It's O'Connor. to be announced tomorrow

[StarkVegasSteve]

On today?s show of Thunder and Lightning, Robbie said he is 99% confident that Brian O?Connor will be State?s next HC, and he is equally as confident Muscara will be the pitching coach.

I don't share his confidence in Muscara, I think Wake will do what it takes to keep him because they want him to take over for Walter. I do agree on O'Conner. If we weren't playing it would be announced today. But we are going to have to announce it either the day after we're eliminated or Monday due to the portal opening.

[ZedFedder]

I don?t think he says that on Muscara unless it is a done deal.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I don?t think he says that on Muscara unless it is a done deal.

It may be. I just have not heard that confidence from the people I have gotten the assurances on with O'Conner. They said it trending well but Wake is going to make a final run at him.

And look, IF WE GET HIM, we'd have the best staff in the country. And it wouldn't matter who the hitting coach was. Selfishly I would like to see Jake stay on as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator because he's the point guy on all our recruits and portal guys. The portal is the one place O'Conner and his staff have not been very good at all. O'Conner also doesn't recruit this area well so it is not just a plug in and immediate success thing in those regards.

[Brobi-wan]

I get the idea from the way some of you talk that Jake loves MSU. Is that correct to assume?

[KB21]

It may be. I just have not heard that confidence from the people I have gotten the assurances on with O'Conner. They said it trending well but Wake is going to make a final run at him.

And look, IF WE GET HIM, we'd have the best staff in the country. And it wouldn't matter who the hitting coach was. Selfishly I would like to see Jake stay on as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator because he's the point guy on all our recruits and portal guys. The portal is the one place O'Conner and his staff have not been very good at all. O'Conner also doesn't recruit this area well so it is not just a plug in and immediate success thing in those regards.

What I heard is that Muscara isn't staying at Wake if Tom Walter is staying. They have had somewhat of a falling out. I don't see anyone buying Walter out either. Texas A&M is waiting on Alabama's season to finish to take Rob Vaughn away from them.

[DownwardDawg]

It may be. I just have not heard that confidence from the people I have gotten the assurances on with O'Conner. They said it trending well but Wake is going to make a final run at him.

And look, IF WE GET HIM, we'd have the best staff in the country. And it wouldn't matter who the hitting coach was. Selfishly I would like to see Jake stay on as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator because he's the point guy on all our recruits and portal guys. The portal is the one place O'Conner and his staff have not been very good at all. O'Conner also doesn't recruit this area well so it is not just a plug in and immediate success thing in those regards.

That's concerning that he's not good at the portal stuff. Maybe he hasn't needed to be. Kiffin has proven in football that the portal is more important than actual on field coaching. Obviously football is far different than baseball, but talent is still king.

[KB21]

It may be. I just have not heard that confidence from the people I have gotten the assurances on with O'Conner. They said it trending well but Wake is going to make a final run at him.

And look, IF WE GET HIM, we'd have the best staff in the country. And it wouldn't matter who the hitting coach was. Selfishly I would like to see Jake stay on as hitting coach and recruiting coordinator because he's the point guy on all our recruits and portal guys. The portal is the one place O'Conner and his staff have not been very good at all. O'Conner also doesn't recruit this area well so it is not just a plug in and immediate success thing in those regards.

I wonder if Jake would be willing to transition to an off the field role where he works in player evaluations, recruiting, and player development.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I get the idea from the way some of you talk that Jake loves MSU. Is that correct to assume?

Absolutely loves it. He loves it, his wife loves it, and his kids love it. There's only about 3-4 jobs that Jake would leave Mississippi St for. Texas, LSU, A&M, and Arkansas.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I wonder if Jake would be willing to transition to an off the field role where he works in player evaluations, recruiting, and player development.

Probably not. At least not long term. You may could convince him to stay for a year, but long term you couldn't convince him. I wish like hell he'd agree to be the GM/Director of Player Development. But in talking with Jake I know he won't agree to that.

[maroonmania]

That's concerning that he's not good at the portal stuff. Maybe he hasn't needed to be. Kiffin has proven in football that the portal is more important than actual on field coaching. Obviously football is far different than baseball, but talent is still king.

Hopefully that's mostly because he hasn't had the NIL funds to buy players out of the portal. That's mostly what the portal is when competing against similar programs. It's about what the money package is and do they have a 90% plus chance to start.

[StarkVegasSteve]

That's concerning that he's not good at the portal stuff. Maybe he hasn't needed to be. Kiffin has proven in football that the portal is more important than actual on field coaching. Obviously football is far different than baseball, but talent is still king.

I want to believe the NIL portion is just not there and now that it will be he will be better but it's been one of my two big concerns with O'Conner.

[LibraryDawg]

I want to believe the NIL portion is just not there and now that it will be he will be better but it's been one of my two big concerns with O'Conner.

What?s the second?

[confucius say]

A text from my guy last night said "The hay is in the barn."

Correct.

[StarkVegasSteve]

What?s the second?

Is he ready for this? Is he ready to be in this type of pressure cooker 24-7-365. This isn't UVA. We'll have more people at the fall ball scrimmages than they do for conference weekends. You constantly have people wanting your time. Whether that be media obligations, fans wanting pictures and autographs, speaking engagements, etc. You can't really go out in public. You have overzealous boosters who want to get close to your team.

I mean this is not a normal job. He has never been at a place like this. There's only 3-4 places like this in the country. Is he ready for that? Can he juggle all that and still have the same attention to detail he had at UVA?

[HoopsDawg]

I want to believe the NIL portion is just not there and now that it will be he will be better but it's been one of my two big concerns with O'Conner.

It's NIL and cost of attendance at UVA. Plain and simple.

[Pedrioa is King]

Did I notice on Virginias website that they have more of a baseball staff than ours? I?m talking numbers of people. Why is that?

[StarkVegasSteve]

Did I notice on Virginias website that they have more of a baseball staff than ours? I?m talking numbers of people. Why is that?

We have more baseball staff but ours are listed in different places on the website. We also don't post our student managers, recruiting assts, or bullpen people.

[Pedrioa is King]

BTW, I have a PG account and there?s plenty of high end HS talent we might could get from Virginia and Wake. They both have a few commits from Florida and up north. Here?s to snagging a few.

[StarkVegasSteve]

So question on Muscara from someone who knows more than me. He came into a loaded staff at Wake in 23 and they were elite. No doubt about it. But the two years since, his staffs have had a 5.11 ERA and have a 4.76 ERA this year. So what is the fascination with him? Because he didn't recruit or really develop any of that 23 staff and outside of Chase Burns, who wasn't as good at Wake as he was at Tennessee, who has recruited?

Because I am sure I am just missing something because everyone thinks this guy is the best pitching coach in the country. So what makes him better than a Justin Parker?

[Mjoelner34]

So question on Muscara from someone who knows more than me. He came into a loaded staff at Wake in 23 and they were elite. No doubt about it. But the two years since, his staffs have had a 5.11 ERA and have a 4.76 ERA this year. So what is the fascination with him? Because he didn't recruit or really develop any of that 23 staff and outside of Chase Burns, who wasn't as good at Wake as he was at Tennessee, who has recruited?

Because I am sure I am just missing something because everyone thinks this guy is the best pitching coach in the country. So what makes him better than a Justin Parker?

That's what I've been wondering. Our team ERA has been better than WF for the past 2 years.