During the fucking season
It was supposed to be installed in the Fall (which is when they started), but the weather got so bad that they could not continue and had to wait until the weather got better, which unfortunately wasn't until the season started.
Why wouldn't you think about the weather in the planning phase. To allow for weather why wasn't it started after the baseball season ended. This would have allowed for completion in the summer if the weather went to shit. It probably would have been complete for the baseball camps in the summer. Then again, no one gave a damn about Aoki's baseball camps and they could have been held at a city park.
EDIT: I hold Savvy Jack's lack of planning responsible for Field Turf being installed during the fucking season and my having to drive to Gary to watch Irish baseball. I did notice Savvy Jack wasn't at Gary watching the baseball game.
There is always something going on on that field. Never an ideal time to install the turf. So what everyone had to drive a few hours to get to a game. Big deal. Not everything runs smoothly in life.
I was on the team that did it. Was it ideal? No. But sometimes you face adversity. Just got to accept it and do the best with what you got instead of complain. Complaining and negativity does nothing to help the situation.
fundamental baseball. As a guy in his 50s who still plays, I realize that solid fundamentals especially defense and competent pitching can help any team compete with some of the best. That falls first on the coaching and then the players. Mainieri and Murphy created a strong fundamental baseball culture and the players (who I bet were on par with talent that Aoki had) executed. Great synergy developed and it can again.
I think a lot of the angst w/ the administration is with what I perceive is at best indifference towards the program. They are so silent and the coverage has dwindled so much that the optics just appear to me that they don't value the program. It just seems that they can promote or sell it a bit better than they do. Not having radio broadcast of baseball is just un-American. I'd be fine with them taking baby steps even with its non-revenue status. Frankly, living in South Bend area can get pretty depressing. Baseball always made my springs there more interesting. Can it be that difficult or prohibitively expensive to come up w/ some promotional things for the baseball program? Sell ACC baseball to the fans. Work with the local little leagues to start developing the next generation of baseball fans. As a start maybe they could get a few student interns to get together and brainstorm and work with the administration in this regard.
Why has the program failed? Why did Aoki fail to register more than 1 NCAA season? How do you feel Swarbrick did in supporting the program?
I don't want to give my opinion on any specific person, but I will let you know how I feel about the program.
First and foremost, the program is nowhere near where it needs to be or should be. During Aoki's tenure, the team simply did not win enough and because of that the move needed to be made at the end of this year to change leadership. I know that there is much talk about how he should have been gone long ago, but I think that the 2015 season gave administration a little bit of hope and extended his stay in South Bend.
Why has the program failed? To start, Notre Dame is not an easy place to win. There are significant disadvantages that the Notre Dame baseball team faces that no other school in the ACC does. Although these disadvantages are real, they should not and can not be used as an excuse, because they are absolutely able to be overcome. It's really difficult to pinpoint exactly why the program is failing, but at the end of the day the most obvious reason is that the Notre Dame baseball team is getting outcoached and outplayed far too often. Blame whoever you want for this, but personally, I think the blame falls on both players and coaches.
Finally, I think the ridicule of the Notre Dame athletic department's investment in baseball is a little bit ridiculous. Since joining the ACC, I think we have seen significant upgrades to the program. Since joining the ACC, Notre Dame baseball has installed FieldTurf, padded the outfield walls, built a team room, started to charter to various weekend series to benefit the student-athletes, and invested in lots of day-to-day equipment as well. Lots of this stuff costs a significant amount of money, and if you know anything about a college athletic department, it is that there is not just extra money laying around at the end of the day. Even a school like Notre Dame that has a very large athletic budget comparable to other schools, they are fighting to make decisions as to what the money should be spent on year in and year out. Football and Basketball will always get the lion's share of the money (which they should) because they are generating the most revenue. The baseball team at Notre Dame, simply put, is not making money. So although they are putting some resources into the program, I am sure they have a tough time tossing around a lot of money with a team that is going to consistently lose money. At lots of other power 5 conference schools that have incredible facilities, those baseball programs are actually making money, which makes it easier for the athletic department to invest in that program.
It's incredible to everyone on this board calling for Aoki to get fired, which eventually happens, and now complaining because the search is "taking too long". I understand that June is a recruiting month, but at the end of the day you have to make sure that you take your time and do your due diligence to hire the right coach. I would much rather have them take a week or two extra to get the right coach and miss out on recruiting, than hiring a coach immediately and then calling for him to be fired three years later. Wish there was more support on here, rather than constant complaining, but maybe the complaining is justified by the lack of winning the last however many years. I don't know.
This would reduce the time and they could be partially vetted as well.
Also, I have posted about salaries in the CWS - a pretty good indicator of what it takes - I believe if we were offering competitive money it would improve the list of candidates and speed of hire.
Obviously paying the big bucks for a coach would impact the budget - but a winning team might generate more dollars.
Finally, they have found donors who have sponsored (and defrayed costs) of football and basketball coaches, why not find that donor or group of donors?
Again, all these things point to the real problem - it's in my subject - a good AD. I think this is where the problem lies.
We will potentially have a LOT of coaching hires/coaching turnover because of the age of many of our coaches - Kelly, McGraw, Brey, Jackson, Corrigan aren't youngsters. Who do we want making these hires?
I agree with some of your thoughts, but I also echo CJC's comments below.
Baseball, as you note, will always rank below football and basketball (and probably hockey) on the pecking order, although I believe that more can and should be done by the administration to support the program. Notre Dame has (or at least used to have) a commitment to excellence in all endeavors and if we aren't going to try to compete with the rest of the ACC, then I'd rather have baseball become a club sport.
I'm wondering whether you might be confusing frustration with the athletic department (in many respects, but in particular with respect to baseball) with lack of support.
In my view, the University (not you) has consistently allowed its personal piques to obscure the fact that complaints (even unreasonable ones) reflect passion, and that apathy is far worse than frustration that reflects passion.
My regular reading of this board has revealed very little ire directed at players. The people who are posting here are the people who care most about the program -- aside from the players and their families.
And for what it's worth, the installation of the artificial turf was completely financed by donations from a small group of benefactors solicited not by University athletic department or advancement employees, but by the father of a Notre Dame player.
First, thank you for your perspective as a former player. That is quite welcome around here.
Regarding the money ND spends or doesn't spend on baseball, it is incorrect that there are "lots of other Power 5 baseball programs" that are making money, thus able to spend more on the program.
I just looked at a bunch of different articles about college baseball and budgets and it is difficult to find definitive up to date numbers, but there are probably less than 6 baseball programs in the NCAA that turn even a modest profit. In the SEC, only LSU consistently makes money. A&M and MSU break even. The other programs, including Florida, lose 1-2 million each year.
UVA, which is a good baseball school in a warm weather state loses money every year.
ND has plenty of money and the fact that baseball is a non-revenue sport shouldn't mean we cannot invest where we need to and compete.
Could you post the articles that are specific to baseball? Not disagreeing with you, but I would love to see where that came from. If we are talking total athletic department bottom line, then yes, the majority of schools are in the red. But I did think that baseball programs at these big time schools were one of the sports finishing in the black. Would love to see the financials though.
I found one that I cannot find again that said that none of the ACC baseball teams are profitable. This article is about the SEC and how LSU makes money where other programs don't.
****
College baseball is a losing sport, even in the part of the country where it thrives. In fact, just four Southeastern Conference baseball teams turned a profit last season, according to documents obtained by The Advocate from league schools.
The figures are much gloomier beyond the Southeast.
The NCAA estimates that less than 10 percent of baseball programs nationally turn a profit, said Ron Prettyman, managing director of championships and alliances who oversees baseball. The number is probably closer to 5 percent, Prettyman said.
Don’t you know it’s impolite to interrupt all the complaining with actual knowledge?
playing every game away from ND. And winning the national championship.
Talk about unbeatable records.