budget issues.
Don't look for a home run (no pun) hire. With a severe budget crunch, ND will have to hope it's MAC hire can become a great hire.
Anyone want to endow a baseball head coaching position? This would change things.
And I'm sure it will be 6 when Michigan coach gets raise.
Looks to me like that's what it takes to get there. Go cheap and expect results - probably not going to happen.
I get budget cuts (no one wants to sponsor a cafeteria worker - but find a donor to sponsor the baseball coach), but don't get that ND can't find the money.
And it's easy enough - the first budget cut I would make is Swarbrick's salary
Everything revolves around having a good coach. Investing in a coach will pay massive dividends. Thanks for pointing this stat out.
So maybe there is something to the budget cuts issue
This is not the right forum for that discussion.
I was told many years ago, "You get what you pay for."
He listed the following as the leading candidates:
Bischel of Central Michigan whose team beat ND 17-7 this past season.
Duncan of Kent State who played for Pat Murphy at ASU.
Holm of Illinois State whose team beat Indiana and Louisville in a regional and then lost two to Louisville.
Frazier of Louisville- still alive in CWS.
Sean Stires was the ND baseball play by play guy during the Mainieri years and at least a few of the Schrage years.
Built Toledo's program from a picnic table. He has all the support of former ND Baseball players. Excellent recruiter and player developer. Former ND player and grad assistant coach. Double major.
According to Google he resigned his position as head baseball coach at Toledo on May 20, 2019.
was my grad assistant at ND.
....and Murphy has his warts to contend with. However, there is not one move short of Paul M. coming back that would jack-up this program like bringing back Murphy. Wow. That would be something. Talk about instant rocket fuel injected into the program. And, there is absolutely no question he would give his heart and soul to this.
Not sure Jack has the stones to do it, but god would it be fun to see.
back and roll up his sleeves and rebuild this program.
If I recall correctly, he was called up straight from AA to the Mets. Speedy centerfielder.
Walton has the best and longest head coaching record. I am not sure why he returned to Stillwater to become OSU's pitching coach, although he is an alum.
Bischel and Duncan seem to be young coaches on a fast track through the MAC.
Snider has the most experience as an assistant and has been recruiting in the ACC. It is interesting to note that Louisville has many Ind., Ill. and KY players.
Article from 2017. States he was offered ND job at some point.
Also states he left ORU for OSU at least in part for a pay raise.
Saw this article from two years ago that says Walton's salary was raised from $225,000 to $400,000. Don't know what Aoki was making, but would have to think it was closer to 225K than 400K. Would ND be willing to really pony-up to get him or any other coach with similar experience?
At least 9 college coaches make over $1 million - 5 of them are in the College World Series. I'd say that's a pretty good indicator.
Best coaches = have highest salaries = get their teams to the CWS
Article linked below
ND will have to vastly increase the money its spends on the program, both for coaches' salaries and to improve Frank Eck.
Otherwise, what is the point?
To go 24-30, 13-17 in the ACC into infinity? To have 150 lonely, quiet souls in the ballpark?
I agree, going 24-30 is not fun and that has been the case the last couple of years, but to drop the program??? I mean c'mon, that is a little bit drastic isn't it? They are still somewhat new to the ACC (and although not an excuse), they just need to figure out a way to win. And they are on the path to doing that starting fresh with a new coach. Yes, they do need to upgrade some facilities, but I'm not sure the program has gotten to a point where the school needs to legitimately think about dropping it.
One NCAA Tournament appearance in all of that time (2015, unless my old age causes me to forget others).
Have you seen the near empty, lifeless stands at Eck on TV?
Have you watched ND get beat by every MAC team it played this season?
ND baseball, once a top program, has been left to die on the vine.
My comment was meant to be hyperbole, but not by a lot....
I was on the 2015 team and even that year the seats were empty (so need need to watch on TV???). Did fans show up in 2015 when we finished 17-13 (T-2nd overall) in the ACC and only lost a single midweek game. Nope. It's a process and "dropping the program" doesn't solve a single one of your issues.
Do you think hiring a new coach alone will change the trajectory of ND baseball?
I don't.
ND got pretty good crowds until 2006. Then, the program went into the crapper. It is still there.
Regarding the Eck, do you rate it higher than 13th out of 14 ACC venues?
I have to watch home games on TV, since I live in Baton Rouge.
But, I drove 7 hours every year to watch ND play in San Antonio, so I saw you there in 2015.
It's hard to put money into a program that isn't winning. I agree that you need to invest in the program on the front-end to aid in winning, but they have actually done that to an extent. Turf field in 2014, Padded walls in 2017, $2M team room in 2018, occasionally taking a charter to an away series. So they are slowly putting some money into the program and they continue to make strides, but again, it is difficult to do that for a program that isn't winning. And I think if you can invest in one single thing, it is putting $ towards the coaching staff. I don't think you would see giant crowds at a Michigan baseball game. And back 10 years ago, they didn't have the greatest facilities either. However, they have continued to build various pieces of their program, and most importantly, they started by investing in a head coach who has done an unbelievable job there.
If ND just hires a coach on the cheap, the program will continue to wallow in its mire.
Forgive the hyperbole, I am just a frustrated fan who has watched or listened to every ND baseball game since 1997, lives and dies with the baseball team and has been dismayed by the downward trajectory of the program since 2006.
No need to apologize. No one is happy when the team isn't succeeding. I can tell you that no one directly involved with the program is happy about it either. Everyone deserves better, especially the fans. You continuing to be a fan and sticking with it through these rough years is much appreciated. Although a former player, I am now a fan as well and hoping to see things turned around!
contender for Omaha or drop it and add women's hockey. Either way, I am tired of hearing the Northern school weather excuse.
Doesn't Title IX require proportionality when it comes to athletic scholarships for men & women?
You can be better than 1 to 1, just not worse.
Removing baseball, would just reduce the number of mens scholarships, but that doesn't mean we can or cannot offer more women's scholarships, but the baseline number needed would now be lower.
Theoretically, if we dropped baseball and put all that money towards women's hockey, we'd be fine.
It's not like we don't have the $$$$
Might be able to bring back wrestling in that scenario, too
Title IX. If there is an issue with proportionality then Notre Dame can add men's wresting which is another sport in which competition is held indoors.