So, we can't criticize the coaching staff?

I don't understand it either, but I am not the owner of the site or a mod. If every time someone fusses about the coaching staff not doing a good job it gets deleted there won't be a single thread here by the end of the year.

The bottom line with this team is that we have one guy who could start on a good SEC team, a couple who could contribute (Miller and Bennett, imo), and a whole bunch of guys who just don't belong on an SEC team. The staff is pretty solid, especially with a healthy Hawley, but our hitting may set records for being the worst ever at Alabama.

What are we supposed to do? We can either ignore the team for the rest of the season, or really be into every game, which is going to result in a bunch of anger and frustration, I would think. If we can't express those feelings then there's no reason to have a board, is there?

The only reason I joined this place was the baseball board.

rtr

Well, Dax has done a pretty commendable job for a first-time pitching coach. Bobby Barbier is one of the better third base coaches this program has had in a long, long time.

Personally I get tired of reading all the negative post. Maybe dt can start a thread for the negative comments/opinions of others and the other post can be about games, question, etc. Just my .02!

Also, I for one am gals he is deleting some threads. some comments made are completely uncalled for IMO.

The policy seems to be: don't question any coaching staff until they've been fired; then blame every ill on them.

The only criticisms I've had with the coaching staff is hiring an inexperienced "hitting" coach in the offseason rather than go out and try to find a pitching coach to replace the pitching coach that left. And a couple of times with the bunting strategy.

Also, I'm as miffed about the strategy of choosing JUCO and local kids as most of you, but I'm going to sit back and see if those guys are just a "fallback" or if they're actually main targets. If so, then I'll join the boat saying he can't recruit. EDIT--- Another thing I remembered, and I'm not trying to pass the blame off here, but a majority of the guys from Shelton were signed by Wells. In fact, in Gaspard's first class, there were zero (0) players from Shelton.

He's only had 2 recruiting classes while head coach here. I've heard many say that we should include the ones every year since he came back, but you can't do that. It's different recruiting as a head coach vs recruiting as an assistant coach. You can't be out on the road every week recruiting (if it's like football and basketball, anyways),you have to let you're assistants be the one to build the majority of the relationship, and then you have to "seal the deal" in your one in-home visit.

But even out of his 2 recruiting classes as head coach, only 1 of those classes has even made it to campus yet, and even it can be counted as a partial class since he was hired in September and they were signed in October. And out of that class, we've gotten some solid contributions from a lot of them.

Harmost said:

The policy seems to be: don't question any coaching staff until they've been fired; then blame every ill on them.

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No, I don't think that's the policy at all. In fact, I know it isn't.
This same thing happens in every sport. You have a team that is doing a tremendous job at underachieving, and their W-L record reflects it. Finally the coach either decides to leave or that decision is made for him. A replacement comes in and folks think there will be positive change in the first year. Come on, folks. We all know better than that because we've been there before in our football team and our basketball team. It takes time to recruit the types of players we need to turn this into a perennial winning team.
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BTW, I remember there being a lot of threads of this sort prior to the arrivals of Coach Grant, and Coach Saban before him. I also remember similar responses from the admin and mods. Yes, a lot of people are disappointed in our team at the present but I'm sure Coach Gaspard is doing the best he can until he can recruit the players he needs. In the meanwhile, criticizing the coaching staff for their shortcomings isn't going to make it happen any sooner. JMHO

Facts: Not picking or making fun of just the facts: Bats Nike, Easton, or what ever. This team would still not hit with last years Bats. There is only 2 maybe 3 guys that could make 2004 team(which was one of the worst hitting teams I ever witnesed) we won 10 sec games and led the Sec in ERA and was about 5th in the country. Recuriting well how would you rate it. We got killed by the draft. Ok everybody gets killed by the draft is a fact. Something is not right and has not been right for years. Mitch was able to go out and hire a pitching coach that is a fact. We got better, we field the ball ok that is a good fact. Reality pitching coach is now gone it has not killed us time will tell on Dax. Kids complaining they got worked to hard and Cheered when coach Bunn left that made sick at my stomach. Something is wrong with this program whether its the AD or on the field or whatever and it needs to be addressed.

This site's policy has always been, and shall remain, no overly harsh criticism of players/coaches (present or past). Like most things, it's often not what you say, but how you say it. Everyone is welcome to voice his/her pleasure or discontent, just be mindful of the tone with which you say it.

Another policy is not to question moderators/administrators' decision-making in the open forum. If you have a problem with a post being deleted or edited, send a private message to the mod/admin who did it. Bringing it to the open forum will only land you in the doghouse, and it's not a pleasant place to be. These are the policies each and every one of us agreed to when we signed on for membership in this Tidefans community. There are plenty of other online sites that allow all kinds of hijinks. This is not one of them.

My gut feeling about all of this is that I should just stop posting here. I enjoy the baseball talk tremendously but I don't enjoy the feeling that if I am honest with the way I feel about certain things that the whole thread will get deleted and everyone else will suffer.

Ah well. Maybe I will just refrain from posting for awhile. rtr, folks!

SavannahDare said:

This site's policy has always been, and shall remain, no overly harsh criticism of players/coaches (present or past). Like most things, it's often not what you say, but how you say it. Everyone is welcome to voice his/her pleasure or discontent, just be mindful of the tone with which you say it.

Another policy is not to question moderators/administrators' decision-making in the open forum. If you have a problem with a post being deleted or edited, send a private message to the mod/admin who did it. Bringing it to the open forum will only land you in the doghouse, and it's not a pleasant place to be. These are the policies each and every one of us agreed to when we signed on for membership in this Tidefans community. There are plenty of other online sites that allow all kinds of hijinks. This is not one of them.

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Thanks for stepping SavannahDare!

Fact: As long as Alabama and Mississippi do not have (God forbid, pun intended) lottery schollys, like the other SEC schools do, a great BAMA baseball team will be the exception and not the rule. Actually, I'm not sure if Miss is getting schollys from Casinos or not. Frankly, this team has overachieved so far in my opinion. Just b/c we are swept on the road by the #1 team and lose 2/3 of the Tenn series (barely) does not mean the coaches have not coached their butts off. Moreover, I believe that the Nike monster that we have hitched our wagons to produces an inferior bat (less life than their counterparts despite the fact that they all changed models this past year).

Give one army 13.7 million men and its opponent 26 million men and I will bet on the 26 million men every time. May not win every time, but bet I would win at least 75% of the time. Keep on fighting coaches and players, even if you are swinging with one hand tied behind your back.

Sup. New to the board. Joined because it is one of the few places with good, knowledgeable, and consistent baseball talk some guys that seem to know the game.

bamamick said:

The bottom line with this team is that we have one guy who could start on a good SEC team, a couple who could contribute (Miller and Bennett, imo), and a whole bunch of guys who just don't belong on an SEC team.
rtr

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Reaves is an upper-echelon shortstop and would start for just about anybody in the league. Only two in the league better are Fontana and Gomez, and Gomez's d isnt nearly as crisp as Jareds. Fatty at *U can rake but has zero range in the field.

Smith is going to be pretty solid himself one day, as well.

Booth has started swinging it better lately and the glove has always been there but I am still not sold on him, yet.

But as for the rest...yea.

MKAlaw4ua9195 said:

Fact: As long as Alabama and Mississippi do not have (God forbid, pun intended) lottery schollys, like the other SEC schools do, a great BAMA baseball team will be the exception and not the rule.

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All very true. However, I think that the concern of many is that even with the inherent scholarship disadvantage, the program should never find itself in a situation where a third of the starting lineup consists of players who should be at Montevallo or West Alabama. (I would have said Samford or UAB, but we can't seem to beat either of those juggernauts). Fortunately, I do believe that this is a problem that can be fixed relatively soon, but it might require signing some additional "quick fix" junior college guys who can hopefully step right in and contribute immediately. The challenge, though, is finding legitimate D-I talent at the junior college level and actually getting them to school. These guys are often "hit or miss" as well. Sure, you might land a superstar (Roberto Vaz, G.W. Keller), but there's also the chance that a highly-touted JuCo signee turns out to be a colossal failure (Brad Van Winkle, Andrew Rodgers).

ptide12 said:

Sup. New to the board. Joined because it is one of the few places with good, knowledgeable, and consistent baseball talk some guys that seem to know the game.


Reaves is an upper-echelon shortstop and would start for just about anybody in the league. Only two in the league better are Fontana and Gomez, and Gomez's d isnt nearly as crisp as Jareds. Fatty at *U can rake but has zero range in the field.

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Interesting points. Agree on most, although personally, I think Austin Nola (LSU), Taylor Black (UK), Zach Osborne (TEN), and Reaves are better shortstops than Gomez. Gomez seems better-suited to second base defensively, and at the plate, he's a punchless singles hitter who swings at everything and has benefited from a ridiculously inflated BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play), which is to say, he's had a lot of luck. When/if some of the seeing-eye singles he relies on stop finding holes and start finding fielders, his production will fall off considerably.

Welcome to the board.

Kenny Roberts of Meridian CC has signed with the Tide and will be eligible next year. A middle infielder with power and an average of .430 this season, this guy sounds like a pretty good player.

rtr

bamamick said:

Kenny Roberts of Meridian CC has signed with the Tide and will be eligible next year. A middle infielder with power and an average of .430 this season, this guy sounds like a pretty good player.rtr

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That's great news. Exactly the type of player we need - a polished middle infielder who can hit. Not to mention that he's from a junior college program that has sent us some pretty solid players over the years (Paul Phillips, David Tidwell, Brian Reed, Travis Garner, Antonio Bostic)