Huskies lose the next two, to Penn State, 7-3 and 5-1.

NIU is 0-6.

Next game Saturday vs Monmouth.

(02-24-2023 11:50 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Huskies lose the next two, to Penn State, 7-3 and 5-1.

NIU is 0-6.

Next game Saturday vs Monmouth.

Are we tanking for draft picks? What are we doing here?

NIU-Monmouth game canceled ... rain in Cary, N.C. Next vs Maine on Sunday (2-26).

"Fire the coach, fire the coach!"

This program has been bad for way too long now. It's rather embarrassing how bad it is.

Fire the Coach, replace the AD, ASAP.

Somebody help me with my math here ...

NIU will play 19 road games (unless there's another weather cancel) before the first homer on March 24. Of the total 54 games, NIU has 35 road games and 19 at home.

OK, so ... is the $$ being spent to upgrade the baseball stadium going to help at least somewhat balance the schedule in future years?

(02-26-2023 11:56 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  Somebody help me with my math here ...

NIU will play 19 road games (unless there's another weather cancel) before the first homer on March 24. Of the total 54 games, NIU has 35 road games and 19 at home.

OK, so ... is the $$ being spent to upgrade the baseball stadium going to help at least somewhat balance the schedule in future years?

For comparison, Northwestern plays it's first home game on March 28th (against NIU), and only play 16 games at home.

I think too much is being put into our road schedule. We're a northern climate school and sceduling home games in February and early March is virtually impossible.

Huskies beat Maine 6-3 for their first win of the year. Now 1-6. Unfortunately, a four game series at Western Kentucky is next. Thru yesterday WKU was 7-0.

Edit. Ohio beat WKU today 6-4, so they will face the Huskies on Friday at 7-1.

Huskies sweep a DH today. Beat WKU 18-10 (7 innings) and 6-5 (10 innings). Now 3-8.

Huskies have now lost 7 straight. Record is now 3-15 (0-5 MAC), but what sticks out is that in this latest losing streak, the Huskies were out-scored 32-85. On the season, NIU has been out-scored 86-164. I don't know what to say, but throughout my (amateurish) enjoyment of baseball at all levels, I thought pitching was one of the cornerstones of a decent team. So what do we have here? Does NIU have a pitching coach?

(03-17-2023 09:55 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Huskies have now lost 7 straight. Record is now 3-15 (0-5 MAC), but what sticks out is that in this latest losing streak, the Huskies were out-scored 32-85. On the season, NIU has been out-scored 86-164. I don't know what to say, but throughout my (amateurish) enjoyment of baseball at all levels, I thought pitching was one of the cornerstones of a decent team. So what do we have here? Does NIU have a pitching coach?

Is that really the issue here?

I was being sarcastic with that last question, but actually, like a RB or CB coach in football, or an assistant coach of guards in basketball, a pitching coach is expected to coach pitchers. Seriously, I am trying to understand what's going on with the NIU baseball program. Others with more comprehension or who follow the team more closely might have something else to say.

(03-17-2023 10:45 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  I was being sarcastic with that last question, but actually, like a RB or CB coach in football, or an assistant coach of guards in basketball, a pitching coach is expected to coach pitchers. Seriously, I am trying to understand what's going on with the NIU baseball program. Others with more comprehension or who follow the team more closely might have something else to say.

Ah...my bad.

With that said, and this is without knowing anything...literally anything...about the baseball team but I figure those other assistant coaches you listed off have talent that is miles better than whatever the baseball pitching coach has to work with.

So ... staff experience and a training program are not quite as important because the problem is ... recruiting? That has its own set of problems.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, here is a study on pitching importance:

http://research.sabr.org/journals/is-pit...f-baseball

In any case, when your opponents out-hit you roughly 2-1 over 18 games .. a big chunk of the season ... it does make one wonder. Is it coaching, recruiting, training, what?

Fire The Coach.

(03-18-2023 09:42 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  Fire The Coach.

There couldn’t be anything more obvious:

2015 22-33
2016 24-32
2017 17-38
2018 20-36
2019 20-36
2020 7-10
2021 16-38
2022 14-40
2023 3-15

143-278

33-93 in the last 2+ years.

Never even close to .500. This has been unbelievably bad and unfathomable that he has reached nine years.

(03-18-2023 09:59 AM)HuskieDave Wrote:  

(03-18-2023 09:42 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  Fire The Coach.

There couldn’t be anything more obvious:

2015 22-33
2016 24-32
2017 17-38
2018 20-36
2019 20-36
2020 7-10
2021 16-38
2022 14-40
2023 3-15

143-278

33-93 in the last 2+ years.

Never even close to .500. This has been unbelievably bad and unfathomable that he has reached nine years.

He will secretly be extended.

(03-18-2023 09:59 AM)HuskieDave Wrote:  

(03-18-2023 09:42 AM)NIUfilmmaker Wrote:  Fire The Coach.

There couldn’t be anything more obvious:

2015 22-33
2016 24-32
2017 17-38
2018 20-36
2019 20-36
2020 7-10
2021 16-38
2022 14-40
2023 3-15

143-278

33-93 in the last 2+ years.

Never even close to .500. This has been unbelievably bad and unfathomable that he has reached nine years.

It's downright crazy he still has a job. He tanked this program pretty good.

This used to be a pretty decent MAC program before him.

Oh, you're going to love this ... (sarcasm intended) ...

Earlier in the post, someone mentioned former NIU coach/now North Central Coach Ed Mathey and the success he had before departure. I checked the NC website, and their pitching coach is Tim Stoddard. You remember Stoddard. Pitched Baltimore to the Game 4 win over the Phillies in the '83 World Series. Was with the Division winning Cubs in '84. Also played with San Diego, the NY Yankees and finished up with Cleveland in '89.

How many former pro pitchers are out there and why don't we have one?

Now look at NIU's pitching coach: Josh Pethoud. His profile says that "After three seasons as a volunteer assistant coach, Josh Pethoud was named an assistant coach for the NIU baseball team in the summer of 2021. He will work primarily with the Huskies' pitching staff."

Not knocking Pethoud at all. Don't even know the guy. And he's not in charge. He didn't hire himself.

So is the issue -- as it seems with many Huskies programs -- what resources are available and how are those resources used? NIU is spending a ton of money to rebuild the baseball stadium. Can't stop now, with many $100ks into it. And no, I am not a proponent of dropping baseball.

But that brings into question NIU's commitment to its programs. Do we have some of these because that's the "thing to do?" The questions, I think, are a lot larger than that. Did the baseball stadium project get launched because STF needed a ribbon to cut for his resume? You take it from there if you want.

(03-18-2023 01:50 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Oh, you're going to love this ... (sarcasm intended) ...

Earlier in the post, someone mentioned former NIU coach/now North Central Coach Ed Mathey and the success he had before departure. I checked the NC website, and their pitching coach is Tim Stoddard. You remember Stoddard. Pitched Baltimore to the Game 4 win over the Phillies in the '83 World Series. Was with the Division winning Cubs in '84. Also played with San Diego, the NY Yankees and finished up with Cleveland in '89.

How many former pro pitchers are out there and why don't we have one?

Now look at NIU's pitching coach: Josh Pethoud. His profile says that "After three seasons as a volunteer assistant coach, Josh Pethoud was named an assistant coach for the NIU baseball team in the summer of 2021. He will work primarily with the Huskies' pitching staff."

Not knocking Pethoud at all. Don't even know the guy. And he's not in charge. He didn't hire himself.

So is the issue -- as it seems with many Huskies programs -- what resources are available and how are those resources used? NIU is spending a ton of money to rebuild the baseball stadium. Can't stop now, with many $100ks into it. And no, I am not a proponent of dropping baseball.

But that brings into question NIU's commitment to its programs. Do we have some of these because that's the "thing to do?" The questions, I think, are a lot larger than that. Did the baseball stadium project get launched because STF needed a ribbon to cut for his resume? You take it from there if you want.

All correct. Pethoud was named to replace Drew Maki in June 2021, after Maki took the HC position at Cleary University. Maki was a true pitching coach, having been previously the pitching coach at EMU.

The current team ERA is 8.27 and seven of the 16 pitchers have ERAs over 10. So, yeah, that might be a problem.