When you hire the best pitching coach in America

[ShotgunDawg]

Your staff gets better as the year progresses.

Great job Coach J and great job by Cohen listening and hiring the right guy.

[I seen it dawg]

What Houston did tonite was all Wes Johnson. That is how you take a project and make results out of it. Outstanding work he did to get Houston to be able to do what he did tonite. Kid took what Johnson gave him and obviously worked. Beautiful to see for a pitching guy like myself.

[bobcat91]

If he can do this in the regional we are very dangerous.

[Coach34]

Wes is fixing the head cases Butch never could

Houston is starting to put things together finally. His breaking ball still has a long way to go- but he is doing more of the little things better.

[JohnnyQuid]

I liked butch ok but I couldn't be happier with him leaving and the guy who took his place. butch got a little caught up in every thing having to be down in the zone - and to me that led to alot of walks and passed balls/wild pitches. think I heard wes say he just let's guys pitch to their strengths - I like it.

[Offshore Dawg]

Can you imagine how next years staff will pitch after Wes has a full year to work with them.

[Duckdog]

I just hope we can keep him around. Time to pay up boys

[confucius say]

Wes is fixing the head cases Butch never could

Houston is starting to put things together finally. His breaking ball still has a long way to go- but he is doing more of the little things better.

Agree. And Houston made himself some money tonight.

Eta: I also found it funny that with all the talk of Houston being a head case, he is a psychology major. Ha

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

I just hope we can keep him around. Time to pay up boys

If there is a sport that we should never lose a coach in due to money, it's baseball.

[War Machine Dawg]

If there is a sport that we should never lose a coach in due to money, it's baseball.

No kidding. Cohen ain't going anywhere. And if he did, it damn sure wouldn't be because of money. Isn't he the highest paid coach in the nation right now? Seems like I saw someone here saying that.

[preachermatt83]

What Houston did tonite was all Wes Johnson. That is how you take a project and make results out of it. Outstanding work he did to get Houston to be able to do what he did tonite. Kid took what Johnson gave him and obviously worked. Beautiful to see for a pitching guy like myself.

^^^This!

[preachermatt83]

No kidding. Cohen ain't going anywhere. And if he did, it damn sure wouldn't be because of money. Isn't he the highest paid coach in the nation right now? Seems like I saw someone here saying that.

Think Duckdog was talking about paying Wes.

[Dawg61]

Think we're talking about Johnson getting paid here

[Coach34]

Eta: I also found it funny that with all the talk of Houston being a head case, he is a psychology major. Ha

As someone that has procreated with 2 psychology majors- they are the biggest headcases out there.

[TaleofTwoDogs]

No kidding. Cohen ain't going anywhere. And if he did, it damn sure wouldn't be because of money. Isn't he the highest paid coach in the nation right now? Seems like I saw someone here saying that.

Not sure, but I think Mainieri is the top paid baseball coach with Cohen a close second.

[BayouDawg]

No kidding. Cohen ain't going anywhere. And if he did, it damn sure wouldn't be because of money. Isn't he the highest paid coach in the nation right now? Seems like I saw someone here saying that.

As of 2013 he was the second highest paid in the SEC behind manurey. I have no idea what his salary is now.

[BeardoMSU]

As someone that has procreated with 2 psychology majors- they are the biggest headcases out there.

Aren't all women headcases, though, lol?

[smootness]

Your staff gets better as the year progresses.

Great job Coach J and great job by Cohen listening and hiring the right guy.

Listening to whom?

And as for the rest of the thread, 'head case' is what people use when they know a guy is struggling but really have no way to explain why.

[Homedawg]

I just hope we can keep him around. Time to pay up boys

Not knocking Johnson, I think he's fine. We will see on recruiting trail. But it funny how you people just throw butch under the bus, it's not like he wasn't successful. Hell it took a season for Houston to have a great start under johnson. But lots of you turn this into like a recruit we didn't get. Because we didn't get him, we didn't want him or he sucks. Fact is, we wouldn't be where we are without butch. That's a fact.

[BayouDawg]

Not knocking Johnson, I think he's fine. We will see on recruiting trail. But it funny how you people just throw butch under the bus, it's not like he wasn't successful. Hell it took a season for Houston to have a great start under johnson. But lots of you turn this into like a recruit we didn't get. Because we didn't get him, we didn't want him or he sucks. Fact is, we wouldn't be where we are without butch. That's a fact.

I liked Butch. He was great at developing a bull pen. My one real complaint about Butch was that we never seemed to have more than one good starter. I think 2012 was the only year we had 2 good starters with Stratton and Graveman. Butch did a great job with the pen though. We nearly won the natty in '13 with one true starter because our bullpen was ridiculous.

[Duckdog]

Think Duckdog was talking about paying Wes.

Yep, Cohen isn't going anywhere. We need to pony up for Wes to stay

[Dallas_Dawg]

I
As someone that has procreated with 2 psychology majors- they are the biggest headcases out there.

I was getting ready to say something very similar.
I guess that they have to find out scientifically why they are so crazy

[Homedawg]

I liked Butch. He was great at developing a bull pen. My one real complaint about Butch was that we never seemed to have more than one good starter. I think 2012 was the only year we had 2 good starters with Stratton and Graveman. Butch did a great job with the pen though. We nearly won the natty in '13 with one true starter because our bullpen was ridiculous.

Hard to argue w that. But if he were here now, he would have 2 good starters. Johnson didn't make these guys who they are by himself.

[BayouDawg]

Hard to argue w that. But if he were here now, he would have 2 good starters. Johnson didn't make these guys who they are by himself.
I agree. I always thought Butch was a good coach and recruiter. I thing Wes will do a great job here too

[confucius say]

As someone that has procreated with 2 psychology majors- they are the biggest headcases out there.

Oh I agree. And I've been one, maybe the first one, to say he was a head case. I was just pointing out the irony.

[Coach34]

Hard to argue w that. But if he were here now, he would have 2 good starters. Johnson didn't make these guys who they are by himself.

But considering their performance until Opening Day this year- you cant say they would have been this good under Butch. Maybeeeee, but no guarantees

[ShotgunDawg]

But considering their performance until Opening Day this year- you cant say they would have been this good under Butch. Maybeeeee, but no guarantees

This

I give Butch all the credit in the world for getting talented guys on campus, but the truth is that Wes has taken them to another level in both health and performance. Combine that with him developing Hump as a closer and Pilkington as a 3rd starter, and it's very clear he's done a knock out job.

[BulldogBear]

As of 2013 he was the second highest paid in the SEC behind manurey. I have no idea what his salary is now.

Bravo! If I knew how to GiF I'd do one of him during a game with us bounding out of the dugout like a Tigger and jumping up and down by the Umpire like a toddler having a tantrum.

[BayouDawg]

Bravo! If I knew how to GiF I'd do one of him during a game with us bounding out of the dugout like a Tigger and jumping up and down by the Umpire like a toddler having a tantrum.

Lol I was waiting to see if anyone would get that. He's literally the worst kind of human being

[I seen it dawg]

Sorry but Wes > Butch. Butch is a great guy, helluva coach, I worked camps with him when he was a high school assistant. For my money I take Wes.

[mparkerfd20]

If he wants, Wes Johnson will be a HC somewhere soon. Enjoy him while we have him. I will be happy to have him 2-3 more years.

[Dawgbite]

Aren't all women headcases, though, lol?

He never mentioned a woman. It's a brave new world out there. *****

Sorry Coach, I couldn't resist.

[Bodawg]

Sorry but Wes > Butch. Butch is a great guy, helluva coach, I worked camps with him when he was a high school assistant. For my money I take Wes.

^^This^^. Look what Wes did at Dallas Baptist. Constantly put pitchers into MLB from a tiny Baptist college. I read where he has been working with Houston on some of his mechanics and wanted to get him into a game. Looks like it worked pretty good.

[KB21]

The biggest difference between Butch and Wes is in their approach with power pitchers. Both are great pitching coaches. You'd have a hard time finding anyone else that is as good as either of them. Butch tried to get his power guys to take a little off their throws to improve their command while Wes wants them to use that power fastball to blow folks out of the batter's box.

[TimberBeast]

As someone that has procreated with 2 psychology majors- they are the biggest headcases out there.

Yep, I've known a few and they were all not right in the head. Sociology majors are right behind them.

[DancingRabbit]

Bravo! If I knew how to GiF I'd do one of him during a game with us bounding out of the dugout like a Tigger and jumping up and down by the Umpire like a toddler having a tantrum.

It never gets old
http://i.giphy.com/OjMUUjo0aHakU.gif

[BulldogBear]

It never gets old
http://i.giphy.com/OjMUUjo0aHakU.gif

Like a goblin doing a jig!!!

[AusTexDawg]

Like a goblin doing a jig!!!

The gif is great, but your caption is phenomenal.

[BB30]

Pitchers are fickle by nature ha this is coming from a pitcher. I think both coaches generally have done a great job. I prefer Wes's approach of saying hey you have a mid 90's FB live with it. I don't care if you throw 95 or 85 everything works off your FB. Our pitchers, while having a scouting report are still pitching off of their strengths instead of trying to pitch to a hitters weakness. This instills confidence in guys. Some guys never have problems filling up the zone and some do. I think for those guys that have great stuff but struggle to fill the zone up it helps if you have a coach that says hey go blow the ball by them, don't worry about picking corners throwing first pitch BBs just because the kid can't hit a BB. If you can't throw it for a strike it does you no good. I also like how this year we are not wasting many 0-2 pitches. We are coming right after guys. That was preached to us in minor league ball and you don't see it coached all that often. I have been very impressed with what Wes has done. Naturally some of these kids have developed with the extra work load and reps but he has definitely been a huge help with some.