Replacement for Augie....Who would you offer ???

[majorwhiteapples]

Kids dancing around having fun is and embarrassment? Did you just which Footloose?

A coach is not going to going over there and bust up morale and tell them to stop, nor is a coach going to go over there and lead the dancing. To dismiss a coach because a couple of kids, who may be wearing a uniform for the last are dancing in the dugout......smh.......Actually, Jay Johnstone brings an impressive resume, albeit west coast and relatively short.....

 

[Brad Austin]

We all appreciate what Augie did here and he is a living legend of our program.

But the hard truth is at this point of his career 30+ coaches could've taken this year's talent and won more games than Augie. The man's flame is out, let it go.

I also know a few rather recent Augie recruiting stories from actual parents of the recruits that would make people .

The last two years were complete and total dogsh*t during the reg season, and the only savior was dominant pitching to land a conf tourney champ in 2015.

As soon as that happened I knew it was the worst thing for us. We had no shot at advancing in the playoffs. All that did was buy burned out Augie more time and give other programs a long heads-up we'd be in the market for their coach in a year.

I'd rather have a top JUCO coach lead this team than where Augie is today in terms of assembling and leading a winning team. I respect his accomplishments, but the man who achieved them is no longer present. Natural life progression.

 

[ViperHorn]

As for being "the greatest baseball coach ever", keep thinking that, but it's hard to figure since he is the fourth best at The University of Texas.

Well said.

I shall concede that the hiring process has been the biggest embarrassment since every basketball coach in the country turned us down and we wound up with Kaiser Bob.

Everyone knew Augie was gone, but you don't make it official until you have a replacement in hand. As it stands now, unless the stack of money in front of O'Sullivan reaches so high that "family" becomes a distant second, anyone Texas hires is going to be branded either "second choice" or "the coach Texas settled on".

 

[UT Horn Fan]

As for being "the greatest baseball coach ever", keep thinking that, but it's hard to figure since he is the fourth best at The University of Texas.

Define best.

 

[majorwhiteapples]

I have to say driving up the cost for each coach across the country is genius. Granted our crowds have been dwindling, there are still very few schools that get the attendance that Texas does not the amount of corporate endorsements and everyone our our home games is on TV. No other school can boast that and I would tend to think those coaches salaries are going to drive those programs into the red and create more turnover in college baseball coaches than there have been in years. If a coach is making a $1M+ and he has a bad couple of years.........

 

[car54]

Maybe our next coach is coaching tonight......LOL

 

[car54]

Our AD is busy canceling contracts that can't be cancelled...

 

[56 Bells]

56,

I admire your love and devotion to Garrido, but the reasons you site pale in comparison to having him lurking around and looking over the shoulder of the new coach.

For some of us, his success is tarnished by his off the field antics. We don't and won't discuss those publicly, but if you are that close to him, you know some of those issues. I personally asked, suggested, nearly demanded his dismissal not long after he arrived. If the people offended by the incidents have gotten past it, fine, but don't paint him as a "saint" or the guy that saved our program.

As for being "the greatest baseball coach ever", keep thinking that, but it's hard to figure since he is the fourth best at The University of Texas.

I shall concede that the hiring process has been the biggest embarrassment since every basketball coach in the country turned us down and we wound up with Kaiser Bob.

Think what you wish....make up stories as you choose......invest in your innuendos for your self-gratification. Augie's records speak for themselves, as does his record at Texas. Augie and Gus are the faces of UT baseball....and as I recall, Gus had to leave because of less-than-saintly reasons. (And I wouldn't have brought that up had you not forced the issue.)

Yet I respect what he did for our program, even if it was at a time when college baseball had about 25 "have's" and 130 "have nots" vs today, where there are so many more college baseball programs with top-notch talent. This year's College World Series is a great example of such. And yes, I put Augie 1st on the list of the best-of-Texas coaches----and what a fine list it is!

 

[giveemhell]

But the hard truth is at this point of his career 30+ coaches could've taken this year's talent and won more games than Augie.

Is this a joke? I think the problem begins and ends with recruiting, which Augie has apparently been indifferent to for years. If he had magically replaced Rob Childress when the NCAA tournament began this year, I'm convinced Agricultural & Mechanical College would now be celebrating its first baseball natty. Nobody in the universe can motivate a team in Omaha like Augie...

 

[56 Bells]

Sadly, year after year, we get the top 2 or 3 recruits available----but they never make it to campus, as they turn pro straight out of high school.
But it is what it is....now we have to live with whomever we can dig up to coach a team with almost every position player returning from last year's squad. Augie could have them primed for yet another National Championship.....now we don't even have a coach, and the recruiting process will be hurt very badly due to this.

 

[bystander]

Kids dancing around having fun is and embarrassment? Did you just which Footloose?

A coach is not going to going over there and bust up morale and tell them to stop, nor is a coach going to go over there and lead the dancing. To dismiss a coach because a couple of kids, who may be wearing a uniform for the last are dancing in the dugout......smh.......Actually, Jay Johnstone brings an impressive resume, albeit west coast and relatively short.....

Yep...

I'm 57 and have a 19 year old son and a 12 year old daughter. I do not and am not that old guy who know sits on the throne declaring their generations music, culture, etc to be inferior to mine. I have enjoyed going to ACL Fest with my son and the generation gap problems that so many people have are in many ways self-inflicted.

I get, "Act like you've been there before" but those days are probably over. There are many athletes today who act like the old school guys would prefer but there are also those who dance in the dugout. The coach knows those guys. I'd say if they were truly disruptive day in and day out then he'd say or do something. But I'm not going to judge some kids from across that diamond that I don't know.

 

[Phil Elliott]

Now, we're interviewing mid-major coaches

Coach Gus came to us from South San Antonio HS, for crying out loud. Augie was a great coach - WAS - nobody *deserves* the job because of their past performance (see Mack Brown). A good 6A HS coach out of the Houston area could do more with this team than Augie did this past year. If we went after Bobby Williams from Brazoswood HS I would not complain.

 

[Joe Fan]

 

[Brad Austin]

Nobody in the universe can motivate a team in Omaha like Augie...

I agree he still has respectable ability to motivate players once games carry tournament significance.

The problem is the Augie of late had an absurd lack of urgency when his team is busy tossing away countless reg season games crucial to qualifying for post season.

Our reg season record the last 5 years was horrendously below Texas baseball standards.

Does it matter what led to the pedestrian results? The head coach is responsible for every aspect that caused his team to flop.

Assuming we didn't have the talent capable of securing a regional spot even as a 4-seed solely through reg season record the last two years is flat out naive.

Playoff regular Augie would rip his team a new a-hole if they lost a Tuesday game. He would pull players from the lineup who weren't hitting. That coach demanded results.

Not so in his later years. Countless losses were sugar-coated by praising competitive effort and philosophical claims about failure being a part of baseball. Preaching how all we needed to do was keep doing what we were doing and things would turn around.

Guys who weren't hitting were applauded for 'quality at bats' even though they added no results for weeks. It's living in denial to confuse the way it was with the way it is.

Blame it on his checked-out recruiting effort, but anyone who's paid close attention to this team since he arrived knows the regular season coach of late was a shell of the one making all the tourney runs.

Doesn't matter one bit how the coaching search is going, Augie had no business leading this team to another playoff rejected regular season.

 

[Brad Austin]

I really like the Pierce hire. It's a fallacy that the only way to find a great baseball coach is the Augie avenue of landing someone with gaudy skins on the wall.

Before people get on the high horse and start bagging on his lack of playoff success when making it all 5 years as head coach, remember this...

Two of our top targets, Virginia's O'Connor and Florida's O'Sullivan were only top assistants for good programs when they landed their current head coaching job.

Pierce had every bit the training these guys did as an assistant for a stout Rice program under legend Wayne Graham for 9 years when Rice was a force.

As a head coach for small school Sam Houston he was 3 for 3 making the playoffs. 2 seasons at Tulane produced the same number of playoff entries.

Let's see what this talented, well-schooled (hitting and pitching coach) can do with the vast advantages he'll have at Texas.

It would be a big mistake to throw this guy under the bus because we didn't land a proven commodity. Let it play out, I guarantee we'll be pleased with this hire.

 

[Htown77]

It would be a big mistake to throw this guy under the bus because we didn't land a proven commodity. Let it play out, I guarantee we'll be pleased with this hire.

I hope so, but our football results from an unproven commodity have left me battered and skeptical of coaches coming from an american conference school with only 4 years of head coaching experience even if they were good assistants.

 

[Brad Austin]

Here's a 2014 vid to get to know Pierce a little better...

The reporter asked "people thought you'd be the heir apparent at Rice or even Augie Garrido at Texas, so what made this (Tulane) the opportunity to finally jump at?"

 

[bystander]

Tulane is becoming the Longhorn's *****/farm team.

 

[ViperHorn]

Let's see what he develops before throwing him under the bus.

 

[Brad Austin]

I hope so, but our football results from an unproven commodity have left me battered and skeptical

I hear ya loud and clear but could go on for days how Charlie made very unique, basic mistakes few would've imagined from a guy landing a gig at a top program.

Simply by Pierce's excelling as both hitting and pitching coach under Graham, we can rule out any of the offensive shortcomings that plagued Strong. Strong was an elite defensive coach, but did little to find help developing the other side of the ball.

Anyone who has coached both sides like Pierce knows the importance of each aspect. Graham's teams back then were also very disciplined and stout on defense.

Rice kicked our tail enough times during those years for me to know that those guys were a well-rounded, well-coached force on the diamond.

Elite assistant experience plus 197-109 (64%) record and 5 straight playoff appearances at smaller schools...worthy of giving Pierce the benefit of the doubt, IMHO.

Pierce's Green Wave took 2 of 3 from Augie's Horns at our own house back in March.

 

[Phil Elliott]

Rice kicked our tail enough times during those years for me to know that those guys were a well-rounded force on the diamond.

True dat.

 

[Htown77]

Pierce's Green Wave took 2 of 3 from Augie's Horns at our own house back in March

I went to 3 games this year. Our Saturday loss to Tulane and the losses in the Oklahoma State double hitter. I guess I can say I saw our new coach play our last coach so that is a weird bit of attendance trivia.

I am not against the new guy, I am just underwhelmed. Right now we have three unproven coaches in the big 3 sports that all have to prove themselves and it's not a fun place to be as a fan. I hope one (and preferably all) step up sooner than later. Hopefully our new baseball coach turns it around year one. He'll have tough competition with Tech, TCU, Okie State and now Skip Johnson at OU.

 

[majorwhiteapples]

I think Shaka was proven, he had gone as far as any other Texas BB coach.

Strong was an assistant for a National Championship team and coached under some great coaches. The same for Pierce.

I think we are in good shape in at least Basketball and Baseball.
Football, I still have my questions about competence at the coaching level.

 

[56 Bells]

I think Shaka was proven, he had gone as far as any other Texas BB coach.

Strong was an assistant for a National Championship team and coached under some great coaches. The same for Pierce.

I think we are in good shape in at least Basketball and Baseball.
Football, I still have my questions about competence at the coaching level.

1 more year in football, and we'll be a Top 5 team!!! My gawd....our recruiting class for 2016 has just jumped to #4 in the country....and Charlie's getting "the right kind of people"....not self-serving, self-possessed, it's-all-about-me millennials. We're 1 year away from the top!!!

 

[56 Bells]

True dat.

What is our record against Rice anyway?

 

[ViperHorn]

Right now we have three unproven coaches in the big 3 sports that all have to prove themselves

Make that 2 and you might find some agreement. Agree Strong made some big management mistakes and has yet to prove himself on the field. However basketball is different from football. By taking VCU to the Tournament multiple times and being on one of the National teams coaching staff, Smart has proven himself.

 

[56 Bells]

Make that 2 and you might find some agreement. Agree Strong made some big management mistakes and has yet to prove himself on the field. However basketball is different from football. By taking VCU to the Tournament multiple times and being on one of the National teams coaching staff, Smart has proven himself.

And those "three unproven coaches" are on The 40 Acres to PROVE a point! We're TEXAS!!!

 

[Htown77]

I think Shaka was proven, he had gone as far as any other Texas BB coach

Shaka Smart has not been to the Sweet 16 since 2011. 2011 was his only appearance in the Sweet 16 and that was the year of his final four run.

Shaka Smart has not won an NCAA tournament game since 2013 (Barnes last win was in 2014).

Shaka Smart has lost to a lower, double digit seed 3 years in a row in the first round.

Shaka's results this year matched barnes's results the year before (20 wins, loss in the same round of the Big 12 tournament and 1st round ncaa tournament loss).

Shaka Smart never won a regular season conference title, but did win two conference tournaments.

Basically, Shaka had one good run to the final four and has not done anything since. Charlie Strong won a sugar bowl.

We have three unproven coaches.

 

[Brad Austin]

We have 3 unproven coaches.

Football - recruits like a stud but has highly questionable head coach management skills to this day. Best thing he did was hand Sterling the keys and step aside. Something he should've done in a similar fashion two years prior.

Basketball - recruits like an f'n beast and coaches the hell out of kids on and off the hardwood. Surrounds himself with high caliber assistants.

Shaka may be unproven to some extent, but he's bringing in top caliber kids, plenty more are on the way, and the guy can flat out coach and foster a close team bond. That star is pointed way up without question.

Baseball - we shall see, but I'm leaning a whole lot more towards Shaka than Strong in both immediately recruiting Texas turf and coaching all aspects of the game well.

If for no other reason than Pierce has taught both hitting and pitching at an elite program and won't be blindsided trying to get by as a one-trick pony like Strong.

Today we have 3 unproven coaches to different degrees. Come 2017 or 2018 we'll have at least two kicking arse and taking names, while either Strong or his replacement will be doing the same in football.

The future is bright in all 3 sports. The only one I'm doubting is Strong in an actual gameday coaching and mgmt capacity.

Will he coach well enough (winning season and bowl berth) in 2016 to see his recruiting fruits come to labor? If not Herman will inherit a loaded team.

 

[ViperHorn]

The future is bright in all 3 sports. The only one I'm doubting is Strong in an actual gameday coaching and mgmt capacity.

Will he coach well enough (winning season and bowl berth) in 2016 to see his recruiting fruits come to labor? If not Herman will inherit a loaded team.

This.