Future of the Program

[bamabaseballfan]

What states have HOPE type scholarships? I’d like to see that and compare it to continually successful programs across the county.
Has the University started waiving out of state tuition for players? If not, that’s still a huge disadvantage.
Justification/excuses can be made for both keeping and firing Bohannon. The odds of landing the next Skip Bertman are short. The odds of wallowing in mediocrity no matter the coach are higher if issues outside of recruiting and coaching aren’t addressed. Let’s face it though, if Alabama were to get a lottery, that money wouldn’t go to scholarships. It most likely won’t go to schools either. Just look at the majority of proposed lottery bills in the recent past. Education scholarships aren’t the type of things that line enough politicians and their friends pockets.

 

[BamaInCummingGA]

I'm certainly not as fully tuned in as others but just have a couple of questions: If you replace coach Bohanon who do you replace him with? Who is going to take the Bama bb job knowing the uphill recruiting battle from the get go?
I don't know all the NCAA recruiting and scholarship rules but seems to me that we could have a group or groups step up under NIL and event the playing field a little or someone could come up with an academic scholarship to help baseball as well. If so, why don't they?

Y'all, we're behind the eight ball in baseball because the powers that be didn't see fit to carry on the momentum after Wells left.
Boosters don't put money into baseball.
There just doesn't seem to be a full commitment at this time.

 

[81usaf92]

I'm certainly not as fully tuned in as others but just have a couple of questions: If you replace coach Bohanon who do you replace him with? Who is going to take the Bama bb job knowing the uphill recruiting battle from the get go?
I don't know all the NCAA recruiting and scholarship rules but seems to me that we could have a group or groups step up under NIL and event the playing field a little or someone could come up with an academic scholarship to help baseball as well. If so, why don't they?

Y'all, we're behind the eight ball in baseball because the powers that be didn't see fit to carry on the momentum after Wells left.
Boosters don't put money into baseball.
There just doesn't seem to be a full commitment at this time.

The truth is that Alabama baseball fandom is mostly a front runner fandom with very few who actually support it in comparison to our immediate competition. Then when a casual baseball and Alabama fan goes to the Joe they are chased away about ushers who do everything that can to not make you want to come back. Ive been to several big Friday night showdowns in Tuscaloosa and the only time its ever packed is if we play Auburn or a real fanbase (MSU and LSU) comes to town with their fans. I mean even look at Hoover... We played on Tuesday and Thursday and barely had 300 people there. Had LSU played at 9:30 you better believe their fans would have packed the stadium. At Hoover it becomes very obvious at who are the Real fanbases and the "Ill wait to see if they play Friday night" fan bases.

Then you compare all of the stadiums and facilities in the SEC West alone and youll realize that even with a facelift the Joe is way behind everyone but Auburn. Thats something that no coach will ever be able to fix on his own and will be constantly used against him. What top rated recruit is going to chose Alabama over Mississippi State once he comes in for a Friday night game?

But it goes back to what @4Q Basket Case constantly asks... "You fire the guy then who do you get?" At somepoint you are going to have to settle on someone longterm or else you are going to constantly be going through this every 5 years and get further and further behind the SEC and make Alabama's brand the "We change coaches every 5 years" brand. Whether Bo is the guy to build the brand remains to be seen, but I think a decision based on wins in X amount of years really isnt the way should be looking at it necessarily. It should really be looked at "is recruiting getting better" and "Are we starting to compete against far more loaded rosters". Personally I think Bo deserves another year or two, but Im in the message board minority.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

The truth is that Alabama baseball fandom is mostly a front runner fandom with very few who actually support it in comparison to our immediate competition. Then when a casual baseball and Alabama fan goes to the Joe they are chased away about ushers who do everything that can to not make you want to come back. Ive been to several big Friday night showdowns in Tuscaloosa and the only time its ever packed is if we play Auburn or a real fanbase (MSU and LSU) comes to town with their fans. I mean even look at Hoover... We played on Tuesday and Thursday and barely had 300 people there. Had LSU played at 9:30 you better believe their fans would have packed the stadium. At Hoover it becomes very obvious at who are the Real fanbases and the "Ill wait to see if they play Friday night" fan bases.

Then you compare all of the stadiums and facilities in the SEC West alone and youll realize that even with a facelift the Joe is way behind everyone but Auburn. Thats something that no coach will ever be able to fix on his own and will be constantly used against him. What top rated recruit is going to chose Alabama over Mississippi State once he comes in for a Friday night game?

But it goes back to what @4Q Basket Case constantly asks... "You fire the guy then who do you get?" At somepoint you are going to have to settle on someone longterm or else you are going to constantly be going through this every 5 years and get further and further behind the SEC and make Alabama's brand the "We change coaches every 5 years" brand. Whether Bo is the guy to build the brand remains to be seen, but I think a decision based on wins in X amount of years really isnt the way should be looking at it necessarily. It should really be looked at "is recruiting getting better" and "Are we starting to compete against far more loaded rosters". Personally I think Bo deserves another year or two, but Im in the message board minority.

Well, if you’re in the minority regarding Bo, at least we’re in the minority together. Shoot, I’m not unaccustomed to being a minority of one, so sharing the foxhole with a like-minded person is welcome.

And I’m gratified to know that my favorite questions have registered with at least one of my TF brethren:

1. Whatever the sport, if you want to fire the current coach, what specific person would (1) come to Tuscaloosa, (2) be better than what we have, and (3) is worth starting all over again? And, “Anybody would be better than this clown” doesn’t qualify as a specific person. First, it’s patently false. Second, it’s an abdication essentially saying “I don’t know of anybody who fits even those incredibly basic criteria”….in which case you shouldn’t be advocating the firing in the first place.

2. If you don’t like the current situation — business dealings, political situation, NIL, whatever — what’s your solution? Unless you have a better solution in mind, don’t throw rocks at other people’s proposals. That’s the easiest thing in the world….and false, and an abdication. Put forward your own solution to the problem, and state why you believe it’s better than others offered. If you don't have a better solution, keep quiet until you do.

And yeah, they’re really slight twists on the same question.

 

[edwd58]

Taking this end of the year opportunity to rid myself of the built-up angst and enjoy the offseason.

We all have our ideas of where things went awry. For me, it was when Mal allowed Wells to "unretire" until he was assured Gaspard would replace him. Gaspard was given 7 years to drag the program down to mediocrity and then there was the Goff debacle which completely nuked the remnants of any positives that remained. I'm already on record for keeping Coach Bo. He still seems to have the drive to make our team better and take us places we'd like to go, but I have at times wondered how much longer he can maintain that given the obstacles faced - it would have to wear on you at some point. I'm glad he still wants to be here.

We're all aware of the issues we face, so no need to go into too much depth on the recruiting/scholarship/facilities issues (we're never going to have State-like facilities unless we make it to, and win, multiple CWS titles - probably not even then). It has been so disappointing over the past several years to see Alabama kids at places like State (a number of their key players from the CWS team), Vandy (especially Vaz's son) and Tennessee has an Alabama kid or two contributing. Until we can alleviate/fix the issues that cause these kids to go out of state and to play in Tuscaloosa instead, we are who we are and will continue to be the same. A doable first step would be for the NCAA, college presidents, athletic directors - whoever has the ability, to scrap the 11.7 scholarship cap. This wouldn't necessarily fix anything since everyone benefits, but it would give programs that do not receive aid from Hope/Lottery-type scholarships some degree of relief such that scholarship aid isn't as big of a deciding factor in recruiting. That UA will not waive out-of-state tuition for athletes is on itself, if true. I've no idea if they have the ability to decide that for themselves or if is a state law of some kind. I don't know near enough about our baseball boosters to have any idea if NIL can become a positive for us. I, too, do not have all the answers. Enough of my ramblings.

If you had told me in 1999, after 3 CWS appearance in 4 years, that it would be our last trip to the CWS, I'd have laughed at you and called you crazy. Same for the SEC tourney, we won 6 titles (95, 96, 97, 99, 02, 03) titles in 9 years. In nearly 20 years since, we've made the finals once (10 - lost to LSU). Seems I'm the crazy one for having kept believing through the years that things were going to get better. Well, hope springs eternal... see y'all then.

 

[deliveryman35]

The problem isn't the coach, It's not having a Hope Scholarship.

If that's the excuse we're going to use then we might as well shut down the program. Jim Wells did not have the Hope scholarship program and we were extremely competitive during most of his tenure.

 

[baseballfanatic]

If that's the excuse we're going to use then we might as well shut down the program. Jim Wells did not have the Hope scholarship program and we were extremely competitive during most of his tenure.

Jim Wells only had to deal with a few schools having the advantage for all but about 3 years of his career, also.

 

[deliveryman35]

The truth is that Alabama baseball fandom is mostly a front runner fandom with very few who actually support it in comparison to our immediate competition. Then when a casual baseball and Alabama fan goes to the Joe they are chased away about ushers who do everything that can to not make you want to come back. Ive been to several big Friday night showdowns in Tuscaloosa and the only time its ever packed is if we play Auburn or a real fanbase (MSU and LSU) comes to town with their fans. I mean even look at Hoover... We played on Tuesday and Thursday and barely had 300 people there. Had LSU played at 9:30 you better believe their fans would have packed the stadium. At Hoover it becomes very obvious at who are the Real fanbases and the "Ill wait to see if they play Friday night" fan bases.

Then you compare all of the stadiums and facilities in the SEC West alone and youll realize that even with a facelift the Joe is way behind everyone but Auburn. Thats something that no coach will ever be able to fix on his own and will be constantly used against him. What top rated recruit is going to chose Alabama over Mississippi State once he comes in for a Friday night game?

But it goes back to what @4Q Basket Case constantly asks... "You fire the guy then who do you get?" At somepoint you are going to have to settle on someone longterm or else you are going to constantly be going through this every 5 years and get further and further behind the SEC and make Alabama's brand the "We change coaches every 5 years" brand. Whether Bo is the guy to build the brand remains to be seen, but I think a decision based on wins in X amount of years really isnt the way should be looking at it necessarily. It should really be looked at "is recruiting getting better" and "Are we starting to compete against far more loaded rosters". Personally I think Bo deserves another year or two, but Im in the message board minority.

I agree it's not about a win total, but what is the OVERALL TRAJECTORY of the program? How are we trending or how would his tenure look on a graph? Is there evidence after 5 years that he is making measurable progress? I'm not nearly as plugged in to baseball as some of you are, so I'll defer to some of you for the answers to those questions. But, to this casual fan at least, that is where you need to start in evaluating the program and it's leader, and if not after 5 years, then when?

 

[Crimson1967]

Auburn doesn’t have Hope Scholarships and they are hosting a regional.

 

[81usaf92]

I agree it's not about a win total, but what is the OVERALL TRAJECTORY of the program? How are we trending or how would his tenure look on a graph? Is there evidence after 5 years that he is making measurable progress? I'm not nearly as plugged in to baseball as some of you are, so I'll defer to some of you for the answers to those questions. But, to this casual fan at least, that is where you need to start in evaluating the program and it's leader, and if not after 5 years, then when?

One would have to figure had Prielipp doesn’t get hurt then that SEC record is 3-4 games higher. Especially in this year. Next years pitching should be better next year around the starters and you are seeing a much more confident baseball team each year. We won two series against both of the West leaders and swept Ole Miss on the road (should have swept MSU as well). I would say this year was actually better than last year even though we didn’t get to a regional. We did a good job competing.

Sure there is a point in time where you have to say “ this is enough time” but right now we desperately need to build a foundation and a brand more than basing everything on how close we are to Omaha. Bo is recruiting very well and we need to be just a bit more patient

 

[81usaf92]

Auburn doesn’t have Hope Scholarships and they are hosting a regional.

Auburn got extremely lucky in hiring Butch. No one saw him even answering the phone and still don’t understand why he did. They also have Tim Hudson working for free as a pitching coach.

Sure it’s irritating to see them having success while we haven’t but expecting a Corbin or Thompson coming to Alabama is not a realistic expectation unless you are expecting Byrne to supercharge the baseball program with crazy amounts of money and upgrades.

 

[81usaf92]

For those wondering… Rodney Orr seems to think Bo is coming back and next year is going to be a big season.

 

[BamaHoHo]

Jim Wells killed our program when he retired. When he found out that we were going to hire Bobby Pierce (which would have been an excellent hire). Wells didn't like the hire, so he unretired and brought Mitch Gaspard (at the time the Northwestern State head coach) in as an assistant. Wells then coaches one more year. Pushes for Gaspard to be hired as head coach. We hired him and our program died. It will take a lot of digging to get out of the hole that Gaspard put us in.

 

[deliveryman35]

One would have to figure had Prielipp doesn’t get hurt then that SEC record is 3-4 games higher. Especially in this year. Next years pitching should be better next year around the starters and you are seeing a much more confident baseball team each year. We won two series against both of the West leaders and swept Ole Miss on the road (should have swept MSU as well). I would say this year was actually better than last year even though we didn’t get to a regional. We did a good job competing.

Sure there is a point in time where you have to say “ this is enough time” but right now we desperately need to build a foundation and a brand more than basing everything on how close we are to Omaha. Bo is recruiting very well and we need to be just a bit more patient

I'm patient. And I think most fans are. I don't know anyone that is advocating he immediately be ran out of town. I WANT him to be successful and would like some stability for the program too. Hopefully 2023 will be a huge improvement and I guess we will all revisit this in 12 months.

 

[WylieTexasTider]

What is the status of his contract? If we can eat millions firing bad basketball coaches I would hope keeping him just because we’d be paying him to do nothing isn’t a consideration.

Right now we are 51 in RPI. (Tenth in the SEC). There are 16 ranked above us that are not in a P5 conference. I’d start with that list if I’m looking for a new coach.

Agree 100%. We basically fire/force out our gymnastics coach for finishing top 8 in the nation 7 of her 8 seasons but allow Coach Bo to continue to be bottom 4 in the conference and miss the post season. Makes no sense other than he is GB’s hire and his ego won’t allow him to admit he was wrong.

 

[crimsonkelly]

On a side note, anyone got an idea how many players are leaving via the portal? My brother asked me today what is going on w Bama baseball and a bunch of guys in the portal. I replied with haven’t heard there was a bunch in there but I don’t honestly know.

 

[BamaHoHo]

portal.

SEC baseball players in the NCAA Transfer Portal 2022

Alabama (5)

Davis Heller (5/31)
Owen Diodati (5/30)
Graham Crawford (5/24)
James Thies (5/23)
Jacob Eddington (5/18)

 

[BamaHoHo]

Davis Heller (5/31)
2022 Saw time in eight games with two starts in his second season in Tuscaloosa
Batted .200 (2-10) with a double, one RBI, a run and two walks
2021Suffered a season-ending injury in the Crimson Tide's final regular-season series
Earned playing time in 15 games with five starts prior to his injury
Batted .222 (6-27) with six runs and six walks on the season

Owen Diodati (5/30)
2022 Split time between the outfield and at designated hitter, playing in 49 games with 41 starts
Batted .242 (38-157) with seven doubles and eight home runs to go with 26 RBI and 27 runs
2021 Split time between the outfield and designated hitter, playing in 56 games with 55 starts
Batted .230 (46-200) with three doubles, a triple and 11 home runs
2020 Batted .309 (17-55) with three doubles, a triple and five home runs in his 17 games of action, including 14 starts

Graham Crawford (5/24)
Played in seven games as a reserve during his first season at UA

James Thies (5/23)
Did not see playing time in his first season at Alabama

Jacob Eddington (5/18)
2022 Suffered a season-ending injury during the fall and did not pitch during his sophomore campaign
2021 Appeared in 14 games with one start during his first season in Tuscaloosa

 

[baseballfanatic]

On a side note, anyone got an idea how many players are leaving via the portal? My brother asked me today what is going on w Bama baseball and a bunch of guys in the portal. I replied with haven’t heard there was a bunch in there but I don’t honestly know.

Could be a completely new team next year, what with the portal and draft. I usually start a thread to track them all, but we're in the middle of a move right now, so it might be a couple weeks.

 

[BamaHoops]

Jim Wells only had to deal with a few schools having the advantage for all but about 3 years of his career, also.

Auburn doesn't have the Hope scholly's either - and they've had success far beyond what we've had.