Coach Pierce leaves a legacy that will not soon be forgotten.

Chop, I'm a little confused and having a hard time figuring it out. Are you or are you not a fan of Pierce?

 

Pierce is now 1-4 vs Schlossnaggy since he became a&m’s head coach (including a 10-2 beatdown at the 2022 CWS). If we make it to tonight’s game, he’ll likely end the evening 1-5 against him. Better get used to it, this is the new normal.

 

The Horns are not motivated. Pierce is not a motivator. That’s his job. Horns can’t hit when they need it. He is handed some of best talent to fill a roster, and does not know how to win with that talent. Too many 2 and Q’s. Not motivated. Gonna get killed in SEC. Losing Woody Williams should have been a clue.

 

CDC has to be thinking about a replacement doesn’t he? Pierce just isn’t the guy to get it done here. The trajectory of this program is going the wrong way in a hurry. And next year the competition really ramps up. I guess if I was CDC I would give Pierce one year in the SEC to see how we stack up. The decision to replace him might be really easy 12 months from now.

 

das,

Where does Chris go shopping? Pickins are slim, but so is the support for this kind of results.

 

Jeez, i would take Wayne Graham right now over this crap.

 

The way this group has underperformed, I'd have bought season tickets and driven from Houston to watch that comedy show.

I'll never forget playing Rice at Reckling Park and Coach Graham had a folding chair in front of the dugout. Rice was fielding about like the Horns have been lately, and Graham hadn't said a word. After another walk, he yelled, "Why should they swing when a walk is as good as a triple the way y'all play".

 

I don't know what coaches would be available, but this was a bad end to an often-painful season. 3 CWS appearances in Pierce's tenure of 8 years, but two of those appearances were as brief as you can get. Two years in a row with no home regional, and getting a home regional isn't really that high a bar--16 other teams managed it. Please, please at the very least get a good pitching coach.

 

It might be a reach but the announcers were talking up the A&M assistant Max Weiner yesterday saying he should be a head coach soon. He’s also got MLB experience on his resume as a pitching coordinator (not sure how that differs from a pitching coach). If he’s a real up and comer I would make a run at him or at least give him an interview. I would think the chance to take over a blue blood program would be very appealing.

and I agree that Pierce’s 8 years haven’t been as sparkling as it may seem as first glance. The trajectory of the program reminds me of the Fred Akers tenure. Fred had some outstanding years early on but when the wheels fell off they completely fell off. And I have nothing against Fred. He is probably a great guy but the program went downhill fast and we were getting mauled by our rivals every year. The baseball program seems to be headed in the same direction.

 

das,

Pierce has NOT had wealthy alums calling recruits and their families advising them NOT to come to Texas. Neither has Pierce had to put up with NO personal computers for his players to use for their school work, nor has he had only ONE tutor available only from 930-1030 AM for nearly 30 kids trying to stay eligible during the summer.

 

I guess I missed all the "great development" that you profess. This has been an abysmal season. We should be loaded with talent that doesnt have to be motivated to perform. I have never been a Pierce fan but surely this season will dampen some of the orange colored glass views?? My hope is CDC makes the change but thats why he gets the big bucks.

 

Sabre,

I assume that’s a reference to the latter years of Akers tenure. I wasn’t trying to imply anything about Akers other than the train went off the tracks quickly. I know you have lots of insight into the program and it sounds like Akers was being stabbed in the back or really pissed a lot of people off or both. In either case, Pierce doesn’t have that excuse. What he does have is the most tradition rich program in the country and it’s falling well below expectations.

 

If you missed the great development of Gage Boehm into one of the best pitchers in the conference then you haven’t been watching. He showed up here this year as a journeyman junior college player with mediocre stats.

 

Please share his stats for this season.

 

Website says ERA 2.53, 8 saves, 5-3 record in 53 innings pitched. Gage did become a dependable closer the last half of the season. I hope he doesn't transfer out.

 

If you’re going to give him credit for the development of Bohem, the you’re also going to have to blame him for the regression of many of the other members of the pitching staff.

 

And Grubbs was developed from an infrequently used bullpen arm with not-good stats to our #1 starter. Now, on a typical UT pitching staff, Grubbs would be the #2 starter. In a really good year, Grubbs would still be the #3 starter. Nonetheless, he was developed from a bench-sitting middle reliever with lousy stats last year into a legitimate weekend starter this year. He'll be back next year, and he should be even better.

 

That's right. Anyone questioning the skills or the performance of Boehm on the mound hasn't been watching.

 

Agree, he became one of the most reliable pitchers on the staff. Why did Pierce only use him 2 to 3 innings in relief every week?

 

If pierce stays he should be required to hire a quality pitching coach. Our program has been great over the years due to great pitching. This year we ranked 45th in era. Not acceptable.

 

The issue, as always, is never to be running away from someone but to be running to someone. If there is a high-quality Coach out there and that person has expressed interest and will actually move and not just use Texas for a bigger contract then I understand a move now, particularly based on the last two seasons and looking at a move to the SEC where at present Texas will come in as maybe the ninth or 10th best program in that league. The fact that Texas would come in so low into the new league is entirely on Pierce and what he has done over the last couple of years.

However, we don’t just get rid of Pierce for the sake of getting rid of Pierce. There has to be a good quality hire already on the hook otherwise the real threat is making things even worse. Texas ended up with Pierce the last time because there was no set replacement already lined up for Augie and Pierce ultimately was the best person who was willing to take the job not the best person that might have been available. This time if a move is going to be made then Texas has to get the best person who may be available and not the best of a limited pool of options who may be no better than Pierce and possibly even worse given the learning curve of running a big time program.

The other thing that must happen is that Texas baseball must be given some priority for NIL and cannot be so far down the list when it comes to that support. I understand that many may be holding back on NIL because of Pierce and if that truly is the case, then that factor even more than his record over the last two years says it’s time for a change because the only way Texas will compete in baseball in the SEC is with a strong NIL for baseball.

 

Someone buy Coach Pierce a plane ticket to OKC, so he can see how coaching on the diamond is done right.

 

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, White still doesn't have a clue how to coach 3rd base.

 

Fair point, but I think there’s also the problem of standing pat with someone who is “good enough” out of fear of the uncertainty that comes with making a change in search of someone potentially better (and hopefully great). For analogy, I don't think there is much criticism from Texas fans about exiting the Big XII to go to the SEC. It is a risky bet, but it has generated a lot of excitement and it is the direction we needed to go if we aspire to be truly great.

 

Cam Constantine may be head coach next year. Theoretically.

 

There's not a single poster on here that wouldn't love for their biggest gripe to be Pierce's coaching of 3rd base. Sadly, he had to fire himself from doing that, too, he was do bad.

Mike White
National #1 seed
2-0 in WCWS
Shutout / one-hit Stanford (National #8 Seed)
Shutout / one-hit / Run Ruled Florida (National #4 Seed / SEC Champs)

David Pierce
#3 Seed in B-CS Regional
Already started his summer vacation (not in Omaha)

 

That's where I am right now. I'm not a Pierce fan, but who do we get to replace him?

 

When Pierce was hired, there was an interim AD who replaced a disaster of an AD. I have much more confidence that CDC would make the right hire at the right time.

 

If only CDC had been hired a year earlier, then he would have been in charge of replacing Augie. There's an excellent chance he would have hired Schlossnaggy because of their history together at TCU, or at least someone comparable.

 

Dang, STHAustin, now you've got me thinking about Steve Patterson. There was so much collateral damage from that hire. I guess Bill Powers drove that decision, and I don't want to disparage Powers personally (he was one of my favorite professors in law school), but he was not qualified to hire the athletic director of a major university.