Fire Todd Butler

[WSUwatcher]

Shoxlax, I agree with you on what matters most, but one of the things an outstanding program has going for it -- e.g., Marshall's basketball, Stephenson's baseball for the bulk of his career -- is (1) a high level of performance achieved by (2) high character individuals who are great ambassadors for WSU.

It's been quite a while since I've been close to WSU baseball, so I'll have to take the word of others (although it's my own impression from a distance as well) that Butler and his staff are succeeding on (2), which I agree is the more important aspect of the program in the grand scheme of things. But a superior leader can provide (1) in addition, and we simply haven't seen that, even allowing for the handicap created by imposing Kemnitz on a coach who didn't want him at the same time as BK increasingly didn't want to be there.

I'll be pleasantly surprised if Butler succeeds at WSU (or, really, as a head coach in a nationally competitive program anywhere). Boatright sounds like he's dug in, though, and I hope he doesn't just get stubborn in reaction to the complaints, to the ultimate disadvantage of the program -- although some would probably argue that he has already done so.

[shoxlax]

I'm not sure I've ever seen such a public calling out of a coach or program as Gene's family and friends have done on Facebook the past two days. These are not anonymous posts either...they are glad to let people know who they are.

Just wow.

[shocktheheart]

I'm not sure I've ever seen such a public calling out of a coach or program as Gene's family and friends have done on Facebook the past two days. These are not anonymous posts either...they are glad to let people know who they are.

Just wow.

Links?

[ShanShock]

Links?

Facebook - Gene's daughter

[BOBB]

Facebook - Gene's daughter

Blood is thicker than water aka "La Familia es Todo"

[shoxlax]

https://m.facebook.com/ginnyiz?tsid=0.8084493488048692&source=typeahead

[AndShock]

https://m.facebook.com/ginnyiz?tsid=...urce=typeahead

Well she makes some decent and not so decent points.

[Play Angry]

Shelley's post is particularly interesting as it suggests what has been echoed on here many times.

The public venting is short-sighted IMO. Having all branches of immediate family unload both barrels publicly when a move is likely a year out was not wise if recognition and some level of reconciliation are desired. OTOH, this may simply indicate that Gene and fam have no appetite for rapprochement in the future and do not mind tossing some lighter fluid on an undeniable mess.

Time isn't healing much of anything from the look of this.

[ShockTalk]

Shelley's post is particularly interesting as it suggests what has been echoed on here many times.

The public venting is short-sighted IMO. Having all branches of immediate family unload both barrels publicly when a move is likely a year out was not wise if recognition and some level of reconciliation are desired. OTOH, this may simply indicate that Gene and fam have no appetite for rapprochement in the future and do not mind tossing some lighter fluid on an undeniable mess.

Time isn't healing much of anything from the look of this.

If Shelley's post is correct ("Don't lay Gene's firing on Sexton. Sexton did exactly what he was told to do by Boatright! That's a fact. Sexton was never a leader. This ALL is on Boatright."), that would explain a lot of what may be going on.

1) Butler is Boatright's man and ADDB is right when he says it is not financial that Butler's still here.

2) Gene will not entertain mending fences as long as both of them are around WSU.

I do believe that ADDB was probably strongly influenced in his decision by Gene's off field goings on, big donors' strong displeasure with the attention it was drawing, and Gene's salary of $500,000 for continued non-at-large performance. What we don't know for sure, but highly suspect, is Gene's unwillingness to work with the athletic department and the tensions that created on both sides.

[Aargh]

While Gene had great success at coaching a team sport, it appears he was utterly inept at being a "team player" in a business organization.

[shoxlax]

These are all great observations fellas and @Play Angry: I learned a new word in rapprochement 😄

[molly jabali]

The thing is...and this argument is old and tired...Gene at least in some part caused his own downfall, at the very least because he did not have in his corner, influential people who would say "whoa! Hold on there!"
And he did have an incredible ability to rub people the wrong way. Great baseball mind? Absolutely...
Was Butler a good choice to replace him? Probably no...so that compounds the situation.

[shockfan89_]

Wow! I go out of town for a long weekend and come back to this. I was a huge Gene supporter and defended him many times after the infamous firing occurred but I see no value in rehashing this over and over. To me the only reasons to discuss fHCGS are to recall our proud baseball tradition at WSU and to factually compare where we were and where we are. I have also stated I think we need to mend the divide in the Shocker Baseball family for future success to occur (maybe just my opinion, but as @Aargh: stated, time has not healed this wound yet).


That being said, I don't see how you can agree the baseball program needed to change direction under the previous Head Coach after going 154-98 his last 4 years (MVC finish of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd), but feel the current Head Coach deserves more time after a record of 105-126 the last 4 years (MVC finish of 4th, 4th, 6th, 5th). That is 49 more wins and 28 fewer losses over 4 years! I could see a POSSIBLE argument if the trend was positive, but HCTB's best record (and only winning record) was his first year, with mostly players that played under the previous Head Coach.

I guess you could point to the improvement in overall record from last year (21-37) to this year (28-30), but if you look a little deeper, we were probably a better team last year than this year. Our conference was just so bad this year (over half of our games RPI 200+) that we played 12 more games against bad competition and we won 7 more games.

                    2016     2017
Conference RPI      9th      17th
SoS                 50th     115th
RPI 1-50            3-14     1-14
RPI 51-100          5-9      4-5
RPI 101-200         9-11     8-7
RPI 200+            4-3      15-4
Home               17-17     22-7
Away                4-19     5-21
Neutral             0-1      1-2
Runs per game       5.9      5.4
Runs given up       6.8      5.5

Obviously I think HCTB has had more than enough time to at least show improvement, and we haven't improved. In another thread there was a poll that currently shows 12 people (~ 14.63%) think HCTB deserves more time. I am very curious what the logic is for allowing more time since ADDB said the reason was not financial.

[Aargh]

ran across this while checking KWCH to see if they were reporting the Chandler to Sunrise story. they're not, but...

It seems Butler decided not to recruit the B12 Newcomer of the Year (.405 BA) who was D1 eligible after one year at Neosho JuCo and would have required a recruiting trip all the way to Sedgwick, KS, but Brylie Ware is only 5'11"

http://www.kwch.com/content/sports/Sedgwicks-Ware-named-Big-12-Newcomer-of-Year-424196074.html

[Mr. Obvious]

Gene wanted to have 100% say so on funds baseball raised while the AD wanted to share. This battle went on the duration of Gene's stay. I will say Gene got generally what he wanted except but he felt he was AD of baseball.