Bear Down Wildcats

Dispatch audio from Abshier/Luna: https://kvoa.com/news/digging-deeper/20 ... -pitchers/

Merkin wrote: Mon Jun 28, 2021 3:50 pm As a resident of northern Santa Barbara county, have to say it would be pretty hard to give up living in such a pretty city with a great climate.
But doubling his salary in a town with half the cost of living is really tempting. The Lute house and similar are fantastic, what he probably pays for a 3BR 2BA home there.

That would be the $64K question, along with the potential assumption that he'd have more opportunity to go farther in post-season (hosting) in the Pac-12 than in the Big West. Probably depends on the situation with his family. For some people these days, there's a narrative about everybody leaving California due to various issues. But the real estate costs what it does for a reason, and it's still the destination of choice for a lot of people (even from other countries.) So, since he's already there, he may not want to leave if he thinks he'll just want to move back later.

Meanwhile, the "five years college coaching" clause makes me wonder if Heeke is going to slide in his kid's coach from his alma mater, Central Michigan. I'm sure he's a pretty good coach, but so was Tracy Smith at Indiana, before he did his face-plant at ASU. We'll see. Checketts has been my top choice since the day Johnson announced he was leaving.

That 5 year experience is comical given the recent hires. That is incredible really.

How do you not make the first call to either Checketts or our former assistant now head coach at Oregon?

I will say we need to upgrade Hi Corbett and soon. Those SEC schools all have palaces

Jefe wrote: Mon Jun 28, 2021 4:14 pm Dispatch audio from Abshier/Luna: https://kvoa.com/news/digging-deeper/20 ... -pitchers/

That was hard to follow. The written story is a little different than the video.
Was Absher’s friend a victim? Were the guys jumping the friend the victim?
Why was the caller not cooperating?

84Cat wrote: Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:20 pm

Did Heeke list the job on Monster.com?

If you can live comfortably in Santa Barbara, it would take a lot to convince anyone to move. But it's not like Tucson doesn't have some very nice places to live for those who can afford it. Colonia Solana, just west of Reid Park is amazing, and a UA Baseball coach could walk to work. Plenty of nice houses in the Sam Hughes area as well. Or, for those who don't mind a commute, the foothills and Sabino Canyon area.

I looked for information, and what I could find was Checketts was making about $225,000 back when he signed his last extension. Surely, we can at least pay what JJ was making, which is in the $550,000 range. So doubling Checketts' salary is certainly a possibility.

And while CS Fullerton proved a Big West team can win big in Baseball, what has the Big West done lately on the national scene? With the SEC pouring in money into baseball, it's caused an arms race that will cause mid-majors to struggle to maintain excellence. There will be mid-majors who strike lightning in a bottle any given year, but year over year excellence? Not likely in my opinion. What will happen to the Big West when the PAC starts paying closer to $1 million a year for top Baseball coaches? This, of course, assumes the PAC can replace the Commissioner with someone with a modicum of intelligence, which isn't a given.

Agreed that pulling anyone away from Santa Barbara who can afford to live there is not an easy task. But Arizona has a lot to offer Checketts, and he should be the first call I would make.

I worry that now after losing JJ (but trying to up his comp past 1m) that now we will low ball the next guy and that we might lose a great candidate like AC because we only doubled his salary to 450k.

The new guy needs to see our commitment to our proud program. Give him at least the same deal JJ had and renovate HiCo

I do find it odd that both OSU and AZ passed on Yesky to lead their programs. Has to be something there

AzCatFan2 wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:57 am This, of course, assumes the PAC can replace the Commissioner with someone with a modicum of intelligence, which isn't a given.

We already have a new commissioner. Not sure of his IQ.

Kendall Rogers has Eric Valenzuela at Long Beach State as one of his candidates to replace Johnson.
https://longbeachstate.com/sports/baseb ... nzuela/397

This is ridiculous at this point. Going to require a major rebuild

Wow, next season is now going to be a re-building year.

All the more reason Checketts should be the first call. He is well known and well respected in our recruiting base areas, and might be able to pull a kid or two from UCSB with him to Tucson. Even though we beat UCSB twice in the regionals, I got the feeling that in a MLB style, 7-game series, it would have taken at least 6 for us to beat them. Especially if we had to travel to Cali and play a couple of games there. Homefield advantage helped this year. Get Checketts, and the rebuild won't take too long.

Fuck the LSU fans who are openly trolling us. What a bunch of douche bags

At this rate, they won't have enough players next year.

Fuck this shit. Good job Heeke!

What a fucking disaster. In less than 2 weeks we were riding high with our team/coach/program knocking on the door for another ‘ship and now this?

I’m stealing from Chi’s Yankee chant…someone needs to be fired now!

Just depressing

Snake

Have a favorite player for next year.

lol so we went from a CWS team that was probably going to be even better next year to searching for a coach and barely able to put together a roster in a couple days.

On thing to consider is that baseball has not received an extension to the portal deadline of July 1. So it's honestly kind of stupid for players to not put their name in now, and then decide after we hire a coach

Irish27 wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:39 pm Have a favorite player for next year.

Along with Nic McClaughry who responded with “See you at Hi C”.

prh wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:30 pm On thing to consider is that baseball has not received an extension to the portal deadline of July 1. So it's honestly kind of stupid for players to not put their name in now, and then decide after we hire a coach

I’m hoping this is the reason, so guys have an out if they want to leave, but hopefully we get a good hire and these guys stick around.

phxcat23 wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:40 pm

prh wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 6:30 pm On thing to consider is that baseball has not received an extension to the portal deadline of July 1. So it's honestly kind of stupid for players to not put their name in now, and then decide after we hire a coach

I’m hoping this is the reason, so guys have an out if they want to leave, but hopefully we get a good hire and these guys stick around.

Not if the UofA President gets involved.

Gil Luna and Tony Bullard joining in the sticking around crew.

TJ Nichols staying. I wonder if they know who the next coach is going to be?

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone knew who the next coach was going to be?

figured i'd pop in and check on baseball news....and i'll just see myself out now

Wouldn’t it be great if we even had some chatter of who we are targeting or might have interviewed

Susac is great news and kind of surprising to me. His little bro is a pitcher who is committed to UA as a 2021 recruit I believe. I'm sure his bro wanted to pitch for Yeskie and that they wanted to play together, so with Yeskie gone I figured his bro (and Daniel) might look elsewhere.

I'm going to root hard next year for those guys deciding to stick around that's for sure.

Well, at least the concessionaire is changed for next year (Aramark). So, if UofA gets a regional…ugh, I’m too depressed about this situation to talk about beer.

It makes sense for Baseball players to enter the portal. It gives them options. Like the coach, and you can withdraw your name with no penalty. Don't like the hire, and you can shop elsewhere for your services.

My guess, and this comes with zero inside knowledge, the two coaches on Heeke's list are Checketts and Bischel of C. Michigan. Checketts would be a very good hire. Successful Big West Coach who is well known and respected in Western baseball circles. He's young, and Arizona can double his salary while offering Checketts resources that don't exist at USCB. Question is, will Checketts ever leave Santa Barbara? Wouldn't blame him if he stayed.

Bischel ahas gone 100-38 during his 3 seasons at C. Michigan, with last year shortened due to Covid, of course. If Bischel was a coach at a Big West school with this record, he'd likely be on the top of the list of up-and-coming baseball coaches. Arizona could likely offer 3X his salary or more. The only question is geography. Bischel is a Midwest guy and has been his entire career. But you also can't deny the Heeke connection. And if there is one thing we know about Robbins and Heeke, they hire guys they know and already have a relationship with somehow. JJ was a west coast guy his entire life, who will now be in Baton Rouge. May work out. May not. Bischel was a successful coach at even lower levels before taking the Chippewa job, and will likely land a Big 10 job sooner rather than later if we don't hire him. Not my first choice, but not a bad one either.

Siempre Verde wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:32 am Well, at least the concessionaire is changed for next year (Aramark). So, if UofA gets a regional…ugh, I’m too depressed about this situation to talk about beer.

Well at least we'll be able to drown our sorrows.

Irish27 wrote: Tue Jun 29, 2021 2:47 pm Wow, next season is now going to be a re-building year.

Lot's of AZ sports you could post this in....

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

I am done being teased...I really am.

Irish27 wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 10:48 am

I thought Heeke really cared about Baseball and wanted to make a quality hire? This tells me otherwise.

I agree about Chip. Great cat but it would be like hiring Richard Jefferson in basketball. Love the lineage but we need a college guy with experience. It’s not like Lopez and JJ haven’t rebuilt the program

So I guess the requirement to coach 5 years D1 baseball doesn’t apply for Chip?

Makes sense to at least interview Chip. In addition to being an all-time great Wildcat, he has coached baseball at the highest level and currently lives in Tucson. We could do a lot worse. Recruiting would be a question mark, but if Hale can keep the core of the current team together and win early, that will help answer the recruiting question.

Snake

Only the few players he wants to transfer to LSU. He really is not showing well here is he

What’s the deal with all the coaches leaving. Dave Lawn supposedly isn’t going to LSU so why wouldn’t he stay until his contract was up or he was hired elsewhere? Not like they they have an off season

azgreg wrote: Wed Jun 30, 2021 1:49 pm

The more I hear about Jay the more I hope he fails hard.

In other news, Rocker has been rocked once again!

Susac is very surprising, considering he committed to OSU for Yeskie, and then followed him here. Adds to the questions about Yeskie I guess.

Reminds me of Larry Smith and his departure from Arizona to USC.