Honest question.
How easy is baseball to turn around?
One poster said basketball and baseball were the easiest, but wouldn’t baseball be a lot harder given that you have to recruit a whole pitching staff, lineup, bench, etc?
Seems like a much harder task.
I think its much much easier than basketball. The basketball talent is spread out everywhere. Houston is located right in the middle of the biggest pool of high school talent in the country. You can build an Omaha caliber team without ever having to get on a plane to see a kid.
Select baseball is a big scattered business but still the prospects are all highly concentrated in a few different organizations. You have to go right for them, sign them, play them, treat them right, and its a snowball effect with future classes of kids. You all of a sudden become a trending hot team with good facilities, close to home, and a winning local culture playing Big 12 baseball. When our local talented young kids are allegedly run off due to mistreatment or whatever it may be, you kill the momentum and then have to fill up the roster with portal guys from Rhode Island.
The other thing you should be able to do is get the talented Houston kids that played at an elite program to start their career, bur for whatever reason it didn’t work out, who then enter the portal. Players usually like to be closer to home after another program doesn’t work out.
I agree it starts with the right head coach.
The easiest sport to turn around.
Like I said, the right guy could have us back in the tournament next year……and on a level to be a one seed in 3-4 years.
I have to wonder who these donors are. I’d place them in the “with friends like these, who needs enemies” category. It sounds like they’re donating to the program to benefit Whitting, not UHBB. UH has made Whitting a millionaire, and he’s repaid UH by making the program less than mediocre. His recent antics at ok st are going to make us targets of ridicule for the next few years.
I think Nunez has already made the decision….dummies antics in Stillwater sealed that deal I think.
The days of sniffing the dirt are over.
1 great season at Tex St does not make him a fit for us. Good coach, not great. We have to have THE GUY to turn this thing. Look at KU. Hired a guy that’s a winner and they have flipped the script in 2 seasons. We need to find the right coach.
He has had two really good seasons over four years. They are ok this year. He has done a nice job there. He took them to their first NCAA tournament since 2011. He has done a nice job. Do I necessarily want him to get the job? Probably not, but I would definitely interview him.
I call BS on a few donors wanting him to be here. More like they didn’t want to eat his salary and pay a new coach.
He was recently extended - no salary to eat if they’d just made the change.
TW has been good at bringing in money.
Is he on a yr to yr contract?
And if he is WTF is that?? Fire his ass because what kid would want to sign here with a coach on a yr to yr contract.
He signed some good kids but several never cracked the lineup and went elsewhere and got drafted -
When noble was here in its heyday Houston wasn’t as spread out and talent understood Houston then - most of these newer areas are noting but transplants and it’s closer damn near to college station than Houston lol - plus 11.7 scholarships kept kids closer cause they couldn’t all run to UT, etc as Sam Houston benefited also
Baseball is harder to turnaround now unless your going to NIL a pitching staff and even the quality hitters can drop off - we all know that’s a different beast of a sport
Everything about this post is so wrong….
BTW, it’s still 11.7 scholarships……so why aren’t the “running here”? The ones he got a couple of years ago were all run off.
It does not change until next year….next year it will be up to 34 full scholarships.
And the only people that hurts are mid-majors because some bad travel coaches will send kids to a big school knowing damn well they will not play.
Mid- majors will have to live in the portal.
Do your homework.
I believe WBB is #3 sport especially with TV.
Softball is easiest to turn around. See TX Tech with its top pitcher.
Baseball has so much potential and is more fun to talk about (for guys). Omaha is a cooler endgame than all but Women’s FF.
Save a couple players NIL in football and you fund baseball’s extra cost for a top tier Big 12 program.
Is one more win in football worth more than a top tier Big 12 baseball program? Based on past spending, apparently so.
I think Whitting quit really trying when his wife got sick. His life priorities changed (as they should) to his wife. Since then he has not had the fire or care to do the job as it should be done. He needs to retire before he does anynore damage to his reputation.
You may be correct sir.
And as you said I would be fine with them letting him resign.
Probably couldn’t in that situation. That’s no time lose your health insurance. Maybe let him stick with fund raising since that seems to be what he does best.
Many here, including myself, believe baseball is an easy sport to turn around. it can also set you back 10 years by making a poor coaching hire(s). Just look at Rice with Bragga and Cruz, they havent been relevant for six years of new coaches and have totally gutted the program. They have Pierce now, but there is no telling how many years it will take him just to get back to mediocre.
If there is not a home run hire out there that is willing to be here for the long run, whats the point in making this decision right now.
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