Louisville baseball

[MoreCowbell]

Just saw where this is Louisville's 4th trip to Omaha ever and all 4 have occurred since 2007. How did they get so good all of a sudden and were they trash pre- 2007? ... if anyone knows I'm just curious

[basedog]

Coaching.

[RocketDawg]

Coaching.

Did Freeze coach baseball there? **

[MoreCowbell]

Figured they made a good hire but didn't know if they had a scholarship advantage of some sort. Surprised the coach wasn't picked up by a powerhouse in the past. I assume it would be hard to hire him away at this point.

[BayouDawg]

Figured they made a good hire but didn't know if they had a scholarship advantage of some sort. Surprised the coach wasn't picked up by a powerhouse in the past. I assume it would be hard to hire him away at this point.

I've heard he has black bear/Foxy Reb ties. Hopefully they can't lure him there if bianco ever leaves/is fired.

[msstate7]

They got talent. Last year they had 7 players taken in the first 115 picks. Very impressive they're in the cws after losing that. Since 2007, they've had 50 players drafted in the MLB draft

[ShotgunDawg]

They dominate the state of Illinois and Kentucky in recruiting. Just think if MSU had full reign of two states to recruit in.

[ScottH]

Hopefully they can't lure him there if bianco ever leaves/is fired.

He was an asst at UM. They'll make a run at him but he and his family aren't leaving Louisville.

Godwin is the likely successor (1. the Oxford co-ed scene is a plus 2. he and Lafferty are besties) unless Bianco hangs on so long Godwin gets another top 10 type job.

[Todd4State]

They dominate the state of Illinois and Kentucky in recruiting. Just think if MSU had full reign of two states to recruit in.

Exactly. And I imagine that they get a few guys from Ohio too.

A lot of people think that they were garbage before McDonnell. But the truth is the coach before him did a good job of building their program up and was hired away by South Florida. He left McDonnell with a pretty good situation. That and Kentucky doesn't place as much emphasis on baseball as Louisville has- although I think they are trying to make some strides. I think they'll still be number two in that state for at least the foreseeable future.

[Todd4State]

He was an asst at UM. They'll make a run at him but he and his family aren't leaving Louisville.

Godwin is the likely successor (1. the Oxford co-ed scene is a plus 2. he and Lafferty are besties) unless Bianco hangs on so long Godwin gets another top 10 type job.

I can't see Bianco leaving on his own until 2020 at the earliest. He still has a son in high school that graduates that year. IMO, I think Lafferty is the more likely of the two to be the successor for them than Godwin. I'm curious to see how East Carolina does next year after they fell apart this year and were just average.

The Ole Miss job is going to be a lot tougher than it was when Bianco took over. They have higher expectations than they did in 2001 when Bianco was hired. They also have Andy Cannizaro to deal with compared to Polk II and his baseball camp recruiting which made building their program a LOT easier. On top of that, I think Alabama and Auburn are also going to be pretty good unlike when Bianco took over and those two program declined. And then LSU had Smoke Laval as their head coach too. Bianco pretty much took over at the perfect time for them.

Oh yeah- and whoever takes over isn't going to be taking over the very unpopular Pat Harrison.

[RocketDawg]

He was an asst at UM. They'll make a run at him but he and his family aren't leaving Louisville.

Godwin is the likely successor (1. the Oxford co-ed scene is a plus 2. he and Lafferty are besties) unless Bianco hangs on so long Godwin gets another top 10 type job.

Is OM a Top 10 job?

[preachermatt83]

McDonnell is making over 1 mil a year. He won't be coming to oxford.

[Thick]

Why would he want to leave UL for OM and the SEC? He's got it made, plus he's the face of that program. Like a few have already mentioned earlier, he has 2 plus states to recruit from with little to no competition. I do think Mingione is going to make it tougher on UL.

[smootness]

Is OM a Top 10 job?

No, but it's not that far away. Few programs get that kind of support.

[Todd4State]

No, but it's not that far away. Few programs get that kind of support.

They're top 25 but not top 10.

They're one the tougher jobs in the SEC though. They have to have a lot go their way to win like they want to. We'll see how their support is in the coming years. Their fans bailed after we swept them.

[Jack Lambert]

They got talent. Last year they had 7 players taken in the first 115 picks. Very impressive they're in the cws after losing that. Since 2007, they've had 50 players drafted in the MLB draft

You have to ask your self how did they get that talent. I don't think Basketball was the only program there using Hookers.

[Todd4State]

You have to ask your self how did they get that talent. I don't think Basketball was the only program there using Hookers.

There's a lot less cheating going on in baseball than the other sports. If a kid is willing to take 300K from a booster in baseball, they're going to be willing to take 500K from MLB. And a lot of baseball players come from white collar families where they have Mom's like mine who would have been terrified of me losing collegiate eligibility if I got caught taking money from a booster. Which means that can backfire real quick on the recruiting trail. Boosters just aren't going to shell out money on players that are likely to either not make it to school or if they do be gone in three years.

Plus how many legit college baseball programs are there in Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky? And look at the population of those four states.

[dawgs]

Just saw where this is Louisville's 4th trip to Omaha ever and all 4 have occurred since 2007. How did they get so good all of a sudden and were they trash pre- 2007? ... if anyone knows I'm just curious

Papa John's. He's paid for more than just the football stadium at Louisville.

[bgover4]

I am pretty sure the program has lots of support. Papa John gives them some pretty nice facilities. And isn't their some tie to Louisville slugger? I think their stadium is sponsored. That can't hurt recruiting.

[KentuckyDawg13]

UofL has been slowly building the entire athletic department over the last decade. Baseball had a record number of MLB drafts last year, have serious talent this season (especially pitching which is vital for CWS) and have increased their standings in most sports. My son (junior in HS, swimmer) is being recruited by several schools (LSU, UT, etc.) and UofL is currently the top of his list. They are by far the most advanced school when it comes to advanced biometrics performance testing for athletes we have visited thus far, where they take training/performing to another level. They had 4 Olympians with swimming alone.

In regards to baseball, their new stadium is nice. Not the level of which Dudy Noble is, but it is very nice. The entire campus has been going through a facelift and they are committed to being National Champion competitors in most sports.

When I first moved to Louisville in 2001, the campus was gross/unruly. I could barely tell where it stopped, due to the overflow of urban qualities. Now, it feels collegiate. The area where it is located is near a train yard, so they had to redirect some of that while making the campus more appealing.

Anyway, I adopted UofL since they are a local team and my wife went there. Rooting for them is different but I usually do not have a conflict since MSU never plays them. Was hoping it was going to happen this year, oh well.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Is OM a Top 10 job?

They're a softball school