayne's career record vs UH will be 86 - 36. I doubt if any other coach is 50 games above .500 against another school

That's incredible to own a rival like that in college baseball. It's unheard of.

(05-14-2018 08:39 PM)Houston Owl Wrote:  If we win tomorrow night, Wayne's career record vs UH will be 86 - 36. I doubt if any other coach is 50 games above .500 against another school

(05-14-2018 10:33 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Pure conjecture but maybe Mike Martin or Danny Hall vs someone?

I looked up Martin's and Hall's records.

At Florida State, Martin is 90-24/+66 vs. Jacksonville. He was 63-13 vs. Duke through last year, but two losses this year brought him down to 63-15/+48. Similarly, he was 71-21 vs. Wake Forest through last year, but his 1-2 record this year brought his record down to 71-23/+49. BTW, he's also 99-104-3 vs. Miami. (Sources: p. 66 of the Seminoles' baseball media guide and this year's schedule).

Georgia Tech doesn't break out its W-L info for Danny Hall, who started coaching there in 1994, but by comparing the Yellow Jackets ' +50 series records in their baseball information book, pp 133-136 -- Duke: 92-37, since 1903; Georgia Southern: 100-31, since 1947; Georgia State: 65-10, since 1971; and Mercer: 111-55, since 1897 -- with the 1994-present records, through last year, Hall is +50 in none of these series -- Duke (58-21), Georgia State (41-6) and Mercer (29-10) ... but this year's two wins brought him to +51 (70-19) vs Georgia Southern.

The Owls' records vs. opponents under WG are located on pp. 72-73 of the Rice Baseball Fact Book. The next-closest WG-Owl domination after UH is vs. Texas State: 52-12, including this year.

The other one I was curious about, and similar in some ways to the geographic proximity of Rice/UH, was USC and UCLA in the Dedeaux era. USC is 261-137 against UCLA, with games dating back to 1928.

I added up the Dedeaux era from 1951 to 1986, when he was sole coach. He went 122-51 (.705) against UCLA (source: http://usctrojans.com/documents/2018/5/3/2018.pdf ). What may be even more impressive is that he was 121-41 (.747) before losing 10 of the last 11 games against UCLA in 1985 and 1986.

(05-15-2018 10:19 AM)uconnbaseball Wrote:  

(05-14-2018 08:39 PM)Houston Owl Wrote:  If we win tomorrow night, Wayne's career record vs UH will be 86 - 36. I doubt if any other coach is 50 games above .500 against another school

That's incredible to own a rival like that in college baseball. It's unheard of.

Especially considering the UH, itself, was a Top 25 caliber team for well over half of those games.

(05-15-2018 01:55 PM)Almadenmike Wrote:  

(05-14-2018 08:39 PM)Houston Owl Wrote:  If we win tomorrow night, Wayne's career record vs UH will be 86 - 36. I doubt if any other coach is 50 games above .500 against another school

(05-14-2018 10:33 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Pure conjecture but maybe Mike Martin or Danny Hall vs someone?

I looked up Martin's and Hall's records.

At Florida State, Martin is 90-24/+66 vs. Jacksonville. He was 63-13 vs. Duke through last year, but two losses this year brought him down to 63-15/+48. Similarly, he was 71-21 vs. Wake Forest through last year, but his 1-2 record this year brought his record down to 71-23/+49. BTW, he's also 99-104-3 vs. Miami. (Sources: p. 66 of the Seminoles' baseball media guide and this year's schedule).

Georgia Tech doesn't break out its W-L info for Danny Hall, who started coaching there in 1994, but by comparing the Yellow Jackets ' +50 series records in their baseball information book, pp 133-136 -- Duke: 92-37, since 1903; Georgia Southern: 100-31, since 1947; Georgia State: 65-10, since 1971; and Mercer: 111-55, since 1897 -- with the 1994-present records, through last year, Hall is +50 in none of these series -- Duke (58-21), Georgia State (41-6) and Mercer (29-10) ... but this year's two wins brought him to +51 (70-19) vs Georgia Southern.

The Owls' records vs. opponents under WG are located on pp. 72-73 of the Rice Baseball Fact Book. The next-closest WG-Owl domination after UH is vs. Texas State: 52-12, including this year.

Thanks for the research, Mike. of course, Jacksonville and Duke (until just the past 2 - 3 seasons) pale as an opponent next to UH. Jacksonville and Duke have been doormats for much of those matchups with Mike Martin. UH has been a Top 25 team for a well over half of those Wayne Graham games, and a doormat for only 2 - 3 seasons during that extended stretch.

Not true about UH. They've only been a top-25 team 6 out of those 26 seasons (not counting this year yet) in the final BA poll. And they've only qualified for either 10 or 11 NCAA appearances in that time span. That's not to try to discredit Wayne's record against UH but let's not give them too much credit either.

(05-15-2018 04:08 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Not true about UH. They've only been a top-25 team 6 out of those 26 seasons (not counting this year yet) in the final BA poll. And they've only qualified for either 10 or 11 NCAA appearances in that time span. That's not to try to discredit Wayne's record against UH but let's not give them too much credit either.

And in how many of those seasons did UH rank outside the Top 50? My guess would be around one-third. Bottom line, save for just a handful of seasons, UH has been a quality baseball program throughout Wayne's tenure at Rice.

(05-15-2018 03:57 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  UH has been a Top 25 team for a well over half of those Wayne Graham games, and a doormat for only 2 - 3 seasons during that extended stretch.

The top 25 team quote by you was what I was referring to - it's just not true and a huge stretch to claim that.

Yes, they've been better than Duke or Jacksonville, but don't go too crazy over their baseball history over the past 25-years-plus. It's pretty safe to say they were outside of the top 50 every time they didn't make the NCAA tournament so do the math. If they've only made the NCAA tournament 11 times in 26 seasons, they've been outside the top 50 well more than half the time, not just one third of the time.

Stupid question here. It says that UH is going to present the silver glove trophy to Coach Graham. How does that work, as I thought the trophy currently is at South Main?

Coach Graham's record against UH (including a big super-regional win against them) is one of a long list of accomplishments at Rice for him to be proud of.

(05-15-2018 04:46 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

(05-15-2018 03:57 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  UH has been a Top 25 team for a well over half of those Wayne Graham games, and a doormat for only 2 - 3 seasons during that extended stretch.

The top 25 team quote by you was what I was referring to - it's just not true and a huge stretch to claim that.

Yes, they've been better than Duke or Jacksonville, but don't go too crazy over their baseball history over the past 25-years-plus. It's pretty safe to say they were outside of the top 50 every time they didn't make the NCAA tournament so do the math. If they've only made the NCAA tournament 11 times in 26 seasons, they've been outside the top 50 well more than half the time, not just one third of the time.

That bolded statement above is simply not true. Many non-P5 conference clubs with sub-50 RPIs don't get selected as at large teams to the dance. Last year both FAU and LaTech were such victims. Again, for the vast majority of our games with UH during Wayne's tenure UH was a quality baseball club.

(05-15-2018 05:11 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(05-15-2018 04:46 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

(05-15-2018 03:57 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  UH has been a Top 25 team for a well over half of those Wayne Graham games, and a doormat for only 2 - 3 seasons during that extended stretch.

The top 25 team quote by you was what I was referring to - it's just not true and a huge stretch to claim that.

Yes, they've been better than Duke or Jacksonville, but don't go too crazy over their baseball history over the past 25-years-plus. It's pretty safe to say they were outside of the top 50 every time they didn't make the NCAA tournament so do the math. If they've only made the NCAA tournament 11 times in 26 seasons, they've been outside the top 50 well more than half the time, not just one third of the time.

That bolded statement above is simply not true. Many non-P5 conference clubs with sub-50 RPIs don't get selected as at large teams to the dance. Last year both FAU and LaTech were such victims. Again, for the vast majority of our games with UH during Wayne's tenure UH was a quality baseball club.

Warren Nolan and Boyd's World have RPI (and Psuedo-RPI) data going back to 1997 (some courtesy of the Web Archive's Wayback Machine) ... and here are the rankings for Houston & Rice that I found.

(Shown below is Warren Nolan data from 2017 back to 2004; Boydsworld data in the underscored years, from 2004 back to 1997. I show both sites' 2004 data.)

Year: UH - Rice

2017: 19 - 41
2016: 57 - 24
2015: 18 - 37
2014: _5 - 13
2013: 67 - 26
2012:150 - 20
2011: 66 - 13
2010: 85 - 30
2009:115 - _9
2008: 37 - _4
2007: 65 - _1
2006: 20 - _2
2005: 58 - 29
2004: 65 - 17 (Boyd: 49 - 21)
2003: 24 - _4
2002: _8 - 10
2001: 47 - 19
2000: _9 - 41
1999: 16 - 10
1998: 44 - 19
1997: 31 - 19

Top10: _3 - _6 / 21 years
Top25: _8 - 15 / 21 years
Top50: 13 - 21 / 21 years

(05-14-2018 08:06 PM)grol Wrote:  Great idea. I wish the AD was leading the way on this, not UH. But good for them.

this ad (aka the brat prince) was hired to fire...this has been at least a four year endeavor...

also, many suites were made available to both schools...how many did Rice secure....???? ummm, one...great support from the rice athletic department, yet again...:)