Fire Todd Butler

[DUShock]

I agree @1972Shocker: I think Boatright may be in over his head.

[Aargh]

I have never heard anything in public either but the diminished role and lack or radio show pretty much say it. If Kemnitz is here next year what will his role be? He doesn't recruit pitchers, he doesn't call pitches, he makes some mound visits, and now scheduling duties are being taken away.

I'd envision something like this,

"Brent, you work with the pitchers. That's totally your area. I'm not going to be involved at all. Now, I don't want you teaching them how to throw those curve balls because I think that's how you're hurting all their arms. Don't mess with their mechanics. I recruited these guys because they're all hard throwers and if you mess with their mechanics, you're only going to screw up their heat. Don't get on them about their control problems. That just demoralizes them, and then, when they get in games, they don't have any confidence in their stuff. I'll watch some of them throw a few times and pick out who are the starters and who are the relievers. Go get 'em, Brent. The pitching staff is totally yours".

"Oh, and I'll work with the catchers, so they understand how I'm going to have the pitchers throw in games".

[ShockTalk]

ShockTalk - I wasn't trying to rehash the coaching change either. Just wanted to point out how quickly things had changed. I would have never guessed we would be looking at a staff ERA of around 6.

Just to be clear, I knew you weren't rehashing and hoping you (and others) would understanding that was not my purpose in the post.

[CharlieHog]

Hey, Charlie -- if you still stop by to read our board, what the hell happened here? This has been a dumpster fire for a while now.

I do read the board occasionally, but haven't really been following the team that closely, so I don't really know. But when Butler was at Arkansas we were in the bottom 1/3 of the SEC in hitting every year but one (2010 when we were led by new Royals callup Brett Eibner). During many of those years the bulk of the scholarships went toward pitching. Maybe Butler spent his scholarships on hitting and neglected pitching? Maybe he wanted to prove he was a good hitting coach? I don't know, just an idea.

The players all seemed to absolutely love him but as you guys know many Arkansas fans were happy to see him move on. He recruited some good players but I don't think we really competed, recruiting wise, with the rest of the conference (7-10th in the SEC, on average, I would guess without looking it up). Of course Arkansas comes with some built in disadvantages (weather, a lower level in-state talent) that it might be hard to offset, even with excellent facilities, fans, great college town, etc.


I've thought all year that your baseball program reminds me of our basketball program when we fired Nolan Richardson. It's been 14 years since then and we have climbed out of the abyss toward solid mediocrity.

[Ricardo del Rio]

1-800-Jim-Schaus

[LuskingforGuttin]

I've thought all year that your baseball program reminds me of our basketball program when we fired Nolan Richardson. It's been 14 years since then and we have climbed out of the abyss toward solid mediocrity.

Interesting comparison. So would WSU hiring that Hooper guy they are always talking about be like Arkansas hiring Mike Anderson? Seems like he has been pretty mediocre and they could have had better choices if they had a true national search after firing Pelphrey, rather than trying to bring in a guy because he was associated with the good old days with Nolan.

[Shockerman]

That article is about my worst nightmare. The Butler returns and Brent gets thrown under the bus. If this article ends up being the case, then this will be the last season I pay any attention to Shocker baseball.

I have followed your post for a long time and you are the hard core among the hard core. If guys like you are dropping out that should scare the snot out of the AD.

[DUShock]

Maybe this gal can help Boatright man up on the Butler matter?

[WstateU]

Maybe this gal can help Boatright man up on the Butler matter?

Yikes! I feel sorry for the guy who sticks his head in there...

[OregonShocker]

Has Coach Butler actually ever blamed Brent publicly? Perhaps he has and I missed it. What he has appeared to do is to diminish Brent's authority and freedom to recruit and handle the pitching staff to the point that Butler has made it very difficult for Brent to do his thing. Shane mentioned that Butler is a control freak. Butler may have made it look like Brent is failing at his job, but the source of that failure may be the environment and restrictions placed on Brent by the head man.

If Brent leaves it will either be because Butler is given free reign to cut him loose with WSU willing to pick up the tab on Brent's remaining contract or Brent will voluntarily leave because he is just fed up with the current situation. My money would be on the latter but we'll see.

However, the evidence at this point is the the responsibility for this program's current condition clearly lies with the Head Coach. Hopefully, Butler is smart enough to realize this ain't working and figure out that his best option is to totally turn the responsibility for the pitching staff over to Brent and let him do his thing. However, I'm not holding my breath on that one happening either.

No, not publicly anyway. But, if he keeps his job and BK doesn't return, for whatever reason, then he is hiding his role in what has happened to pitching. He certainly hasn't shown the kind of leadership to say, "Ok, Brent, it ain't working my way. Let's go back to yours, for the betterment of the team." I totally agree with your assessment; the buck stops at HCTB's desk, and he's failing.

[CharlieHog]

Interesting comparison. So would WSU hiring that Hooper guy they are always talking about be like Arkansas hiring Mike Anderson? Seems like he has been pretty mediocre and they could have had better choices if they had a true national search after firing Pelphrey, rather than trying to bring in a guy because he was associated with the good old days with Nolan.

Anderson had been VERY successful at UAB and Missouri and ran the style of basketball that Hog fans wanted (well, as close as you can get to it nowadays). He wasn't hired just because of past association with Nolan.

And with the state the program was in I'm not sure we could have hired somebody better on paper than Mike Anderson.

[Cdizzle]

Both Anderson and Hooper have previous successful coaching experience. No one thinks it's a guarantee Hooper would fix everything. But I do believe he could re-energize the program and would make me believe he was doing everything he could to win. I don't get that sense now.

[ShockRef]

Funny how you can't find the ADES pumpers now (ABC, RDL), even with a search warrant.

It was mentioned multiple times that WSU is not the level school to let a wannabe AD try and learn the trade by OJT.
This is what happens when permitted to happen and the predictable results.

There are smaller level program where potential AD's can hone their skills and pay their dues.

That is all.

[SHOCKvalue]

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college...e80211517.html

This article doesn't leave much room for hope.

A nationally respected and known pitching coach is going to be the fall guy, so that a lame duck HC that should have never been hired in the first place can be rationalized as deserving of another year or two. Makes sense.

There's obviously something wrong with our pitching, but the variable in this equation is Butler, not Kemnitz.

If I was a big money WSU booster (which I'm not) I would withdraw all support to the AD and University until Butler is gone. The only thing Joe Blow Fan can do is simply not buy tickets or go to games, which is already happening.

Depressing situation overall.

[Ricardo del Rio]

Yikes! I feel sorry for the guy who sticks his head in there...

Well, it ain't gonna be me.