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04-30-2025, 08:22 AM
#181
Kansas coach is a big reach/risk
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04-30-2025, 08:25 AM
#182

Originally Posted by
StarkVegasSteve
He is an interesting candidate and one I am sure will get a look. Was at DBU with Heefner for 9 years and then took the RC job at LSU for a year before taking the Kansas job. He is a Midwest guy and has really built Kansas into a player in the Big 12 in very short order. Actually has people coming to the ballpark and has gotten the students involved. He would not be at the top of my list but he would be worth a call if you missed on a few.
Dan Fitzgerald. Spent most of his career at Dallas Baptist, which is a program that evaluates and develops talent better than any program in the country. He and Wes Johnson were both on that staff at one point.
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04-30-2025, 08:26 AM
#183

Originally Posted by
Todd4State
LOL. If he is it's probably for advice and references.
Or a NIL donation. Those should be the only reasons.
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04-30-2025, 08:30 AM
#184

Originally Posted by
KB21
Dan Fitzgerald. Spent most of his career at Dallas Baptist, which is a program that evaluates and develops talent better than any program in the country. He and Wes Johnson were both on that staff at one point.
The Wes connection is how he got the LSU RC job. Wes thinks very highly of him. Hiring him or Wes is as close as you will get to hiring Heefner. And they do not come with the hard line religious stances or the hard line stances on alcohol. And honestly, that is probably the deal breaker on Heefner even over the hard line religious stances. He would have very strong stances on alcohol being allowed in the LFL. He would be vehemently against it.
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04-30-2025, 08:41 AM
#185

Originally Posted by
preachermatt83
To be fair, and I say this with respect because you are one of the most knowledgeable baseball posters this site has ever seen, but dude, the Elander guy is the real deal. He gets the portal. He gets nil. And he can flat out coach hitters. If he were to come and we got Parker to stay or someone as good as he is, then we would have hit a homerun I think!
The thing is we fired Lemonis and Cann our last two coaches because they couldn't handle the pressure that comes with our program and neither was a great manager.
Those are the two biggest question marks with Elander.
Parker's staff is 10th in the SEC right now. I would be Ok if he left.
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04-30-2025, 08:42 AM
#186

Originally Posted by
Cooterpoot
Kansas coach is a big reach/risk
Agree. He built KU's program with JUCO's and the portal. Which I get. He had no choice. But would he continue to do it that way here?
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04-30-2025, 08:44 AM
#187

Originally Posted by
StarkVegasSteve
The Wes connection is how he got the LSU RC job. Wes thinks very highly of him. Hiring him or Wes is as close as you will get to hiring Heefner. And they do not come with the hard line religious stances or the hard line stances on alcohol. And honestly, that is probably the deal breaker on Heefner even over the hard line religious stances. He would have very strong stances on alcohol being allowed in the LFL. He would be vehemently against it.
Yeah. I don't think very many of our fans would have an issue with the Bible Study aspect. A lot of players would probably have gone regardless. MLB has chaplains and such like Burke Masters.
Alcohol however- that's been a part of the LFL since students parked their pick up trucks behind the fence. Safe to say that is here to stay.
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04-30-2025, 09:10 AM
#188

Originally Posted by
StarkVegasSteve
The Wes connection is how he got the LSU RC job. Wes thinks very highly of him. Hiring him or Wes is as close as you will get to hiring Heefner. And they do not come with the hard line religious stances or the hard line stances on alcohol. And honestly, that is probably the deal breaker on Heefner even over the hard line religious stances. He would have very strong stances on alcohol being allowed in the LFL. He would be vehemently against it.
It's rumored that this is the reason he hasn't taken any other jobs. It was the dealbreaker with Texas A&M. With that said, if Heefner were ever interested in this job, you don't go after anyone else. That guy is a top 5 coach in all of college baseball who is completely happy at a small Baptist school outside Dallas.
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04-30-2025, 09:31 AM
#189

Originally Posted by
KB21
It's rumored that this is the reason he hasn't taken any other jobs. It was the dealbreaker with Texas A&M. With that said, if Heefner were ever interested in this job, you don't go after anyone else. That guy is a top 5 coach in all of college baseball who is completely happy at a small Baptist school outside Dallas.
I agree
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04-30-2025, 10:02 AM
#190
Chris Pollard is trying to endear himself to the Mississippi State fanbase. The Duke baseball slogan this year that he tweets out is #BlueCollar
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04-30-2025, 10:20 AM
#191

Originally Posted by
Todd4State
LOL. If he is it's probably for advice and references.
I could actually see Buck maybe having some success as a college coach because he is known for managing young rebuilding teams throughout his career. That said, if you hire him you better have an elite pitching and hitting coach that are also elite recruiters because most MLB people that go to college struggle with that. That was a big reason why Jimmy Bragan wasn't going to work out and why Polk had to bring in a lot of JUCO guys.
If he’s talking to him it could very well be about money. There are a lot of former players that are not involved with the program due to various factors. It’s time to get them all together and he would be one of the guys to help that happen.
Last edited by Coursesuper; 04-30-2025 at 10:30 AM.
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04-30-2025, 10:51 AM
#192
Yeah, I'm not against Fitzgerald, but that would be a big time risk.
Yes, all coaching hires are risks, but he would be a big one.
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04-30-2025, 10:55 AM
#193
I'd like to know what some of our MLB guys think about who should be the next HC. Since we have been missing the Mangum-type leadership, maybe his opinion should carry some weight.
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04-30-2025, 10:55 AM
#194

Originally Posted by
Coursesuper
If he’s talking to him it could very well be about money. There are a lot of former players that are not involved with the program due to various factors. It’s time to get them all together and he would be one of the guys to help that happen.
That is very true. And maybe some insight into anything else the program might need.
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04-30-2025, 10:59 AM
#195
We aren't hiring Showalter. My stance on the hire is go after the top P4 possibly looking to make a move, then the riskier P4 guys like the Kansas coach, then P4 assistants. I'm not fooling with a single G5 guy. I'm not scared to go assistant but that's my last route if we failed at bigger fish.
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04-30-2025, 11:00 AM
#196
I'm calling O'Conner, Bakich, and O'Sullivan first.
If none of those bite, I'm going to the Pollard, Wasikowski, Wes Johnson, Vaughn, Mingione (no thanks on that buyout), Fitzgerald tier.
Then I'm going to Will Coggin and Josh Elander.
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04-30-2025, 11:02 AM
#197

Originally Posted by
KOdawg1
I'm calling O'Conner, Bakich, and O'Sullivan first.
If none of those bite, I'm going to the Pollard, Wasikowski, Wes Johnson, Vaughn, Mingione (no thanks on that buyout), Fitzgerald tier.
Then I'm going to Will Coggin and Josh Elander.
You can go ahead and exclude both Wes and Ming. Vaughn isn't coming either IMO. I seriously doubt Coggin too, but if you miss on everybody he's there.
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04-30-2025, 11:04 AM
#198

Originally Posted by
Cooterpoot
You can go ahead and exclude both Wes and Ming. Vaughn isn't coming either IMO. I seriously doubt Coggin too, but if you miss on everybody he's there.
Nah, I'll keep them on there.
Make your own list and exclude them.
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04-30-2025, 11:08 AM
#199

Originally Posted by
Cooterpoot
We aren't hiring Showalter. My stance on the hire is go after the top P4 possibly looking to make a move, then the riskier P4 guys like the Kansas coach, then P4 assistants. I'm not fooling with a single G5 guy. I'm not scared to go assistant but that's my last route if we failed at bigger fish.
No we’re not and he won’t do it anyway. But he and a couple of others are the key to funding we desperately need.
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04-30-2025, 11:24 AM
#200

Originally Posted by
Coursesuper
No we’re not and he won’t do it anyway. But he and a couple of others are the key to funding we desperately need.
Nailed it! We need Buck involved in to bring some folks together and get this thing done right!
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