Who should be discharged?

[Veritas]

I will most likely always support Gene as HC of WSU baseball. In my eyes, he built the program and without him, none of us would be as passionate about WSU baseball.

BK is a solid college pitching coach. I don't quite understand his players' injury rate. He does seem to baby the pitchers with counts, etc... however, they do seem to be injured quite frequently.

I don't see JT's positive contributions. IMO, he has not contributed much to the program as an assistant coach.

My recommendation is that Gene be forced to terminate JT (he's too loyal to do it himself) by ADES, and he hire someone (other than BK) that will take over the HC position in 3-5 years.

I understand that Gene is the HC and ultimately responsible for the program's success or demise. IMO his loyalty to the program, kids, and coaches is now hurting everything. ADES needs to ensure Gene pulls the trigger on JT.

The demise of this program from the 80s and early 90s is deeply concerning and not all of it can be attributed to the financial investment to baseball made by the neighboring schools/programs.

ADES needs to step up and protect the program, and I wish the best for JT coaching elsewhere where hopefully he'll be very successful.

[ShockTalk]

As it stands right now, I don't believe there is anyone on the coaching staff who has a strong enough passion and burning desire to put the proper amount of time into re-building the team into the program that it once was. Gene has an opportunity to hire his future replacement. Someone who will have the same drive Gene once had. I don't believe JT is getting his job done and a proper replacement could put new life and drive into the program. That is my first choice.

Others have mentioned factors that could, in varying amounts, be contributing to our present situation. The Christensen incident, the coaching staff leaving for OU, and Gene's personal life. I am of the opinion, that if these items are indeed holding this program back and are something the coaching staff or individual cannot overcome, then that is reason for change. However, I don't believe they are the main problems.

As for Gene having earned the right to decide when he retires, one poster said it very well, "Gene forfeited that right when he took his "sabbatical" to Oklahoma and making comments along the line of 'going as far I can go at Wichita State".

This has not been a slight 10 year dip in performance, but a slide into potential college baseball oblivion. Being a non-BCS, northern school, we cannot afford continuing at our current level of performance and expect to re-capture our proud past. Yes, the competition for players is tougher out there, but that's no reason to have fallen so far as to be just one of the better teams in a weak baseball conference.

[SB Shock]

As for Gene having earned the right to decide when he retires, one poster said it very well, "Gene forfeited that right when he took his "sabbatical" to Oklahoma and making comments along the line of 'going as far I can go at Wichita State".

taken from BA http://ftp.baseballamerica.com/today...tephenson.html

Stephenson's departure leaves Wichita State at a crossroads. It has not advanced to Omaha since 1996, so it's more a national contender now than a national power, and Stephenson's de facto proclamation of Oklahoma as a greener pasture does not add to the luster.

[William]

Get'm all oughta here! bunch of premadonnas. I would much rather
support some fighters who worked their tails off. These guys are getting
their arses handed to them on the recruiting trail, end of story.

[Snapshot9]

I agree, we need some new coaching blood.

[ShockerFever]

Anybody wanna trade Gene et all for Sonny Galloway now?

[shocker3]

I do not want Gene to leave any time soon.

But he hates losing more than anyone. If he ever gets to the point where he doesn't feel like he can get us back to dominating this conference again and winning in the post-season he would probably resiign.

[ShockTalk]

I do not want Gene to leave any time soon.

But he hates losing more than anyone. If he ever gets to the point where he doesn't feel like he can get us back to dominating this conference again and winning in the post-season he would probably resiign.

Really?

“And, frankly, I didn’t manage well, so we all ought to be fired,” he said. “Obviously, I’m not getting anything out of the players.”


Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/04/13/126...#ixzz0l5cwJ4yX

Now I know he was ranting, but maybe we can agree to disagree about your statement. I don't believe he feels he can or wants to put in that level of effort. I'm beginning to believe that he feels as long as he can stay at or near the top of a weak baseball conference, he will become the college all-time winning coach.

For the record, I don't feel he should be replaced at this time, but I do feel changes need to happen.

[Aargh]

Re: Who should be discharged?

I will most likely always support Gene as HC of WSU baseball. In my eyes, he built the program and without him, none of us would be as passionate about WSU baseball.

BK is a solid college pitching coach. I don't quite understand his players' injury rate. He does seem to baby the pitchers with counts, etc... however, they do seem to be injured quite frequently.

I don't see JT's positive contributions. IMO, he has not contributed much to the program as an assistant coach.

My recommendation is that Gene be forced to terminate JT (he's too loyal to do it himself) by ADES, and he hire someone (other than BK) that will take over the HC position in 3-5 years.

I understand that Gene is the HC and ultimately responsible for the program's success or demise. IMO his loyalty to the program, kids, and coaches is now hurting everything. ADES needs to ensure Gene pulls the trigger on JT.

The demise of this program from the 80s and early 90s is deeply concerning and not all of it can be attributed to the financial investment to baseball made by the neighboring schools/programs.

ADES needs to step up and protect the program, and I wish the best for JT coaching elsewhere where hopefully he'll be very successful.

It's not that often that I agree with Veritas, but this post absolutely nails my thoughts. Every single point is right on, doable, and something needed for the program.

I don't know if Schaus would have had the cajones to take Gene on. Now Sexton needs to show he has them.

[shocker22]

I love BK...met him many times and think a ton about him. I took hitting lessons from JT and have watched him over the years. He needs to go and Gene needs to see that. He needs someone on the staff to push them not be a JT. Gene needs to get rid of JT and get someone hungry on board or retire all together. This baseball is unexecptable. They should get alot more out of their palyers

[ShockTalk]

Veritas (and Aargh) - As you could tell from my post, I too, agree with most everything you said, particularly the "In my eyes, he built the program and without him, none of us would be as passionate about WSU baseball". I also want him to stay at this point, but I have my concerns.

So, let me ask you these two points. 1) How is Gene's loyality to the program hurting everything? Being loyal to a program is doing whatever is best for that program and one doing everything possible, morally and legally, to make it better. Will that be the case if the season doesn't take a dramatic turn for the better and nothing changes post-season? At what point will that support for Gene wain?

2) When Gene made the temporary jump to OU plus comments, I felt one of two things were happening. Either Gene saw the winds of change, the writing on the wall, and knew what was to be WSU's future plight or he felt his many years of success at WSU owed him something. That is (and I don't begrudge him for this), he and his staff could finish out their twilight days of coaching by taking advantage of the benefits of an OU name, a Big XII conference, and what a little warmer weather could provide them. The ability to be just as successful without applying any more effort, at the most, and, at the least, with possibly less effort. Personally, I wasn't, and I'm not now, ready to throw in the towel that WSU cannot continue to be a top 30 program, so I felt the latter was the reason for the jump. If either is the case, is it fair to assume that this staff is not doing all it can do, or may believe it can't do, to make WSU more successful?

[Ashockalypse]

Cool heads must prevail.

[Aargh]

ShockTalk, when you ask two points, it gets a bit fuzzy when you make each of the points a paragraph. I'm not exactly sure what you want me to asnwer, so let me give it my best shot and see where this ends up.

1) Either Gene is recruiting players who are at the overall level of other MVC players or he is recruiting at the same level he always did and turning those recruits into players at the overall level of other MVC players. Possibly the recruits Gene used to get don't want to play for him. There just aren't any explanations for dropping from a perennial CWS team to a perennial regional team to a better-than-average MVC team that don't involve the coaching staff. WSU baseball has achieved the equivalent of switching from Gene Smithson to Scott Thompson. Baseball did it without changing coaches.

2) I have no clue what the temporary jump to OU did to Gene. Maybe it brought on an "at this level" attitude. Maybe it brought on an attitude of not having to work as hard if he were somewhere else. I think Gene, like all guys his age, just ran out of testosterone production and lost his competitive edge. You young guys have this to look forward to.

Trust me on this, winning ends up not being the most important thing in competition and you will really miss testosterone once your body stops making it. Losing doesn't hurt Gene the way it once did. That's why he's a gentler kinder coach to his players now. The basis for his winning was that he was the most competitive, a$$hole, son-of-a-***** coach in college baseball. Well, that's over and he's not that coach any more.

[ShockTalk]

Thanks Aargh. Sorry I wasn't as clear as I wanted to be. Sometimes my in my efforts to be "more" clear, I make it more confusing.

On item #2, you bring up an interesting proposal as to what I viewed his semi-retirement. I thought Gene may have just decided that he didn't want to work at it as hard, or harder, at WSU and looked to OU. Your statement may mean that decision was somewhat made for him, if not then, possible now.

As for #1, Veritas started his post saying that he'd most likely always support Gene as HC at WSU. I was asking what would change that. He made the statement of Gene's loyalty to program, kids and staff. I'm not sure you can be fully to the program, or the kids, without the ability to lose some loyalty to staff if neccesary.

[shocker3]

I do not want Gene to leave any time soon.

But he hates losing more than anyone. If he ever gets to the point where he doesn't feel like he can get us back to dominating this conference again and winning in the post-season he would probably resiign.

Really?

“And, frankly, I didn’t manage well, so we all ought to be fired,” he said. “Obviously, I’m not getting anything out of the players.”


Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/04/13/126...#ixzz0l5cwJ4yX

Now I know he was ranting, but maybe we can agree to disagree about your statement. I don't believe he feels he can or wants to put in that level of effort. I'm beginning to believe that he feels as long as he can stay at or near the top of a weak baseball conference, he will become the college all-time winning coach.

For the record, I don't feel he should be replaced at this time, but I do feel changes need to happen.

I don't know who you are, but I have a feeling that I know Gene a lot better than you do. Anyone who is close to Gene at all, knows how much he hates to lose.

Believe me, he takes loses harder than anyone.