UTRGV game - crash and burn

These UTRGV kids will savor this vicktree over UT in Austin the rest of their lives.....

 

Mercifully this massacre comes to an end.

17-9 UTRGV over Texas.

 

That is by far the worst game I've ever seen from a Texas squad.

 

Pierce!?

 

I think someone needs to remind Longhorn baseball that We’re Texas!!
It’s way past time to start acting like it!

 

11 walks, 9 hit batters in 9 innings. Unbelievable. Oh, and 3 wild pitches

 

9 hit batters? WTF!!

That must be a very negative record for UT baseball?

 

Pierce!?

 

It was a painful victory for RGV.

Many took one for the team.

 

Del Conte has shown that he doesnt run from coaches he runs to coaches. So if there is an elite replacement out there and he can get him, Del Conte will make the move.

However, the problem with getting an elite replacement is threefold:

1. Texas has not yet demonstrated it can line up NIL in large amounts for baseball and that is critical going forward;
2. The coach will see the last four years of Pierce as Omaha, Omaha, Super Regional, Fired. That is a tough sell of pressure for a new coach unless it comes with big money and a long guarantee; and
3, The pipeline and roster is empty and it will be a couple of years of pain in the SEC before it can be restocked, does an elite coach want to come in and get stomped for a year or two until they can compile a winning roster.

All three of these are addressable. Money needs to be found and pushed to baseball for NIL, pressure comes with the Texas job and if a coach truly is elite they will embrace the pressure that comes with being the coach at Texas and as for a couple of down seasons being likely, Augie went through that when he first came to Texas, and by year three he was in Omaha and starting a decade long run that had 6 CWS appearances and 2 NC's.

The critical factor is not making a change just for the sake of making a change. If Del Conte can get someone elite then make the change but don't make it hoping to get an elite coach make it after you have lined up the elite coach as a replacement.

 

Very true and very good advice.

 

One thing Texas has always had over the years is elite pitching. This is a big reason why Texas was one of the top programs in the country. When pierce said he was taking over the pitching staff this year I didn’t think it was a good move but willing to give it a chance. I think it’s has now been proven as a major mistake.

 

NIL money is available, BUT not for this product. Get the program back to the point that Omaha is NOT the goal, but rather an annual part of the regular season and NIL money will be there, but not for substandard, unfortunately laughable performances.

I admit that I was one of the biggest critics of Gus' teams winning the conference on Saturday and not showing up on Sunday because they spent all night on Sixth Street getting drunk and celebrating. Watching this **** show, I might volunteer to go play bartender for a group whose fans had annual reservations in Omaha before the season started.

I trust Chris to pick the right choice, but aside from getting in a bidding war with aTm, where is the guy?

 

I listed several options in another thread, i left off coaches i thought wouldn't make a move that are very successful where they are i.e. Schlossnagle. The only coach that would be near Augie's equivalent would be Vanderbilts but I would rather get someone younger that wants to be here long term. DBU's coach is older too. I just hope we aren't fixing to go through coach failure after coach failure, could be a long decade, or two.

 

I'd like to hear just who the hell you "fire the coach" guys think you can get that is going to do better? Coach Gus went to Omaha about 60% of the time, not every year as you seem to think. Augie went about 40%, not every year as you seem to think.

No doubt this year has not lived up to our expectations, but firing a coach after 1 bad year coming off the 3 previous very good years is not a way to build a winning program and not how you are going to attract a guy who is successful in his current position. Pierce will get his opportunity to tell CDC "this is what I need" and CDC will give it to him. THEN if he fails, then OK. I'm thinking a big upgrade in NIL money is going to be top of the list, because it seems to me he is going to have to completely overhaul this pitching staff via the portal, if that is even possible.

 

Phil,

I cannot disagree with any of your post. I'm an old man, and gone are the days when Gus called and said, "Get me this kid, the mom loves you, but YOU have are in charge of keeping the old man in check and away from me. I'll develop the kid to "the show".

There was a "committee" that chose Pierce and had rationale for the choice. When the son of a prominent member of that group announces he's committing to A&M, I have to think we have a problem. Kid is a star, grew up in and around the Disch, dad is a letterman and NIL donor. Great family; class acts. What & how did we lose him? It has nothing to do with NIL. I may never know why (took 20 years to get the truth about Marcus Dupree), but it makes me believe that the problems start in the locker room and fuel performance on the field.

Again, I have no suggestions for whom to get. The coaching cupboard seems to be bare.

 

The lack of NIL $ as a reason for failure is a poor excuse and taking the blame away from Pierce where it should be directed. It's not the fans fault that Pierce is failing.

There are at least 5-6 programs in the top 25 right now that I would bet don't have an NIL $ program at all and yet they would whooop our ***. UTRGV just whooped our ***!! You think they got more NIL $? The argument doesn't hold an ounce of legitimacy. LSU has fell off the map this year, supposedly because of NIL $ they were able to acquire all that talent last year, so what's the excuse this year? Can't have it both ways. Thats at least two data points that don't support NIL $ as a legitimate excuse for success/failure.

 

I despise this argument more than any other. It's been used in Basketball and Football over the past 20 years. "Well who are we gonna get?" We've gotten good coaches in the face of program misery. Even basketball although that coach was only here 2 years. It's CDC's job to keep a list of potential coach replacements and I trust if he makes a decision to move on he'll do a good job.

To the point, all of the lifetime donors around me last night who have had season tickets for the last 20+ years are frustrated and done with Pierce. I overheard a conversation behind me saying "you didn't hear it from me, but feelers are out there". Take it for what it's worth.

 

I can't believe UT lost to UTRGV. Reading the above, I can see how, but I still can't believe they did.

 

Gus was hired from South San HS.
Look up how he did there

is there a roughly equivalent coach out there?

assuming we need a new one right now

 

The committee didn't choose Pierce - they settled for him. He only had 5 years experience as a head coach - 3 at Sam Houston State and 2 at Tulane. Remember Augie's retirement was announced on the day of the 2016 NCAA Tournament Selection Show. Just about the worst timing possible. That gave all the top potential candidates 2+ weeks to renegotiate their contracts. A lot of coaches got raises and facility upgrades that year. Texas got the best of what was left.

 

"This year has not lived up to our expectations" might be the biggest understatement of all time. And let's not forget the dead last place conference finish in 2019. And even in the good years, there have been warning signs (e.g., constant staff turnover). Pierce already had his opportunity to tell CDC "this is what I need" this past offseason, and his big idea was to name himself pitching coach.

I don't know who should be his replacement, but that's not my job - it is CDC's and he has a great record of filling our coaching vacancies with elite coaches during his tenure.

 

On the contrary - a coach could see last four years outcomes has having occurred in spite of the fustercluck of a coaching staff we've had here. Imagine what could be done with a stable staff that produces consistently solid and occasionally great results, not just when there are strong leadership on the team and then the wheels come completely off when there isn't.

 

!anoche fue horrible!

 

Y'all are not going to change my mind, and I am not going to change yours. However, when your only answer is "fire the coach" I cannot have a rational discussion about problems and solutions with you.

 

Phil, very rarely do I disagree with you, but Pierce has lost the team. In past years one would say "fire the coach" because you cannot fire the team. Times have changed, you still cannot fire the team, but through the portal, the team can walk out on you and still play on the same level.
CdC either knows or has a good idea of what is going on. He is the boss and will suffer the consequences if Texas becomes the laughingstock of the $EC. Football is going to rule; basketball could go either way; but this baseball team could very well not win a series in the $EC next season (the top 4 teams in the country are $EC teams).
One of the following could well be the Texas Head baseball coach next season Schlossnagle, Van Horn, Mingione, Vitello, or Canham. If so, the other 4 will get substantial raises just to outbid Texas.

 

When your only answer is "keep the coach" no matter how big of a train wreck this program has become, it's hard to have a rational discussion about problems and solutions with you too.

 

I don’t know the answer. As bad as we’ve looked this year, we’re still only 2 games out of first. On the flip side we’re also only 2 games from a 4 way tie for 7th place. And this is probably the weakest Big 12 conference we’ve ever had so a good team should be running away with this league.

And this is probably the worst Texas pitching staff I’ve ever seen in my life. I miss the days of Swindell, Shiraldi, Clemens, Bruce Ruffin, Dennis Cook, Shane Reynolds, Dressendorfer, Keischnick and on and on. A program historically built on pitching and defense looks nothing like that right now.

 

Looking back, maybe I should be surprised we kept Pierce after 2019.