Embarrassing loss to UVA today, 14-1.

Can't wait for McFarland to get his lazy butt out of the HC office.

Farewell tour... More like GTFO tour.

The only good thing is with a new, energetic & hard-working coaching staff (assuming JMU hire's one) you can actually 'fix' a baseball program relatively quickly if you are dedicated to having a good baseball program.

What JMU has now for a baseball program is emabarrassing. That is not at all an indictment of the players ----- JMU has a very 'lazy' and complacent coaching staff in place that has slowly let the program degrade over the last 4-5 years to the current level.

How did the new facilities help out?

(04-09-2015 07:47 AM)Dukeman Wrote:  How did the new facilities help out?

The new facilities are VERY NICE, but the leader of the program actually has to take advantage and leverage those facilities.

I would say only UVA and Liberty have better baseball facilities in the state than JMU. If the coach is not out there selling the program no one is going to know how nice the facilities are.

To anwer your 'sarcastic' question about the facilities helping out though --- The new facilities allowed JMU to host the CAA tournament twice in the recent past. Never would have happened at the old facility.

(04-09-2015 07:52 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(04-09-2015 07:47 AM)Dukeman Wrote:  How did the new facilities help out?

The new facilities are VERY NICE, but the leader of the program actually has to take advantage and leverage those facilities.

I would say only UVA and Liberty have better baseball facilities in the state than JMU. If the coach is not out there selling the program no one is going to know how nice the facilities are.

To anwer your 'sarcastic' question about the facilities helping out though --- The new facilities allowed JMU to host the CAA tournament twice in the recent past. Never would have happened at the old facility.

Actually spoke to a former Liberty player last Saturday (he was instructing at a baseball clinic my son took part in) and he saw my JMU gear and commented how good of a program JMU USED to have.

(04-09-2015 08:22 AM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(04-09-2015 07:52 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(04-09-2015 07:47 AM)Dukeman Wrote:  How did the new facilities help out?

The new facilities are VERY NICE, but the leader of the program actually has to take advantage and leverage those facilities.

I would say only UVA and Liberty have better baseball facilities in the state than JMU. If the coach is not out there selling the program no one is going to know how nice the facilities are.

To anwer your 'sarcastic' question about the facilities helping out though --- The new facilities allowed JMU to host the CAA tournament twice in the recent past. Never would have happened at the old facility.

Actually spoke to a former Liberty player last Saturday (he was instructing at a baseball clinic my son took part in) and he saw my JMU gear and commented how good of a program JMU USED to have.

If you follow college baseball you actually hear that a lot in the state.

(04-09-2015 08:22 AM)jmu98 Wrote:  

(04-09-2015 07:52 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(04-09-2015 07:47 AM)Dukeman Wrote:  How did the new facilities help out?

The new facilities are VERY NICE, but the leader of the program actually has to take advantage and leverage those facilities.

I would say only UVA and Liberty have better baseball facilities in the state than JMU. If the coach is not out there selling the program no one is going to know how nice the facilities are.

To anwer your 'sarcastic' question about the facilities helping out though --- The new facilities allowed JMU to host the CAA tournament twice in the recent past. Never would have happened at the old facility.

Actually spoke to a former Liberty player last Saturday (he was instructing at a baseball clinic my son took part in) and he saw my JMU gear and commented how good of a program JMU USED to have.

Only time will tell how much damage Spanky has inflicted on the baseball program, and how long it will take for JMU to become nationally competitive once again. It all depends on the new hire I suppose, but I'm hoping we don't enter into a long period of doldrums ala the pattern of MBB.

The right HC hire and staff can turn this thing around pronto, but the patience shown to Spanky for the last decade is beyond my understanding. The damage his last many years to the program's rep and ability to recruit is very real.

LH --- that is a very accurate and fair assessment of what has been allowed to happen to the baseball program.

Hopefully we announce the new hire a day after our season is over. If it is a long process after completion of season, not good.(unless we cannot announce because new coach is in college world series)

(04-09-2015 09:35 AM)Dukesfan71 Wrote:  Hopefully we announce the new hire a day after our season is over. If it is a long process after completion of season, not good.(unless we cannot announce because new coach is in college world series)

The interview process is ongoing and JMU will be bringing in candidates for interviews this spring.

I hope Motley Crew's farewell tour this summer is a little better.

(04-09-2015 10:10 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(04-09-2015 09:35 AM)Dukesfan71 Wrote:  Hopefully we announce the new hire a day after our season is over. If it is a long process after completion of season, not good.(unless we cannot announce because new coach is in college world series)

The interview process is ongoing and JMU will be bringing in candidates for interviews this spring.

Why so early in the year??? They will not be playing again for nine months.

I don't share the optimism that this can be turned around quickly, even with the right manager.

One of the leading scouting services, Perfect Game, puts out draft follow lists for every state every year.

I will break down this year's for Virginia:
UVa - 8 players
Va. Tech - 2 players
Radford - 2 players
Richmond - 3 players
Longwood - 2 players
GMU - 1 player
Liberty - 1
W&M - 2
VMI - 1
ODU - 1
VCU - 1
JMU - 0

Here's next year's:

UVA: 5
Liberty: 4 (should have a top 10 rd. pick)
Va. Tech: 2
W&M: 1
Richmond: 1
NSU: 1
VCU: 2
Radford: 1
JMU: 1 (very low pick)

And here are last year's Virginia draft results:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y201...tate&fv=va

Granted, last year we had a couple of guys picked up (McFarland was even a priority senior sign), but we are being out pro'd by most, if not all, of our in state competition. This matters to the quality baseball players needed to turn this around. There has to be a player that a scout (an area scout, not a local guy) wants to see in order for him to drive to Harrisonburg for a game and not go to Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Blacksburg, Radford, Richmond, etc.

We are trending downward when it comes to pro prospects, our local "peers" are trending upward...

(04-09-2015 11:23 AM)JMUDukeDawg Wrote:  I don't share the optimism that this can be turned around quickly, even with the right manager.

One of the leading scouting services, Perfect Game, puts out draft follow lists for every state every year.

I will break down this year's for Virginia:
UVa - 8 players
Va. Tech - 2 players
Radford - 2 players
Richmond - 3 players
Longwood - 2 players
GMU - 1 player
Liberty - 1
W&M - 2
VMI - 1
ODU - 1
VCU - 1
JMU - 0

Here's next year's:

UVA: 5
Liberty: 4 (should have a top 10 rd. pick)
Va. Tech: 2
W&M: 1
Richmond: 1
NSU: 1
VCU: 2
Radford: 1
JMU: 1 (very low pick)

And here are last year's Virginia draft results:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y201...tate&fv=va

Granted, last year we had a couple of guys picked up (McFarland was even a priority senior sign), but we are being out pro'd by most, if not all, of our in state competition. This matters to the quality baseball players needed to turn this around. There has to be a player that a scout (an area scout, not a local guy) wants to see in order for him to drive to Harrisonburg for a game and not go to Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Blacksburg, Radford, Richmond, etc.

We are trending downward when it comes to pro prospects, our local "peers" are trending upward...

While I agree there is a definite downward trend and depleted talent at JMU ----- even using your own numbers outside of UVA ---JMU can get this righted fairly quickly. JMU is not that far off of the other programs in the state.

And the sooner JMU starts recruiting outside of the Rockingham County the better. The position players are not as much an an issue as pitching....and that is where JMU is really struggling.

(04-09-2015 10:59 AM)BleedingPurple Wrote:  

(04-09-2015 10:10 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(04-09-2015 09:35 AM)Dukesfan71 Wrote:  Hopefully we announce the new hire a day after our season is over. If it is a long process after completion of season, not good.(unless we cannot announce because new coach is in college world series)

The interview process is ongoing and JMU will be bringing in candidates for interviews this spring.

Why so early in the year??? They will not be playing again for nine months.

So the replacement will be in place after the last game of the season and can quickly assemble his staff. Also for baseball you need the new coach there so he can connect with returning players before the leave for the summer. Also needed for recruiting to hit the AAU/travel tournament circuit which the current staff has essentially ignored the last few years.

(04-09-2015 10:10 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(04-09-2015 09:35 AM)Dukesfan71 Wrote:  Hopefully we announce the new hire a day after our season is over. If it is a long process after completion of season, not good.(unless we cannot announce because new coach is in college world series)

The interview process is ongoing and JMU will be bringing in candidates for interviews this spring.

I have no confidence in JB. He should have a short list of 5 candidates but don't think that's ever the case with our admin. Instead we'll be paying Carr or some other search firm for a list of assistants to go after.

Seems like the initial assessment is despite ineptness they might have found a winner in Withers.

I hope we're not paying a dime to Carr for this hire, but I do think we need to have a new coaching staff in place by July 1. This shouldn't be hard, but we seem to make easy problems tough.

Has anyone heard any names being mentioned?

(04-09-2015 08:34 PM)HooDukeVooDuke Wrote:  I hope we're not paying a dime to Carr for this hire, but I do think we need to have a new coaching staff in place by July 1. This shouldn't be hard, but we seem to make easy problems tough.

Has anyone heard any names being mentioned?

Carr is not involved in the baseball coach hiring process.

Once again a Women's Team is soaring ... while the Men's Team is floundering.
It's not a pretty situation ...