Aaron Fitt writes that while IU is the best baseball job
by ProV1x (2018-06-27 13:50:53)

In reply to: IU Baseball Coach to MSU so at least one coach in Indiana  posted by domerduck

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(salary, facilities etc) in the Big 10 it's still not on a par with any team in the SEC. Ath. Director Fred Glass is going to have to double down to continue the success that Chris Lemonis has started. Good luck, Fred, and open up your checkbook.

Of course not
by CrazyMary  (2018-06-27 16:24:51)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

The Big Ten is a mid-major baseball conference, a lot of people who don't follow the game closely don't realize how far off it is though. The Big Ten is closer to the Atlantic Sun and Sun Belt than it is the SEC, Big 12 or ACC. The SEC is a baseball powerhouse super-conference that had nearly half of the entire supers. Their OOC winning percentage was over 75% this season, far-and-away the best.

Lemonis certainly didn't start anything at Indiana though. Tracy Smith took IU to the CWS in 2013, the first Big Ten school to make it in nearly 30-seasons (1984). His final three-years he finished 2nd, 1st and 1st in the Big Ten. Of course, then he left for a superpower job in ASU. He admitted IU actually offered him more money than ASU to stay. But nobody is turning down a superpower job to coach in crap weather, in a crap conference in the Midwest where you basically have to schedule your first 10-12 games every season on-the-road in better climates. Of course now Smith is on the verge of being fired after the two of the worst seasons in ASU baseball history.

In his four-seasons, Lemo guided Indiana to conference finishes of 6th, 3rd, 6th and 5th this season while finishing 12-16 vs the RPI top 100. Tremendous recruiter who still needs to really progress as a gameday, on-field manager.