Kemnitz - I talked Gene into going to OU

[SB Shock]

Kemnitz has another meltdown on the radio. It is pretty funny. Hat tip to DaShox.

http://kfhradio.ramp.com/m/62066424/sports-daily-w-bruce-bob-09-04-12.htm

Starts around the 19:00 minute mark

Kemnitz - WSU baseball give you bragging rights with your neighbors because they can beat a KU or K-State.

Kemnitz - I'm passionate in my job
Lutz - Who isn't passionate in their job, we don't care about passion, we just want to see results.

Kemnitz - The program got in trouble when we had to go with bringing in our B-List players and they just were not very good players.

[pinstripers]

A flippin idiot. I changed the channel. I could care less about the guys that they signed that they couldn't get on campus. Results is all that matters. Get better guys on campus. Whose fault is it???

[shockmonster]

A flippin idiot. I changed the channel. I could care less about the guys that they signed that they couldn't get on campus. Results is all that matters. Get better guys on campus. Whose fault is it???

I didn't listen very long but to be fair, I think that BK admitted the coaching staff making recruiting mistakes and solutions to do better. Whether they can get it back to what it was while getting into the Super Regional, the jury is out.

[pinstripers]

talking about how they recruited TOO GOOD. I suppose that means all their top targets went pro. Uh...........

[SB Shock]

talking about how they recruited TOO GOOD. I suppose that means all their top targets went pro. Uh...........

Yeah that was some revisionist history. All good programs lose people to the pros. But they had some big misses for several years in a row and now the program has lost it swagger.

[shockmonster]

Yeah that was some revisionist history. All good programs lose people to the pros. But they had some big misses for several years in a row and now the program has lost it swagger.

His point was that Gene was stubborn and that what had worked for them early on (80's and 90's) doesn't work anymore. Other programs began over recruiting and cut the bad parts of the heard out to pasture each year while WSU was loyal to their players and kept players who they took a chance on late (after the pros took players) and weren't panning out. He said that in the future, they would recruit and cut out less productive players. You can be mad at Brent and Gene all you want, but this may be the mistake that they made and a solution out of it.

[pinstripers]

Sorry, that's not what he said. (before he started screaming).

[WstateU]

His point was that Gene was stubborn and that what had worked for them early on (80's and 90's) doesn't work anymore. Other programs began over recruiting and cut the bad parts of the heard out to pasture each year while WSU was loyal to their players and kept players who they took a chance on late (after the pros took players) and weren't panning out. He said that in the future, they would recruit and cut out less productive players. You can be mad at Brent and Gene all you want, but this may be the mistake that they made and a solution out of it.

Gene 'stubborn'?? No way! :)

[SB Shock]

Obviously they have no solution because they have not been to post season play for three years and even in a conference good year are still left sitting home. Won't get any easier either when dbu joins.

[shockmonster]

I only caught about 4-5 minutes of the show when I was in the car between appointments so I didn't hear much but did hear some conversation between Lutz and BK that indicated some disagreement. Then I heard the explanation of the problem and new solution that they came to this past year to address the problem. Then it went to commercial and I went into my next appointment.

It is obvious to me that Pin and SB aren't WSU supporters named Devlin, Downing, Tyler, Farah, Koch, etc. or they could have had the support to have Gene and Brent fired. Since they are going to be here for the near future, I hope that their new strategy works. Additionally, I hope that the people who come out of the wood work to criticize our staff for letting players go who aren't good enough to play Division I athletics (even though as a mid major we took a chance on them hoping they would be be good enough). This is a high level business that is ultra competitive and has a small margin of error.

[SB Shock]

When BK actually talks about parity - that is code for WSU is now beatable by anyone.

[SB Shock]

It is obvious to me that Pin and SB aren't WSU supporters named Devlin, Downing, Tyler, Farah, Koch, etc. or they could have had the support to have Gene and Brent fired.

I still had season tickets last year (Now the question may be will I renew this year?), but plenty of fans are making a statement - that can't be lost on AD.

[shockmonster]

I still had season tickets last year (Now the question may be will I renew this year?), but plenty of fans are making a statement - that can't be lost on AD.

That is your right. I still hope that the coaching staff is correct in their assessment of the problem with WSU Baseball. The coaching staff either is not capable of being successful coaches of a high level program or they have just been too nice in assessing their team needs each year and need to change their tactics to be more competitive. I do think that there is proof of the idea that there are many more programs who are competing at a higher level than in the past.

[ShockTalk]

That is your right. I still hope that the coaching staff is correct in their assessment of the problem with WSU Baseball. The coaching staff either is not capable of being successful coaches of a high level program or they have just been too nice in assessing their team needs each year and need to change their tactics to be more competitive. I do think that there is proof of the idea that there are many more programs who are competing at a higher level than in the past.

I'll take a stab at your comments from my view point.

Yes, there are more programs who are competing at a higher level than in the past. I don't know that "nice" is the best word, but I do believe Gene is loyal to his players and overly so to his staff (think Thomas vs energized, new blood). I believe they are capable (or at least most) of being successful coaches of a high level program. The question is.....how hard do they want to work at it?

When they left WSU for OU, they were of the mind set they couldn't (didn't want to work that hard after all those years) do any more for WSU. They had topped out. It was only going to get harder at WSU and that didn't set well with a group of coaches feeling that they had put in their dues and it was time for them to "set in their rocking chairs" and have players knock on their door to play at OU. They had already began to set a negative pattern at WSU and after the OU thing didn't work out, they just weren't in the mood to bust balls for recruiting. So you have where we are over the last 4 years.

I'm not sure why, but I'm optimistic about the new players coming in. Nevertheless, Gene has an opportunity to pick and groom his successor and Gene's time probably is coming to an end soon. To put new life, a new fire, into the WSU baseball program. I guess we'll see just how committed Gene is willing to be to bring WSU back into being the dominate program, year in and year out, in the Valley and back to a reasonable prominence nationally.

[WSUwatcher]

When BK actually talks about parity - that is code for WSU is now beatable by anyone.

Even some of the best WSU teams were beatable by anyone -- even by non-Division 1 teams. Look at the media guide game-by-game results back in the 80's.

The problem is that the "any given days" when bad losses occur have become more frequent, and also that WSU has lately lost the ability to win when it absolutely has to do so -- which, of course, is a function of of the talent level. If the Shocks are going to return to prominence, they need to quit having to settle for "B-list players." Whose fault is that, Brent? More to the point, can you fix it?