2021 Season

ChooChooCat · Post by **ChooChooCat** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:04 pm

This is the worst hire in Arizona sports history considering the situation. I’m truly baffled.

UAEebs86 · Post by **UAEebs86** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:06 pm

Welcome back Choo! We missed you.

EastCoastCat · Post by **EastCoastCat** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:18 pm

And Choo comes back in grand style.

I loved Hale as a player but I was hoping for someone with previous college coaching experience.

Let’s face it guys. It’s definitely the new Arizona coaching model. Adia, Fisch, Lloyd and now Hale.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:23 pm

Who knew it would take a Chip Hale hire to get Choo back.

gronk4heisman · Post by **gronk4heisman** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:27 pm

EastCoastCat wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:18 pm And Choo comes back in grand style.

I loved Hale as a player but I was hoping for someone with previous college coaching experience.

Let’s face it guys. It’s definitely the new Arizona coaching model. Adia, Fisch, Lloyd and now Hale.

I think the MO is to find guys to nice to tell Heeke and Robbins they are idiots.

UAEebs86 · Post by **UAEebs86** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:28 pm

At least Chip has been a head coach before, just at the pro level.

Even coached a World Series victory in Game 6 for the Nats when Martinez got ejected.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:30 pm

gronk4heisman wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:27 pm
EastCoastCat wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:18 pm And Choo comes back in grand style.

I loved Hale as a player but I was hoping for someone with previous college coaching experience.

Let’s face it guys. It’s definitely the new Arizona coaching model. Adia, Fisch, Lloyd and now Hale.
I think the MO is to find guys to nice to tell Heeke and Robbins they are idiots.

Adia Barnes was a no risk hire. The program was destroyed during the Niya Butts era, for a program no one cared about.

Now we have the 2 revenue sports with coaches with no head coach college wins.

Along with the 2 storied programs, baseball and softball with multiple national championships, also now with coaches with no college wins.

UA is now a mid-major.

Ned Zissou · Post by **Ned Zissou** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:31 pm

ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:04 pm This is the worst hire in Arizona sports history considering the situation. I’m truly baffled.

Baffled?

You must be new to UofA sports, I think it is more likely that you were unprepared.

Heke screwing this up was predictable

You could be disappointed that the school president did not step in and force hire a young unknown with much higher potential. I am.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:37 pm

I would like to know more as to why this is the worst hire in AZ history.

Generally an alum who was an All American, a CWS champion, a major leaguer, a manager at the pro level, currently employed as a third base coach by a pro team would be hailed as a great hire.

I am not doing cartwheels but I need more to join the worst hire In history club. Please help Choo

Alieberman · Post by **Alieberman** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:39 pm

Do all of you really care that much about UofA baseball?

Maybe I shouldn't be saying this... but I really don't care that much.... Mens and Women's basketball, Football, and Softball are WAY more important to me.

UAEebs86 · Post by **UAEebs86** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:42 pm

The first championship I got to enjoy at any level HS, college, or pro as a fan was the 1986 CWS victory, so that's a yes from me.

Since Chip was a part of that I'll support him. Hope he can recruit.

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:49 pm

ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:04 pm This is the worst hire in Arizona sports history considering the situation. I’m truly baffled.

Welcome back but I thought you said Jedd Fisch was the worst hire? With any coaching hire, you can't judge him or her before they even coach one game. I think he is a guy who the college players will look up to and play for.

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:50 pm

Alieberman wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:39 pm Do all of you really care that much about UofA baseball?

Maybe I shouldn't be saying this... but I really don't care that much.... Mens and Women's basketball, Football, and Softball are WAY more important to me.

Being an alum, I care about all Wildcat sports.

Bear Down!

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:54 pm

Alieberman wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:39 pm Do all of you really care that much about UofA baseball?

Maybe I shouldn't be saying this... but I really don't care that much.... NM Mens and Women's basketball, Football, and Softball are WAY more important to me.

Absolutely a huge yes for me. Letting our storied baseball program go to shit would be worse than basketball for me. I was in HS in 76, at the UofA in 1980 and a young alumni in 86.

I was there the night the “ooh ah” man started and at every regional we hosted at Sancet. I cat called Bonds and Horner and packed Hi Corbett when they moved a game there and had fans sitting on the warning track.

Football may be at the top of the revenue pyramid but baseball and basketball are the cornerstones

EastCoastCat · Post by **EastCoastCat** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:55 pm

I think Mackovic and Lindsey hands down were the worst Arizona hires in history.

I’m like so-so with this hire more so because we had such a strong, young team coming off a CWS appearance. More disappointed about the whole thing more than anything specific against Hale.

I know the hire could have been worse.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:57 pm

Mackovic was COY in 3 different conferences and had a great offensive mind after defensive minded Tomey. Lindsey won 2 NC at the NAIA level. Yes, both were awful hires but you can see why they were hired.

Baseball and softball are the 2 storied programs at the UA with each with multiple national championships.

They may not be revenue sports, but they are hallowed at the UA.

This isn't like WBB which was the worse UA sports program for years and no one cared. At one time the Nyya Butts team lost 11 of 12 to ASU, which is unacceptable, but who noticed?

These are all mid-major hires, not Power 5.

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:16 pm

Merkin wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:57 pm Mackovic was COY in 3 different conferences and had a great offensive mind after defensive minded Tomey. Lindsey won 2 NC at the NAIA level. Yes, both were awful hires but you can see why they were hired.

Baseball and softball are the 2 storied programs at the UA with each with multiple national championships.

They may not be revenue sports, but they are hallowed at the UA.

This isn't like WBB which was the worse UA sports program for years and no one cared. At one time the Nyya Butts team lost 11 of 12 to ASU, which is unacceptable, but who noticed?

These are all mid-major hires, not Power 5.

You just don't know how the hire will go. When Dempsey hired Tomey, that definitely was a mid-major hire. Turned out to be ok.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:19 pm

Press conference set yet? Want to tune in on that

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:40 pm

azcat49 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:19 pm Press conference set yet? Want to tune in on that

Won't be tonight.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:43 pm

He should wear an AZ HAT while coaching 3rd base LOL. Need the pub Chip

AzCatFan2 · Post by **AzCatFan2** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 5:19 pm

The Sumlin hire was the worst. Coach who didn't win enough at a school in Texas with a lot of resources gets hired at Arizona. It was Mackovic 2.0. Same history, same, crappy results in Tucson. Fisch might be worse. Especially if Fisch is fired in the next 5 years, and Brennan's career takes off.

This Hale hire is a C+. Hale has no college coaching experience, but years coaching in the minors, coaching a lot of kids the same age as those in college. Hale also has MLB Coaching experience, and a ton of MLB contacts. These are big positives.

The question is, can Hale recruit. And can he manage a college roster that needs 25 to 30 players, but only has 11.7 scholarships?

Nobody did less with more talent than Sumlin at TAMU. Giving him less talent in Tucson was a guaranteed disaster. Hale at least has a decent shot of working out.

ChooChooCat · Post by **ChooChooCat** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:35 pm

Irish27 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:49 pm
ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:04 pm This is the worst hire in Arizona sports history considering the situation. I’m truly baffled.
Welcome back but I thought you said Jedd Fisch was the worst hire? With any coaching hire, you can't judge him or her before they even coach one game. I think he is a guy who the college players will look up to and play for.

The process about the Fisch hire is what was so bad. Jedd Fisch himself was an appropriate level candidate for Arizona Football. Chip Hale doesn’t measure on the Richter scale of appropriate level candidate for the level of job Arizona baseball is. That’s what makes this hire infinitely worse than a Niya Butts or a Kevin Sumlin. His candidacy should’ve never measured above courtesy interview.

To sum up this administration, apparently Arizona Baseball boosters are to be bowed to, while football and basketball boosters can go screw themselves. This is not a dynamic that’s normal nor makes any coherent type of sense. Then again this was all a Heeke hire and the other two were not.

On the bright side expect a large Hi-Corbett renovation in the near future. We only had to sacrifice the quality of our program for 5 years to do it.

ChooChooCat · Post by **ChooChooCat** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:53 pm

Ned Zissou wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:31 pm
ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:04 pm This is the worst hire in Arizona sports history considering the situation. I’m truly baffled.
Baffled?

You must be new to UofA sports, I think it is more likely that you were unprepared.

Heke screwing this up was predictable

You could be disappointed that the school president did not step in and force hire a young unknown with much higher potential. I am.

Gotta say, this is definitely the one time I’d prefer Robbins to make the hire.

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 7:55 pm

https://twitter.com/cameronsalerno1/sta ... 86966?s=20

phxcat23 · Post by **phxcat23** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:00 pm

Again, why did the baseball job requirements state 5 years of D1 coaching experience if we hired a coach with no college experience. I’ll give him a chance and hope for the best, but an AZ program that has won 4 nattys in baseball, you’d hope there was a strong pool to choose from that would be younger and exciting that have shown success coaching already. I think that’s what leaves a sour taste is that even though we don’t have SEC money, AZ should be an elite program that attracts quality coaching.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:17 pm

This seems to be a lazy hire by Heeke. Our job pays well for a west coast job and the facilities outside of the fan amenities are above par I think.

On the surface not many programs could pull a former MLB manager snd current 3b coach from a team in season I don’t think. Along with being an alum and one could see where boosters would be appeased.

Lots of huge questions though on if he can do this thing. Hate to think we have to trust Heeke as he was the only guy in that interview with Chip.

I guess the natural question is, Bloomquist or Hale, which was better

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:45 pm

https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildca ... fedd4.html

Postmaster · Post by **Postmaster** » Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:59 pm

I hope he can gets some assts who can recruit.

I wonder how if Heeke gave Lawn the PC job to keep him on staff.

Hope he can retain some guys.

ekat · Post by **ekat** » Tue Jul 06, 2021 6:58 am

My biggest concern (and I have many) about this hire is that objectively Lawn sucked so bad as pitching coach that he was demoted and we hired Yeskie. Our pitching staff was brutal for 2 years under him. So of course, let’s go back to that.

Yes, I care a ton about baseball, going back to my days on campus in the mid to late 80’s when I hung out at Sancet all the time. Baseball/softball are my first loves. Then basketball and football.

And, with this past year, I’m pretty numb to all of it.

Head coaching NCAA records going into 2021-2022:

Football: 0-0
Basketball: 0-0
Baseball: 0-0
Softball: 0-0
Soccer: 0-0

Quite frankly, this screams to me that word is out that established coaches want nothing to do with our athletic department or University administration, so we’re having to take fliers on people. That doesn’t bode well for the future until the admin turns over.

UAEebs86 · Post by **UAEebs86** » Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:06 am

Jedd Fisch actually was head coach for UCLA for two games after Mora was fired. Record: 1-1

Carry on

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:14 am

Dave “Reek” Heeke and Booby Bobbins have turned our athletic programs into afterthoughts and stepping stones.

ekat · Post by **ekat** » Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:25 am

UAEebs86 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:06 am Jedd Fisch actually was head coach for UCLA for two games after Mora was fired. Record: 1-1

Carry on

Sorry - I completely overlooked that impressive record.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:59 am

ekat wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 6:58 am My biggest concern (and I have many) about this hire is that objectively Lawn sucked so bad as pitching coach that he was demoted and we hired Yeskie. Our pitching staff was brutal for 2 years under him. So of course, let’s go back to that.

Yes, I care a ton about baseball, going back to my days on campus in the mid to late 80’s when I hung out at Sancet all the time. Baseball/softball are my first loves. Then basketball and football.

And, with this past year, I’m pretty numb to all of it.

Head coaching NCAA records going into 2021-2022:

Football: 0-0
Basketball: 0-0
Baseball: 0-0
Softball: 0-0
Soccer: 0-0

Quite frankly, this screams to me that word is out that established coaches want nothing to do with our athletic department or University administration, so we’re having to take fliers on people. That doesn’t bode well for the future until the admin turns over.

I did a little digging on Lawn. His first three staffs at AZ had team ERA’s of below 4. All of those are better than what Yeskie posted last year. His 19 team was over 6 and abysmal. Might have been subpar recruiting where they didn’t dedicate enough scholarship money to those pitchers.

Chase Davis is a stud and his Pops likes the hire. Hopefully we see Chip get active quick and pull some of these guys back onto the roster. I think that would be telling in a positive way

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:11 am

We just have to be patient. If Fisch or Lloyd are not successful, Heeke and probably Robbins won't be here long.

ekat · Post by **ekat** » Tue Jul 06, 2021 4:54 pm

azcat49 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 7:59 am
ekat wrote: ↑Tue Jul 06, 2021 6:58 am My biggest concern (and I have many) about this hire is that objectively Lawn sucked so bad as pitching coach that he was demoted and we hired Yeskie. Our pitching staff was brutal for 2 years under him. So of course, let’s go back to that.

Yes, I care a ton about baseball, going back to my days on campus in the mid to late 80’s when I hung out at Sancet all the time. Baseball/softball are my first loves. Then basketball and football.

And, with this past year, I’m pretty numb to all of it.

Head coaching NCAA records going into 2021-2022:

Football: 0-0
Basketball: 0-0
Baseball: 0-0
Softball: 0-0
Soccer: 0-0

Quite frankly, this screams to me that word is out that established coaches want nothing to do with our athletic department or University administration, so we’re having to take fliers on people. That doesn’t bode well for the future until the admin turns over.

I did a little digging on Lawn. His first three staffs at AZ had team ERA’s of below 4. All of those are better than what Yeskie posted last year. His 19 team was over 6 and abysmal. Might have been subpar recruiting where they didn’t dedicate enough scholarship money to those pitchers.

Chase Davis is a stud and his Pops likes the hire. Hopefully we see Chip get active quick and pull some of these guys back onto the roster. I think that would be telling in a positive way

Whether the recruiting fell off after Lopez’s guys were gone, or the coaching was bad, or some combination of both, the result was he got demoted. And now he’s promoted back to that spot, and that concerns me.

I hope he can keep the team in tact. There’s a lot to like about a lot of those kids.

I just am generally very frustrated and basically over the athletic department and how it’s being run (which is a microcosm for how the university in general is being run right now, but that’s a different topic entirely).

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Tue Jul 06, 2021 5:31 pm

Oh I agree EKat but just trying to find a ray of sunshine in the situation.

I do think our football and basketball hires will work out but I was very much opposed to both

Greg Hansen sure liked the hire calling it a home run. Might be because he notes that the AZ people were shocked JJ used our job as a stepping stone. He also could be sending a message to JJ who’s hire was called a single by one of their writers.

DrWildcat · Post by **DrWildcat** » Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:26 pm

I think this hire just confirms that Heeke is a terrible AD who has no balls. Robbins controlled the other hires and then he goes and hires an underwhelming alumni for his favorite sport.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 5:30 am

84Cat wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 11:04 am
Chicat wrote: ↑Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:49 pm Wouldn’t it be great if everyone knew who the next coach was going to be?
Patience

Remember this? LOL Javy.

ChooChooCat · Post by **ChooChooCat** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 9:26 am

I’m not going to link it, but my god the Hansen article where he calls this a homerun and pretty much admits Arizona was so scared of hiring a guy that would leave again that they had to hire a lifer is so pathetic and full of gaslighting.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 1:09 pm

I guess I don’t understand why you are so down on a former cat as our choice? He wouldn’t have been my top choice but he certainly doesn’t have the resume of a garbage hire?

Dude was a great player for us, a MLB player and a coach at the MLB level. All those are more impressive than anything JJ ever had done.

Sure recruiting is a question mark but he has a bunch of former players and scouts that should help. He said he would be assembling staff to help out and it sounded like Lawn was retained to help with the current players and the recruiting landscape.

Maybe it’s a lazy hire but other than maybe Checketts or Wasikowski, I can’t think of many others that have a better resume to lead our program.

wyo-cat · Post by **wyo-cat** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 1:15 pm

Dude. You’re making too much sense.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 1:47 pm

ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Wed Jul 07, 2021 9:26 am I’m not going to link it, but my god the Hansen article where he calls this a homerun and pretty much admits Arizona was so scared of hiring a guy that would leave again that they had to hire a lifer is so pathetic and full of gaslighting.

If we were ever in a hostage situation, Greg Hansen would volunteer to negotiate with our captors and then he’d immediately tell them which of us was hiding a Swiss Army knife and planning to escape.

MountainCat · Post by **MountainCat** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 2:10 pm

Chicat wrote: ↑Wed Jul 07, 2021 1:47 pm
ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Wed Jul 07, 2021 9:26 am I’m not going to link it, but my god the Hansen article where he calls this a homerun and pretty much admits Arizona was so scared of hiring a guy that would leave again that they had to hire a lifer is so pathetic and full of gaslighting.
If we were ever in a hostage situation, Greg Hansen would volunteer to negotiate with our captors and then he’d immediately tell them which of us was hiding a Swiss Army knife and planning to escape.

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I think more like this...

"The Vice President in this case is like the Queen of England. You can't even buy airline tickets without talking to someone like me. Therefore, let me speak to The White House because I can assure you, I'm the one person who can make this all work out."

Irish27 · Post by **Irish27** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 3:03 pm

azcat49 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 07, 2021 1:09 pm I guess I don’t understand why you are so down on a former cat as our choice? He wouldn’t have been my top choice but he certainly doesn’t have the resume of a garbage hire?

Dude was a great player for us, a MLB player and a coach at the MLB level. All those are more impressive than anything JJ ever had done.

Sure recruiting is a question mark but he has a bunch of former players and scouts that should help. He said he would be assembling staff to help out and it sounded like Lawn was retained to help with the current players and the recruiting landscape.

Maybe it’s a lazy hire but other than maybe Checketts or Wasikowski, I can’t think of many others that have a better resume to lead our program.

Exactly. We have too many people who just go ballistic after every hire. The one time where so many people approved a hire was with Sumlin. Look how that turned out.
Like I mentioned before, we just have to be patient. Can't get too high or too low until we see the results.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 3:32 pm

http://allsportstucson.com/2021/07/07/a ... chip-hale/

In case you missed the press conference

84Cat · Post by **84Cat** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 3:35 pm

azcat49 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 07, 2021 3:32 pm http://allsportstucson.com/2021/07/07/a ... chip-hale/

In case you missed the press conference

TheCat · Post by **TheCat** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 4:09 pm

ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:35 pm
Irish27 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:49 pm
ChooChooCat wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:04 pm This is the worst hire in Arizona sports history considering the situation. I’m truly baffled.
Welcome back but I thought you said Jedd Fisch was the worst hire? With any coaching hire, you can't judge him or her before they even coach one game. I think he is a guy who the college players will look up to and play for.
The process about the Fisch hire is what was so bad. Jedd Fisch himself was an appropriate level candidate for Arizona Football. Chip Hale doesn’t measure on the Richter scale of appropriate level candidate for the level of job Arizona baseball is. That’s what makes this hire infinitely worse than a Niya Butts or a Kevin Sumlin. His candidacy should’ve never measured above courtesy interview.

To sum up this administration, apparently Arizona Baseball boosters are to be bowed to, while football and basketball boosters can go screw themselves. This is not a dynamic that’s normal nor makes any coherent type of sense. Then again this was all a Heeke hire and the other two were not.

On the bright side expect a large Hi-Corbett renovation in the near future. We only had to sacrifice the quality of our program for 5 years to do it.

So he wouldn't measure up to a 4 year assistant at Minnesota? That is what Jerry K was before he came here. Coach Stitt....he was a history teacher at Salpointe before it was called Salpointe Catholic. He did coach their baseball team. People here need Xanax. The majority here rejoiced at Sumlin and I'll I knew about him is he loss a 40+ point lead to UCLA in a half and lost. Hale has a passion for Arizona that is incredibly deep and my guess he will never be fired. Know why? Because he would quit if he couldn't get the job done before harming the school. I don't like how the hiring has always been done in fact I hate it most of the time. Done of us know if this was our first pick. Rumor was that it was offered to two other coaches (both in college) and they were not interested. Don't know if that is true.
Give this guy a chance. JJ was the definition of a mid major coach before he got here. Go back and read the "can coach Miller recruit" thread before you have a heart attack.

AzCatFan2 · Post by **AzCatFan2** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 4:24 pm

Hale's minor league success is a positive. Minus a few lifers holding onto a dream, must minor leaguers are college aged. One would hope that this translates.

The issue is recruiting and roster management. In the minors, you get the roster the big team wants, and often have to play who they want, versus who you think should play. There's no recruiting, and salary is done by the parent org.

Now Hale is going to have to build a team of 30 or so with 11.7 scholarships. Having Lawn on board will hopefully help this. But if Hale can recruit, this could be a good hire.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 4:45 pm

The fact he saw JK divvy up scholarships has to help snd he has Wing and Stitt around to help

I am sure Lawn will tell him about investing more scholarships into pitching and he will have the network of MLB scouts he can call on for talent evaluations.

He bleeds red and blue and I just don’t see him not giving his very best efforts in keeping this thing going.

JJ was very much a “money ball” manager. He was always looking at the stats and going one time through the line up or one inning with a guy. Hale might use his gut more but The guy has MLB experience so you would think he knows the game.

He can develop and teach and knows the game at the hugest level. He might fail but it won’t be for a lack of effort.

The thing that bothers me is JJ left because he thinks LSU is better. How did we let it get to that point. Heeke needs to answer that IMO

ChooChooCat · Post by **ChooChooCat** » Wed Jul 07, 2021 7:53 pm

azcat49 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 07, 2021 1:09 pm I guess I don’t understand why you are so down on a former cat as our choice? He wouldn’t have been my top choice but he certainly doesn’t have the resume of a garbage hire?

Dude was a great player for us, a MLB player and a coach at the MLB level. All those are more impressive than anything JJ ever had done.

Sure recruiting is a question mark but he has a bunch of former players and scouts that should help. He said he would be assembling staff to help out and it sounded like Lawn was retained to help with the current players and the recruiting landscape.

Maybe it’s a lazy hire but other than maybe Checketts or Wasikowski, I can’t think of many others that have a better resume to lead our program.

Because if he wasn’t an alum he never would’ve been considered for the job. That matters and don’t act like it doesn’t. This was a nepotistic hire forced upon us by alumni and donors who got scared because one coach left us for another job for the first time in history.

Recruiting for college baseball is an entire different ballgame, it is intensely regional and beyond complicated because of the 11.7 scholarship limit. This also isn’t like basketball where if U of A offers you and then UCSB does you wave off UCSB because obviously they’re inferior. In basketball and football you’d throw that UCSB offer in the trash obviously, but in baseball there’s a more even platform for all schools and the difference can be how much of a scholarship you can provide a guy. That’s why having someone who is intimately familiar with how to recruit, who to recruit, and how to divvy up scholarships is ridiculously important. This isn’t something that a 56 year old man just picks up and runs with, it’s just not. Dave Lawn is literally going to be a glorified babysitter. No program as good as Arizona has ever made a hire that comes with so many unnecessary risks in college baseball outside of ironically enough ASU.

As far as what other candidates were better choices, literally any sitting college baseball head coach was a better choice and it’s not even close. Brian Green out of Wazzu would’ve been a grand slam for instance.

Chip is an amazing guy, I wish him nothing, but the best and I will support the man because I have no choice. That doesn’t make this hire any less stupid, because it is absolutely a beyond boneheaded decision and makes a Jedd Fisch hire (before he started landing recruits) look genius by comparison. The alumni who were so butthurt by Jay leaving got their man and now they’ll pay to fix up Hi-Corbett because of it. So yay to that.

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