How can Tony Skole use players fron the area and still win??? There are 15 players from Tennessee on the roster. If you include Ga., SC, and Va. there are 25 "local" players.

Why can't other sports do the same? Talent level? Overlooking a diamond in the rough? What?

I was also thinking about cities with universities in them. Do the coaches from the universities talk with the local high school coaches to ask them to develop players a certain way that would fit their style of play. I have heard of hs coaches talking with middle school coaches that feed into the hs to run a certain style of offense or defense so they will not have tp teach brand new schemes to the kids. They just build on the information they all ready have.

BucNIowa Wrote:How can Tony Skole use players fron the area and still win??? There are 15 players from Tennessee on the roster. If you include Ga., SC, and Va. there are 25 "local" players.

Why can't other sports do the same? Talent level? Overlooking a diamond in the rough? What?

.

Because each sport is different as is the talent pool they have to draw up on and how they give out scholarships, I think baseball gives out partails so instate tution would play a role. Being from Tennessee doesn't make a player local. I counted 7 Tennessee players and 1 VA player I would call local and that calling Mountain City "local". This area and the knoxville area do have several strong baseball programs and JUCO programs (Including the defending National champs at Walters State). Finally I would say there are more kids playing baseball at the different levels then basketball, football, tennis golf etc put together so the talent pool is deeper.

R

looking at Tennesee's roster, they have 17 players from the State of Tennessee, 8 from Knoxville.

The rest of the roster, 8 from Florida 1 from North Carolina and 1 from Santa Domingo.

R

I would consider Mountain City local. Absolutely. There isn't a doubt.

I think Skole has approximately a dozen scholarships. Don't put a gun to my head- I'd have to find out exactly how many, but I think it is somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen.

So you do fill the roster up with guys from Johnson County or whatever then.

The one thing about ETSU baseball is it is a sport for blue bloods that would be hurt by leaving the A-Sun. There is an great appeal for local players now to be able to go to compete with Florida schools and in a conference that holds baseball as its glamour sport.

Look in the future for something of a protest from the baseball team about football's revival.

You may never hear about it from the press, but they do not want football to take scholarships away from them and to leave the A-Sun.

The talent level in high school baseball in this area is much higher than the other sports that the "local" tricites and surrounding areas. Each year a couple of area high school kids are good enough to play D1 Baseball compared to very few in any of the other sports. Thats one thing that has help coach Skole. Just look at the programs that have been built at South, DB, Science Hill, East over the years in baseball. They are all solid and produce quality baseball players, with a couple of kids making the pros. Dan Wright comes to mind as a major leaguer. Hunter Bledsoe, Reid Casy, Chris Mobley as minor leaguers. Tons of D1 kids. Scott Wade, Duran Ferguson, Derek Trent the list could go on.

So I think that's one reason coach Skole has been able to recruit local players better than some of the other sports. I can't think of many local golfers that have gone elsewhere and performed extremely well. Lynn Shafer went to VT but thats the only one I can think off. I apologize if there were others but I just don't know them.

I was under the impression that our regaining football was not to impact the spending on the other sports in any way. That was what I thought was so great about the whole process in that we were getting a quality football program back with the other sports still strongly supported and not losing any scholarships. This is the direction many of us fans have been wanting the athletics to go in the future and I hope it is where we are headed. I do think doing football right will strengthen basketball and the other sports as it has appeared it has hurt basketball by losing football. If we do it right we could have a decent division 1 athletic program.

And if you REALLY believe that, 81, you're fooling yourself.

It is what I am hoping for not necessarily believing. I will believe it when I see it.

The state of Tennessee is a very strong baseball state. East Tennessee has produced far more D1 players than any other sport.

Middle and West Tennessee are very talent rich in basketball and reasonably so in football. However, East Tennessee produces jack in either one of those. You get a legit D1 player once every few years, but other than that.... Not so much.

Let's not overrate Tennessee's baseball playing ability.

Name me ONE player in the Hall of Fame who was born in Tennessee.

Just one.

The only one you will find is from the Negro Leagues.

Come on, Pitt. We're not talking about talent at the profesional level. The question was how does Skole do it when others at ETSU can't and I say that it is because there are just more baseball players in teh area and the state as a whole. In Tennessee HS baseball, Farragut is far and away the best in the state right now, but for years you had Germantown and G'town-Houston, Christian Brothers, McGavock, and others in the Middle and West regions of the state. East Tennessee has caught the other parts of the state in baseball and players are in greater abundance than in football and basketball. East Tennessee has had numerous players drafted in the past 10-15 years. Hell, go back to Jim Davis who was drafted in the 18th round by Philly in the late 80's.

If you count Abingdon as a local area which I would think you would, then you can look at Trey McCall, now the coach of emory and henry, who was drafted in the first round by the phillies.

Rocky Top has now surpassed me as the all-time ETSU poster with his reference to "Dog" Davis.

Except I am now regaining it by referring to Jim as "Dog" and telling you the year was 1988.

But not overtaking it by much as Rocky knew what round Dog was drafted.

In fact, for that reference I'm not even going to argue with the people's points here.

There is talent here in baseball. So it has been said. So it shall be.

Solely because of the Dog Davis reference.

I feel honored Pitt.

double post. Sorry