Skip Johnson to OU

[MudHorn]

 

[UT Horn Fan]

Damn! Pitching was the lone bright spot the last couple of years.

Can't blame him, though. Texas is taking entirely too long to name a HC. His future had been in limbo for over 4 weeks now.

Sooners got themselves a good one.

How doe that affect TX recruiting? Wasn't he the coordinator?

 

[UT Horn Fan]

And his going to OU is a double whammy. Not only did we lose a good pitching coach, but we have to face him in a conference series every year.

 

[WorsterMan]

Well damn, this is not good news... this drawn out process to replace AG just cost us a great pitching coach

 

[UT Horn Fan]

Well damn, this is not good news... this drawn out process to replace AG just cost us a great pitching coach

Yep. Someone over on shaggytexas said he has already contacted the son of a coworker about playing for the Sooners. Skip had been recruiting the kid for TX for a couple of years. He is already on the job.

We need to get a HC and back out on the recruiting trail before much more damage is done.

 

[ViperHorn]

Hate to see anyone go into the sewer, but after it became obvious he wasn't getting the HC job there was no reason to hang around.

 

[rattfatt]

The show continues to go on he's just a pitching coach. I've always felt that positions like pitching or hitting coach is more about the talent that coach has available to them. I could be a great coach if I had Drew Stubbs or Taylor Jungmann to work with.

 

[longhorn47]

Well, if pitching coaches are important, how about looking at the last 2 Baseball America Pitching Coaches of the Year, Alan Dunn, LSU or Karl Kuhn, Virginia to replace Augie.

Consider these accomplishments in Dunn's first four years at LSU:

• LSU has had the SEC Pitcher of the Year three years (Kevin Gausman in 2012, Aaron Nola in 2013, and Aaron Nola again in 2014).
• LSU has had a consensus first team All-American pitcher each of his four years (Kevin Gausman in 2012, Aaron Nola in 2013, Aaron Nola in 2014 and Alex Lange in 2015).
• LSU has had the National Pitcher of the Year (Aaron Nola in 2014).
• LSU has had the National Freshman Pitcher of the year (Alex Lange in 2015).
• LSU has had nine pitchers taken in the major league draft in the last four years (including two first round draft choices and one second round draft choice).
• In his first year at LSU in 2012, the staff ERA dropped almost a full run from 4.13 to 3.25.
• LSU has been a national seed in all four years he has been pitching coach at LSU.
• In 2013, LSU went to the College World Series with a veteran pitching staff leading the way. LSU lost 7 of its’ top 9 pitchers after the season. Even with this turnover and losing six pitchers from the 2014 staff to season ending injuries and other factors, consider what the 2014 pitching staff accomplished:
• LSU was No. 1 in the nation with a school-record 17 shutouts
• The LSU staff was No. 5 in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings (6.99)
• The Tigers were No. 6 in the nation and No. 1 in the SEC in WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched – 1.09)
• LSU’s team ERA of 2.60 was No. 2 in the SEC and No. 12 in the nation
• LSU was No. 1 in the SEC in fewest runs allowed (180).

 

[aUTfan]

The sky is not falling, there are several pitching coaches out there that can get it done and there is PLENTY of talent in baseball to be dangerous even next year. The head coach is responsible for getting the right pitching coach, so I'm not sweating it at all.........get the right head coach and everything is fine.

 

[56 Bells]

Damn! Pitching was the lone bright spot the last couple of years.

Can't blame him, though. Texas is taking entirely too long to name a HC. His future had been in limbo for over 4 weeks now.

Sooners got themselves a good one.

How doe that affect TX recruiting? Wasn't he the coordinator?

I must have missed something with the pitching staff.....far from the bright spot this year....besides underachieving, the pitching staff alone committed 20'something errors.

 

[56 Bells]

Yep. Someone over on shaggytexas said he has already contacted the son of a coworker about playing for the Sooners. Skip had been recruiting the kid for TX for a couple of years. He is already on the job.

We need to get a HC and back out on the recruiting trail before much more damage is done.

Well, for those who wanted Augie gone, you surely expected to see a new pitching coach, as well as all new assistants, DIDN'T YOU?

 

[sbmcruise]

My reading is that Skip is a superior pitching coach and ready to move on to be a head coach. His problem is that he hitched himself to Augie at the twilight of Augie’s career. If Augie had gone out a winner, Skip would have been a prohibitive favorite to take over as head coach. Unfortunately the last couple years weren’t good and the pitching faltered last year. Some of that was the uncharacteristically bad defense behind out pitchers. Plays that could have, should have been made, aren’t always scored as errors and do affect the ERA of the pitchers.

In hindsight Skip should have taken one of the head coach jobs he was offered, but the money was good here and it was hard to walk away from Texas knowing that the head coaching job would open soon.

I wish Skip had gone anywhere but OU, but he had to go where the job was. I wish him well personally.

I agree that the new head coach should be free to choose his own staff and if he wanted to bring someone else as pitching coach I’m OK with that.

I do not think Tommy Nicholson has added much to our team and I do not favor retaining him. He was supposed to help with defense and hitting and that wasn’t worked well. He needs to go somewhere else and work under other head coaches as he polishes his skill set and resume. At this point in time I don’t think he meets our standards, but he may yet develop those skills later in his career.

 

[longhorn47]

What about Kirk Saarloos? Certainly knows pitching and recruiting in Texas...