Fire Gene Stephenson

[ShockerFever]

Your post makes little sense. You can logically blame isolated losses on players, but the deterioration of a program over the long term has to rest with the coaches. The buck always stops at the top.

Anything else is akin to blaming privates and corporals for losing a war instead of the generals and presidents.

His post was long and defensive in nature. He knows his argument sucks. He's just trying to save some face. The worst thing though is that he made his argument even worse and you totally just ate it up. He says this game is just an isolated game but forgets the whole part of a season filled with 26 losses with an RPI 102. There's your long term answer.

Like I said, he's a mo mo.

[garylee]

have not checked in since early in the season when no one cared. when everyone wrote them off I predicted we would win at least 37 games and win the MVC tournament. I think they will get off their backs again after losing today and win their way to the championship game before losing in the final. as for GS he probably will hang on for another lackluster year. don't see how administration retains him at his current salary after that as he has been grossly overpaid for years. he has been a heck of a money raiser but a very unimpressive on field coach. need a young coach who can relate and restore team chemistry that GS seems to destroy year after year after year.

[Spaulding]

Time to go Krusty!! Thanks for the past, but you are not the future. Game over...

[DUShock]

Bye-bye!

[Aargh]

The coaching staff did not have the players mentally prepared for the game today. It looked like the coaches had shown a lack of cinfidence in the team and the players acted on that lack of confidence. Either that or at the end of a season, the players still make bone-headed decisions (lack of teaching or confidence), play out of position, etc. The inability to throw a strike is an obvious sign of lack of mental preparation.

Then there's the pretty obvious example of Johnny Coy. A power hitter who apparently got worse at the plate every year, but somehow hit better in summer ball than at WSU.

Then there's Gene's penchant toward recruiting smaller, quick guys who are great defensively, but struggle at the plate. Somehow, KSU, with little baseball tradition and crappy facilities, can go out and recruit guys who are better defensively and bat .300+ with power. The guys who can hit .300 with some pop and play D are out there. They're just not coming to WSU.

We're geting out-recruited by K-State? The school that hasn't hosted a regional EVER?

Gene is collecting a paycheck. He isn't doing the job - he's just collecting the paycheck. I thought it was Coy he sent home in the 1st. Whoever it was, I knew the guy was an out the moment he made the turn at 3rd. Gene isn't paying attention to what's happening on the field. He's just going through the motions of what he thinks should work.

When you have a team full of little, fast guys without power at the plate, you should have someone on the staff who can teach how to bunt for a base hit. The Shox are mostly incapable of executing a sac bunt. That worked fairly well when the lineup was filled with guys hitting .350 who could stroke the power alleys for doubles. We don't have those players on the squad any more, but we're still trying to play the offense like we have those guys.

We have guys who can hit grounders to infielders and pop-ups to outfielders. Either the coaches are recruiting players with limited offensive capabilities or there's no one on the staff who can coach hitting. Blaming the players isn't going to resolve the problem. We've changed the entire group of players several times since this problem emerged.

[ShockerPrez]

I would guess that as a WSU fan, I am typical of a lot of other WSU fans. I'm around 40, grew up going to WSU basketball games at a very young age. Remember past glory days with All American players, etc. Then I started to hear about WSU baseball. My first real memory is Russ Mormon pounding homers and the 82 CWS against Miami. I remember thinking that this was pretty cool!! Then when WSU basketball started to tank, WSU baseball was really, really good. WSU baseball was nearly as important as WSU basketball (perhaps even more so at a few stages). I would make more of an effort to go to baseball games than I did basketball. They were cheaper and a hell of a lot more fun! The national championship against Texas was unreal. But we aren't at that level. I moved away from Wichita in 2005 but remember listening to the super regionals on the internet and thinking that we just don't have the talent we used to have.

I obviously still root for WSU baseball, but there is something missing that used to be there. There used to be that chip on the shoulder of WSU baseball. The desire to go out on to the field and just put the wood to someone in all aspects of the game. That sense isn't there any more, and I hold Gene Stephenson responsible for that. I don't blame the guy, he has made his bones. He is WSU baseball, but I think he's just lost that chip on his shoulder. And at a program like WSU, you can't lose that. A lot of the games have been broadcast this year in KC, and I can't even stomach to watch them half the time now.

My broader point is that, as I said, I believe that I am like the majority of WSU fans. Right or wrong, I'm fed up with WSU baseball acting like the big swinging dicks that they USED to be. I have no desire to go to a game. I have no desire to see any more of Gene Stephenson as the coach. And if my feelings represent the majority of WSU fans, than..... If my feelings are a small minority, than he should stay.

[WSUwatcher]

No need to overanalyze, Aargh; it's just baseball, and when you play a lot of games shtuff happens. A somewhat better WSU team, the 1989 edition, finished its regular season with a pair of 9-3 home losses against BYU (I remember wasting part of my weekend watching them do so, in some pretty chilly weather for May) and then went 2-2 in the Valley tournament, not even playing for the championship. But it wasn't for lack of talent, or ability to execute, or coaching -- it was just baseball. I'm not greatly impressed with WSU's offensive efficiency this year either, but I'm certainly not going to gripe about it on a day when they just scored 11 runs against a regional-caliber opponent.

Reading the players' comments quoted by Paul S this morning, it sounds like they realize they stunk it up, and that they know they played and pitched nervously yesterday. They took responsibility, correctly and to their credit, and have moved on. There's no need to make excuses for a miserable game, or to act as if the coaches were supposed to have them somehow fine-tuned -- the players didn't; why should you?

I expect WSU to play just fine today. Arkansas is a good team, and Stanek is an outstanding pitcher who can make an opponent look bad, so it may or may not be good enough to win -- WSU will certainly be an underdog, and sometimes the other guys just beat you. This may be one of those days; we'll see soon enough. But if the Shocks do win and Arkansas is the one to go home early, you may want to check with Charlie and see if she blames THEIR coaches. I'm guessing she may be a bit more level-headed. Shtuff happens -- it's just baseball.

[ShockerFever]

So Gene is the coach of the century, the best ever, gets all the credit when WSU is winning and when WSU is doing good, but when WSU sucks and gets their asses handed to them, it's the players' fault.

Did I get the jist of all of that?

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

The players do have to play.. But the program falling to the point where it is now is squarely on Gene. like most Ill always appreciate what he and where he brought WSU baseball but dude.... We aint won nothing for awhile now.. and that is some BS.

[GoShockers89]

.

[WSUwatcher]

The players do have to play.. But the program falling to the point where it is now is squarely on Gene. like most Ill always appreciate what he and where he brought WSU baseball but dude.... We aint won nothing for awhile now.. and that is some BS.

Lest anyone misunderstand, I don't exonerate Stephenson by any means for the program's struggles. It has indeed been five years since WSU was really good, and that's way too long. A couple of tough seasons due to injuries or bad luck with the draft is one thing, but five is more than can be explained away.

I expect the players to be accountable when they stink it up, and the same principle applies to the coaching staff. No one has accomplished more in college baseball than Gene has, but lifetime achievement awards don't show up on the scoreboard.

[ShockTalk]

Lest anyone misunderstand, I don't exonerate Stephenson by any means for the program's struggles. It has indeed been five years since WSU was really good, and that's way too long. A couple of tough seasons due to injuries or bad luck with the draft is one thing, but five is more than can be explained away.

I expect the players to be accountable when they stink it up, and the same principle applies to the coaching staff. No one has accomplished more in college baseball than Gene has, but lifetime achievement awards don't show up on the scoreboard.

We now have a least some common ground on the subject and I think some of us did misunderstand your position. Yes, the players should be held accountable for any underperformance from a reasonable level they are capable of. However, don't forget where the buck always stops. The bigger the beast a staff creates, the greater the credit and compensation they will receive with its successes, just as the greater the blame and accountability they are held to for its underperformance. The staff recruited the players they have and they are responsible for those players abilities, God given and/or learned, just as the staff is responsible for the quality of coaching and instruction these players receive on skills technique as well as BBIQ. Whatever the reason for a team's players lack of overall performance, it comes back on the coaching staff and that staff knows it.

[billybud]

I am not a Shocker fan...but I watch the Shockers when they are available.

Some Captain Obvious type comments:

Recruiting has had its effect....You have to have pitching to get through a regional. A team with an ace, has that one game advantage. When you hit the games with the better clubs, great pitching overcomes other club weaknesses...Some pitching studs should be an absolute recruiting priority, as I am sure that they have been. I am afraid that the further WSU gets from its glory days, the more difficult it is to compete for the
nation's best kids. That situation calls for astute talent spotting and the ability to sell kids on being part of something building at WSU.

Fielding....Errors...The Shocks are 22-8 in games with 0 errors...but are 6-9 in games with 2 or more errors. The good news is that twice as many games are played with zero errors than with two...but two errors in big
games usually means a loss. Defense still has a place in college ball.

Coaching....absolutely nothing wrong with small ball, advancing runners into scoring position...but you have to take advantage when runners move into scoring position....the only coaching decision that stood out for me was advancing a runner around 3rd to home....the guy didn't have speedy wheels and it looked like a real risky call....

PITCHING.....again...it is about pitching.

[DUShock]

Bump

[pinstripers]

Lutz just said on the radio that there will be an announcement TODAY. He refused to speculate whether it would be a firing, a resignation, or an extension.