(03-23-2019 06:34 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote: 8-17 overall
0-5 in conference
a current 7-game losing streak in which we've been outscored by 33 runs despite not playing a ranked team in that period
All of those suggest to me we're going backwards in progress instead of getting better. Add in a few injuries which may just be bad luck, but also could be because the guys are being pushed too hard (in practice and in games).
It's not easy to adjust to Rice as a first-year coach. I think I have some insight into this as someone whose history with the Rice athletic department is more than 30 years strong. We're not very talented but a couple of wins here and there (3 against Big 12 teams) should suggest that we're better than 8-17 overall. As I pointed out elsewhere, we have yet to even see whom Bragga recruited for the 2020 season so far officially. That's hard to fathom. I want to give him a fair shake, but so far, I'm not impressed. Sorry.
I don't see any of that as instructive as to whether or not he 'gets' Rice. I don't see how you can reach that conclusion in half a season.
David Bailiff was always portrayed as someone who 'got' Rice, and I think he did, except one fairly important detail--I don't think he ever 'got' that he wasn't going to be able to win by out-recruiting and out-athleting people, that he couldn't just keep plugging square pegs into round holes, but that he needed to find ways to out-scheme and out-execute people who might have more talent. Todd Graham actually 'got' that part of Rice, but it's the only part he got. The jury is still out on Mike Bloomgren.
I'm not sure exactly what you would want Bragga to be doing differently. I'd like to see the players play better, but I'm just not sure they are good enough to do that. You mention being pushed too hard. Is there anything substantive to support that, or are you just spit-balling a guess? That could certainly be a big problem, partcularly at a place with Rice's academic requirements. I know first hand that coaching at Rice is different from coaching at Sam, and I suppose that he's coming from a place more like Sam than Rice.
But I'm just wondering, and maybe you can't share here, if there really is more to this not 'getting' Rice. Wayne clearly 'got' Rice, probably more than any coach of any sport since Neely, and one reason why I was so supportive of giving him a farewell tour with a chosen successor is that I think he would have made 'getting' Rice (whatever that means) a primary consideration.
I think our problems are almost all related to recruiting, and have been for several years. How much of it is due to the the $20,000 price tag differential? I don't know, but I'm hopeful that the Rice Investment will cure most or all of that. How much of it is due to negative recruiting about Wayne's age and longevity? I don't know, but that is clearly no longer an issue. How much is due to other things? Again, I don't know, and it is up to Bragga to cure those things.
But the only reason why I would reasonably expect things to show improvement this year is if Bragga were somehow a way better coach than Wayne was, and I simply don't believe that to be the case.
