He’s a great coach.
Vader has to be in Austin. This is closer to Jabba the Hut.
He is old school. He had a great run but sounds like the time has come to let someone else (Berkman & Pettitte?) run the program.
Writing has been on the wall and I think even he knew it was coming.
Wade has quite the Twitter feed.
Seems hard to believe that Puma would try to steal the job from Graham. Maybe expressed interest in being considered, said he is interested if asked, etc. Doesn’t seem to pass the smell test from the outside looking in.
It probably was time for Graham to step down. However, the AD did not handle this properly. If anybody deserves to go out on their own terms, it is Graham. He is the only person on that campus with a national championship.
You ain’t lying. Geez.
That was quite the read. I am starting to think he does not like Berkman.
Duarte just tweeted a quote from graham that said it’s come to his attention that a former player has been campaigning to take his job and has solicited other former players in the cause.
HOUSTON -
Rice baseball coach Wayne Graham told FOX 26 Sports his career with the Owls will end at the conclusion of this season.“The athletic director (Joe Karlgaard) has informed me that my contract will not be extended at the end of the 2018 season,” Graham said. “I am totally committed to this year’s team and will give everything I have to place this team in the postseason. I love teaching and coaching and have no plans to retire.
Graham, who has been the Owls baseball coach since 1991, is in the final year of his contract at Rice.
“Multiple sources have informed me that a former player has been campaigning for my job, and has solicited the aid of other former players,” Graham said. “This has been extremely hurtful to my wife and I since we have loved and supported all these players.
Graham did not identify who that former player is. He did say that situation has been going on for more than a year.
“Perhaps it is time to exit Rice,” Graham said. “My wife and I love Rice and what it has stood for. So we leave reluctantly. I’m making this public statement to Rice Nation so that the people we have served all these years know exactly how I feel.”
Graham, 82, led the Owls to the College World Series title in 2003.
On his watch Rice has been to the NCAA Tournament 23 consecutive years, the third-longest active streak in the nation behind Florida State and Cal-State Fullerton.
That remarkable streak is in jeopardy.
The Owls are currently in ninth place in Conference USA, with the top eight advancing to the C-USA postseason tournament.
Graham’s Owls have won or shared the conference regular season or postseason tournament title 21 of the past 22 years.
Karlgaard declined comment when reached by FOX 26.
This should make for a very graceful exit for Graham.
Berkman showed himself to be a sanctimonious and self-serving ass a few years ago when he took it upon himself to start a specious fear campaign in a city he doesn’t even live in.
Character-wise, or a total lack there of, this syncs up.
He showed that prior to his trade from the Astros. Berkman, after Bagwell and Biggio left, stopped working as hard, got fat, and basically helped bring the morale down in the dugout. He was one of the big complainers when it came to Cecil Cooper as manager (not saying he was wrong, but Berkman shouldn’t have undermined him) and his last two years in Houston were ridiculous. He was close to being out of baseball after the trade as he was terrible with the Yankees.
That offseason, Berkman got back in shape and signed with St. Louis and played in the outfield. It was an amazing transformation as he shed all the fat and could suddenly hit again as he helped the Cardinals to the World Series. He was hurt the next season and had a chance to sign in Houston, but decided in the end to sign with Texas because he thought they might win more.
Lost a lot of respect for Lance with what he pulled at the end of his Astros tenure. Looks like he hasn’t changed much at all. As crazy as Townsend is, he’s not too off base when he says it would be a huge mistake to sign Berkman.
So what do you do if you are Rice? I mean from a business / contract perspective. Obviously, this PR situation is not the way you should handle your business. The offer of a non-coaching position rings hollow now with the way things have gone down.
Graham reached 82 this month and is in his last year of his contract.
Do you let him coach as long as he wants?
Is this year an anomaly (they might miss the C-USA tournament) or was last season’s 14-4 finish the anomaly?
It’s never easy to force a legend out. It will be interesting to see what the Rice team does from this point out.
I probably would have let him continue coaching and see if this was just a momentary downturn. Who knows, maybe he has that squad back to their normal levels next year. I think he’s earned that.
But, since they’ve made their bed, I’d go after Saarloos at TCU and see if he’d come and coach. If not him, I’d go find an experienced assistant or head coach as Rice has had enough success to draw someone of that caliber. Hiring Berkman would be like Memphis basketball hiring Penny for basketball or us hiring Drexler; basically doing it for the name…usually doesn’t work out well.
It’s a tough call in seems like a no-win situation. As Kenny Rogers would say “You go to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em”
I tend to agree but at least Berkman is coaching HS baseball which is more coaching experience than what Drexler brought. If Berkman brings on Pettitte as well, then the name recognition will give a boost for at least one or two recruiting cycles and then the results will start to matter more. I think Pettitte would be the key to the name recognition more than Berkman.
It’s more fun to watch this kind of thing from the outside.