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

Not arguing, just pointing out he's not perfect.

 

Two responses:

1) If I ever had any doubt about you, your liking Powers tells me you are definitely male

2) You don't need to "disparage" Powers, I've got you covered because I have and will continue to tell the truth and disparage him as long as I can draw a breath, BUT there is nothing I didn't say to his face when he was alive.

As I told him to his face, "You have set MY University back twenty years. Get ready because your *** is fired before January 1". Of course they let him stay until June 1.

 

I have no idea what you're alluding to (probably better that I don't), but my opinion of him is based strictly on my experience with him as an instructor. I had him for two classes (CivPro for two semesters and Jurisprudence for a semester). He was a great teacher and taught the only classes in law school that I didn't hate.

 

Steve Patterson says hello.

 

Damn, MC, you just had to mention that name right before dinner.

 

Schlossnaggy or Skip Johnson. Or maybe just Skip.

 

Legend, regarding your comment “We should be loaded with talent that doesnt have to be motivatedto perform.”

Talent is personal. Until it becomes team motivated talent it won’t win. Especially in baseball. Pierce does not have that motivational skill set.
As mentioned, CDC decision will become more apparent after a year in the sec.

 

Unfortunately being crushed by motivated SEC teams may help CDC make a decision but it will wound Texas Baseball. I think it is clear where we are headed and a really bad year will only make it that much harder to get a great coach.

 

The Clemson coach is very intriguing, not gonna lie (Erik Bakich). Anyone that can take Michigan to the title game should be a high value target. No other northern team has even sniffed the championship game in nearly 50 years.

and he has Clemson in a super in his second season. His 1st season, he made the tournament but didn’t make it to supers.

 

I just hope someone besides Hornfans is discussing this.

 

It's Tuesday after the line of questioning and a couple days of internet fodder about will Pierce be back next year. There has been no CDC tweet about his support for his coach. CDC is very active and I think would come to his defense if he wanted to.

 

Chris is too busy supporting positive things like the rowing National Championship, women's softball, and the big tailgate tomorrow in OKC. When every other activity is finished, he'll devote time to "reviews", but that said, if asked, I'm sure he would say that Pierce doesn't need "defending" or some such.

 

This is probably the right answer. I don't hate Pierce, appreciate the 2021 season and all, just never thought he was the right hire in the first place. We'll know a lot more than we ever wanted to know 12 months from now, after his trial by fire in the SEC. After we get destroyed, I feel certain we'll still have a few dead-enders here telling us, "But he's taken us to Omaha 3 out the last 9 seasons..."

 

I support Coach Pierce and you all know that. He took the job when others passed because they did not want to follow Augie. When he came, he talked way more about Coach Gus and his legacy and what it meant to him (Pierce) than Augie, which I appreciated. He's got deep Houston and Texas ties. Coach Gus once said, "All you gotta do to be successful in college baseball is recruit the Houston area well." I reckon the game is not the same as it was then, but I always remembered that quote because both Gus and DP appreciate how big of a deal HS baseball is in Houston. He's my guy no matter what. You can call me names all you want, I don't care. DP is my guy. We could and probably will do worse if a change is made. Remember you heard it here first.

 

1) What do people want? A pitching staff that gets the best baseball players from Texas and Cali - over schools that have won a natty since 2005.
2) Measuring stick is Omaha? NO, measuring stick is Winning in Omaha.
3) Criticism? Easy, this was the worst BP performance we've seen in years. Didn't even have a real closer. Or a staff ace. Base running errors and defensive errors lost ball games.
4) Texas should always host a regional.

How he comes in for any kind of criticism is beyond me.

I could go on. This isn't 10U ball. Don't lower the standard.

Last natty - 2005. Had the team to win it in 2014. One error away from championship series in 2018.

Time for a change.

 

2022 Omaha team had no shot of winning it all. We're behind Aggie now in talent. That alone is enough to require a change.

 

Phil- or anyone else for that matter, no need to call any one names, at least not from me. This is a forum to discuss our favorite team. We have differing opinions as it should be, it will all work itself out in the end just not on anyone’s expected timeline.

I come here to enjoy discussing my team and seek insight and perspectives, not only of my own, if we all thought and said the same things it would be boring.

We’re all very passionate about our team.

Pierce currently has the power to quiet his critics. Anyone dumb enough not to recruit this whole state won’t last, it’s a big state but talent exists in every corner, Houston, Austin, DFW, even in the rural hills of east Texas.

 

On the mound: We'll need 1 stud starter and 2-3 stud relievers from the portal for this upcoming year. (and I would suggest getting guys without nagging injury problems this time ...) I think our incoming true Freshmen Class is very heavy in good pitching talent, and will give us a couple of legit weekend starters as early as next year. Especially watch Millet, Flores (a new pitcher/not Jalen Flores), and that really tall Hawaiian dude from Maui. We'll have a lot more arms reaching 95mph+ next year.

At bat: We need a stud 0.325 and 10 + homerun batter from the portal to replace Powell at 3B. Flores is good enough to go to the pros in the draft (high), but he has to be at least 21 years old. Same with Thomas. If they both go, then either young Ardoin, Gumbo, or some incoming Freshman will have to take over SS--and it's unlikely anyone can match J. Flores there next year. 1B--there are many stud batters that play that position--either in the portal or among newcomers, or Borba must get better and better at the plate. OF will actually bat even better next year with someone else taking over at LF.

 

This is where CdC earns his pay. This team quit on Pierce. CdC will find out why and if there is a cancer in the locker room. He has done enough to warrant another year, but the expectations are going to be so high that it is doubtful he can reach whatever his agreed goals are. Can he win enough next season to host a Super Regional? Very doubtful; can he win enough in the $EC to even get into the Tournment? Doubtful.

On the other hand, can CdC find and hire a better coach? As discussed in this thread, doubtful, but one should be careful when doubting CdC.

 

I respect your opinion and I am NOT advocating for change. What I know is if we are not playing to Texas standards (we are not) and not attracting BMD money for NIL (we are not), CDC will make a change if he can lure the right person who he believes can do both. He does not subscribe to the belief that the next person can't do better because he has a track record of finding the right person. You can look at his hires and results as proof.

 

I agree BUT CDC can find a better option and should.

 

“Coach Gus once said, "All you gotta do to be successful in college baseball is recruit the Houston area well." I reckon the game is not the same as it was then, but I always remembered that quote because both Gus and DP appreciate how big of a deal HS baseball is in Houston.”

Phil you are spot on. Years ago it was easy to recruit Houston. Follow the “Houston Heat” it was an incredible organization.
Don’t follow 5Abaseball.com anymore but 100 mile radius of Houston remains a hotbed of talent.

 

I for one would like to see a former Longhorn as the next coach. An organic approach from the Texas Baseball program.

 

You guys can romanticize Houston high school baseball all you want, and maybe that was a thing back in the seventies, but I just took a look at the rosters from our national championship teams from 2002 and 2005. Combined, players from the Austin/Round Rock area outnumbered Houston guys by a 3:1 margin. Players from the DFW area outnumbered Houston players by a 2:1 margin.

 

I will put my faith in CdC to make the correct hire when it is time to do so. His track record indicates that he will get the right coach. He hired Sark. I don't recall specifically, but I can't think that Sark's name was at the top of most lists for the head coach at the time. He hired Beard, which shoulda woulda, coulda been a homerun hire except for Beard bringing his crazy girlfriend ("allegedly) and letting the ensuing dysfunctional relationship ending Beard's tenure here. Terry doesn't count as I don't think CdC had any choice but to keep him on as the HC. CdC hired Schlossnagel at TCU, who up to then had been at Tulane and a couple of years at UNLV. CdC is more likely than not to get the next baseball HC hire right.

 

I’m not doubting the effectiveness of next baseball hire. I’m just from the camp that it does not have to be a nationally known coach. The coach at Sinton for instance or the coach currently at Kentucky. Ton of guys out there.

 

I see Mitchell Daly is batting above 300 at Kentucky. He was always under 300 with Pierce even under 250 at times…

 

A lot of posters on these boards sure did gripe an awful lot about Mitchell Daly last year.

He would have held down 2nd base better than either O'Dowd or D Kennedy this year.

 

He batted .262 in his three years at Texas with each year getting progressively worse than the one before while batting .303 with Kentucky. He committed 20 errors in his three seasons at Texas and only 3 this year with Kentucky.

As a whole he was performing worse the longer he was in Austin so maybe you're right, it's coaching and not Daly.

 

He received outstanding coaching (other than to the extent that former Baylor coach Rodriguez worked with him).

The issue is that people gripe about certain players, not realizing what we have until they're gone.

Plenty of folks used to gripe about Southard and Morehouse until the last half of their last years here, when the same folks held them up on a pedestal as examples of the kind of pitching we need more of.

Interestingly enough, it's hard to recall 2 pitchers who got less benefit-of-the-doubt on close ball/strike calls from the Umps than Southard and Morehouse. Plenty of times it wasn't that Southard or Zane M. couldn't find the strikezone; rather it was that the Umps were not applying a consistent strike zone in conformity with the rules of where the strike zone is (especially on the outside corners).