Team A / Team B

[DUShock]

Gene built the program from nothing to some of the best facilities in the nation, and made WSU a nationally-respected name in college baseball.

He did the facilities building projects with little or no assistance from the athletic department. He pretty much did it off of ticket sales and contributions he beat the bushes to get.

With what Gene has done for the program, he pretty much gets the call on when he's done. The Lew Perkins thread in the basketball forum has a link to an article about a soccer coach Lew Perkins fired at UConn. Firing Gene would be about the equivalent (or worse) of firing that soccer coach and Perkins sure looks like a total jerk for having done it.

Any AD at WSU who fired Gene better be looking fo a job, because a lot of very heavy financial hitters are firmly behind Gene.

Gene may have become a feisty, bitter, a-hole who can't get the results he used to get, but he's our feisty, bitter a-hole. We may as well make the best of it.

Some times you have to accept the fact that you can't change things and you just have to deal with what you've got. That's where the Gene haters are at. He's not going anywhere any time soon. You may as well get used to it, get on with your lives, and try to find things to enjoy about the teams WSU puts on the field.

Aargh - As I've stated before, I'm not looking for Gene's head, but a different avenue. However, comparing the UConn soccer coach to Gene is a little bit of a stretch, based on the article alone.

Don't recall the UConn coach leaving for "greener pastures" and indicating he had taken UConn as far as they could go. That's a biggie and will always leave a sour taste in my mouth as I felt he wanted to slide a little on OU's name and his legacy in his twilight years and not have to work as hard (or harder) as he would have to keep WSU where it was in that national standing. We also don't know if the UConn coach has had all the personal sagas Gene has managed. Nevertheless, like I've said before, I hope Gene makes the decision to bring in some new blood and fire so he can step aside on his own terms. I must admit, that short of Soggie soon having a myocardial infarction, I not really thrilled with the idea of Gene being around a good number of years at this level of ball just so he can maybe be #1 in wins.

Talk I agree with your post is well reasoned and like minded. At the end of the day I wish we were not talking about the "trajectory" of the program but like you the OU trip & subsequent comments on OKC Channel 5, etc. followed by the drama of off court shenanigans has soured me. I will readily admit that I can easily swallow this distaste with winning. Terrible of me I know but that's the way I see it.
As Will Shakespeare wrote in Julius Ceasar “Men are masters of their own fate…”

Go Shocks!

[Shockerman]

How about removing the Rusty Eck name from the stadium and put Gene Stephenson's name up there now?

Now that is a pregnant idea.

There may be some contractural barrier, but it is an idea, which is worth pursuing.

I am for changing the name at some point. When I hear the name "Rusty Eck" I picture him sitting down in the blues after the news came out and feeling sick that our ball park is named after him. Eck stadium doesn't bother me though so perhaps his son can pony up some cash for phase II and we can re-name the stadium Les Eck Stadium or something.

And to stay on topic, Gene gets to make the call on when to step down. Without Gene, WSU baseball would not be what it is today. JoePa turned it around, so will Gene. He just needs to let go a little bit and hire some young energetic Assistant who can handle more of the day to day stuff.

[DUShock]

But didn't Gene already decide to step down?

[ISASO]

He took a mulligan.

[DUShock]

He took a mulligan.

Fair enough.