Northeastern

[Home Park Jacket]

Not arguing with you Nuke but improvement isn't guaranteed... & sometimes change is actually unexpectedly painful.

The last football and basketball seasons were fun to watch. I didn't expect much, but the players are playing for one another. I thought the changes there would be more painful. This baseball team is not even 1 of the best 100 teams. What could be more painful?

 

[Backstreetbuzz]

Circa 2017: "Well ... at least we have basketball & baseball until Johnson is gone"

Not arguing with you Nuke but improvement isn't guaranteed... & sometimes change is actually unexpectedly painful.

IMO, there is at least a 50/50 chance GT baseball gets worse after CDH is gone. I, for one, am ready to risk it.

 

[FredJacket]

The last football and basketball seasons were fun to watch. I didn't expect much, but the players are playing for one another. I thought the changes there would be more painful. This baseball team is not even 1 of the best 100 teams. What could be more painful?

IMO, there is at least a 50/50 chance GT baseball gets worse after CDH is gone. I, for one, am ready to risk it.

I like the back & forth. Lots of good people, smart baseball people posting here. I feel like the CDH discussion is nuanced and when we get into the back/forth we're often firing past each other. Not saying that's happening here.

I have no idea what the future holds when we're post-CDH. It could go in a lot of different directions. I think we all agree Hall won't be here much longer. I'm resigned (have been for a long time) to the fact he's going to get to retire on his terms. Nothing will speed that up. There are much bigger threats to future of GT baseball than our long-term head coach. For many years, college baseball has gotten much more competitive (in general)...and the transfer portal has made roster development pretty difficult. That continues. It is harder to recruit and win...that's been the case for over a decade. Now... add to that... the most concerning thing, NIL. The next guy will have some serious challenges and getting and keeping the kind of talent we've become accustomed to seems to me to be almost impossible without some quite significant changes 'external' to the program.. namely being competitive NIL-wise.

 

[Home Park Jacket]

The most concerning thing, NIL. The next guy will have some serious challenges and getting and keeping the kind of talent we've become accustomed to seems to me to be almost impossible without some quite significant changes 'external' to the program.. namely being competitive NIL-wise.

Pastner and Swartz practically bragged or excused the performance of their basketball teams based on $0 NIL. Obviously, something has changed in basketball as Ndongo, Sutton, Mustaf, Stores, and perhaps Davis will play for us. In football, the fact that King and Singleton are coming back proves there's some NIL there. Baseball is another animal as it's not a revenue generator (at least at Tech right now), and it's obviously not a priority. The economics may work, we'll see. This could be very similar to basketball but my guess it's up to Batt and a wealthy alum. I wish I could help more than I do but I can't so I just spew on a message board

 

[senoiajacket]

Engage ACC Tournament "bubble" watch...

Does everyone get in acc tournament?

 

[gtbeak]

I like the back & forth. Lots of good people, smart baseball people posting here. I feel like the CDH discussion is nuanced and when we get into the back/forth we're often firing past each other. Not saying that's happening here.

I have no idea what the future holds when we're post-CDH. It could go in a lot of different directions. I think we all agree Hall won't be here much longer. I'm resigned (have been for a long time) to the fact he's going to get to retire on his terms. Nothing will speed that up. There are much bigger threats to future of GT baseball than our long-term head coach. For many years, college baseball has gotten much more competitive (in general)...and the transfer portal has made roster development pretty difficult. That continues. It is harder to recruit and win...that's been the case for over a decade. Now... add to that... the most concerning thing, NIL. The next guy will have some serious challenges and getting and keeping the kind of talent we've become accustomed to seems to me to be almost impossible without some quite significant changes 'external' to the program.. namely being competitive NIL-wise.

I mostly agree. I agree that Hall will retire rather than be fired, but not certain he will retire on his own terms. He may be nudged strongly in that direction, but hopefully that will not be necessary.

As to NIL, we may in fact lose a player or two to schools with a larger pile of cash, but that is true whether this year's team is a success or a failure. It's just the way things are now. NC State made it to Omaha and played well until Covid reared its ugly head, but that didn't stop LSU from pillaging Tommy White away. On this year's team, based on results to this point in time, the only major concern I would have would be Burress. But it's not like he has come out of nowhere to be successful, he was a known commodity. I'd guess that his NIL market will be higher after this season than it was out of high school, but I would think he already had some NIL opportunities and chose Tech. Hopefully our sugar daddy can figure out a way to throw more cash his way. Maybe one of our upperclassmen pitchers will have a breakout season and become targets a la Chase Burns, we'll see. I guess what I'm saying is that so far I don't see much that would be of great interest to cash rich programs.

Edit: It looks like I was off a year on Tommy White above. He wasn't on that '21 NC State team. My bad.

 

[gtbeak]

Does everyone get in acc tournament?

The top 12, meaning the bottom 2 schools stay home. Last year that was FSU and Louisville

 

[senoiajacket]

I like the back & forth. Lots of good people, smart baseball people posting here. I feel like the CDH discussion is nuanced and when we get into the back/forth we're often firing past each other. Not saying that's happening here.

I have no idea what the future holds when we're post-CDH. It could go in a lot of different directions. I think we all agree Hall won't be here much longer. I'm resigned (have been for a long time) to the fact he's going to get to retire on his terms. Nothing will speed that up. There are much bigger threats to future of GT baseball than our long-term head coach. For many years, college baseball has gotten much more competitive (in general)...and the transfer portal has made roster development pretty difficult. That continues. It is harder to recruit and win...that's been the case for over a decade. Now... add to that... the most concerning thing, NIL. The next guy will have some serious challenges and getting and keeping the kind of talent we've become accustomed to seems to me to be almost impossible without some quite significant changes 'external' to the program.. namely being competitive NIL-wise.

Yet somehow Northeastern is at or near top 25?? And three teams from that conference projected to make the NCAAs. And we can’t even be a top 100 team when our resources outnumber there’s by what, ten to one?

In a perfect world, it’s time to rip off the band-aid. CDH might stay here 2, 3, 4 or more years. We might make the tournament some of those years, who knows, we might even make a super regional (but history doesn’t point to that), but bottom line to me is the program is not moving forward with a “lame duck” coach. If our AA is willing to just let the program sit idle with weeds growing in the garden until CDH decides it’s time to ride off in the sunset …….. well, as much as it pains me to say it, I’m not willing to invest my time and my emotions into that situation anymore.

 

[LargeFO]

Yet somehow Northeastern is at or near top 25?? And three teams from that conference projected to make the NCAAs. And we can’t even be a top 100 team when our resources outnumber there’s by what, ten to one?

In a perfect world, it’s time to rip off the band-aid. CDH might stay here 2, 3, 4 or more years. We might make the tournament some of those years, who knows, we might even make a super regional (but history doesn’t point to that), but bottom line to me is the program is not moving forward with a “lame duck” coach. If our AA is willing to just let the program sit idle with weeds growing in the garden until CDH decides it’s time to ride off in the sunset …….. well, as much as it pains me to say it, I’m not willing to invest my time and my emotions into that situation anymore.

This is pretty much where I am as far as making huge efforts to attend in person.

 

[gtbeak]

Yet somehow Northeastern is at or near top 25?? And three teams from that conference projected to make the NCAAs. And we can’t even be a top 100 team when our resources outnumber there’s by what, ten to one?

In a perfect world, it’s time to rip off the band-aid. CDH might stay here 2, 3, 4 or more years. We might make the tournament some of those years, who knows, we might even make a super regional (but history doesn’t point to that), but bottom line to me is the program is not moving forward with a “lame duck” coach. If our AA is willing to just let the program sit idle with weeds growing in the garden until CDH decides it’s time to ride off in the sunset …….. well, as much as it pains me to say it, I’m not willing to invest my time and my emotions into that situation anymore.

There is always going to be a team like Northeastern, a fairly obscure program who hits on the right roster and has success for a year or two. They managed to put together a good roster last season and were able to bring most of that back this season. I wish them much success this season (mainly cause they have a guy named Glavine as their coach), but if I had to bet I wouldn't be t on them being a top-25 team next year. Campbell is another school like that right now. It is similar to how folks were always saying that we should be like Stanford in football for a few seasons but I haven't heard that recently. Why? Because they didn't actually figure out how to win and maintain strong academics, they just managed to put together a short run with a strong core of players, but it wasn't sustainable.

 

[senoiajacket]

There is always going to be a team like Northeastern, a fairly obscure program who hits on the right roster and has success for a year or two. They managed to put together a good roster last season and were able to bring most of that back this season. I wish them much success this season (mainly cause they have a guy named Glavine as their coach), but if I had to bet I wouldn't be t on them being a top-25 team next year. Campbell is another school like that right now. It is similar to how folks were always saying that we should be like Stanford in football for a few seasons but I haven't heard that recently. Why? Because they didn't actually figure out how to win and maintain strong academics, they just managed to put together a short run with a strong core of players, but it wasn't sustainable.

Point taken on Northeastern. (I guess the roughness of how they treated us last night, head to head, has left me a little sore and more jaded than normal). I don’t think they will be a perennial top 25 team for the next 10 years. At this point, I would take two or three top 25 years at Tech though. My larger point is that there are teams with a lot less resources than us doing a lot more with them. I guess that opinion has been expressed ad nauseam on this board though.

 

[LargeFO]

This is just my opinion but Mark T. has way too much power and hold over the baseball program.

Yea I know he donates wayyy more money than I ever could. However, that doesn't always mean he's not overall hurting the program with blind loyalty.

 

[gtbeak]

This is just my opinion but Mark T. has way too much power and hold over the baseball program.

Yea I know he donates wayyy more money than I ever could. However, that doesn't always mean he's not overall hurting the program with blind loyalty.

Good point. He does provide a lot of cash, but does he bring good ideas? He is, as I understand it, the one who gave us Danny Borrell.

 

[link3945]

This is just my opinion but Mark T. has way too much power and hold over the baseball program.

Yea I know he donates wayyy more money than I ever could. However, that doesn't always mean he's not overall hurting the program with blind loyalty.

This is the big problem with boosters. They pay money and want their way, but they mostly have no idea how to actually run the program. Saban's big success at Bama (and earlier at LSU) was getting the boosters to pay up and then shut up and let him work.

 

[Quietman6520]

Point taken on Northeastern. (I guess the roughness of how they treated us last night, head to head, has left me a little sore and more jaded than normal). I don’t think they will be a perennial top 25 team for the next 10 years. At this point, I would take two or three top 25 years at Tech though. My larger point is that there are teams with a lot less resources than us doing a lot more with them. I guess that opinion has been expressed ad nauseam on this board though.

Too many misses in recruiting. We recruit talent by numbers only (spin rate, mph, exit velo) but not mentally tough players imo. We're soft as was our schedule

 

[stinger78]

Bobby Knight was once asked in a Roy Firestone interview how his teams at Indiana were so consistently good when his players were rarely the highest ranked. His answer was revealing. He said more than personal stats, he looked at the program the kid came from and the heart of the kid, and asked himself: Does he know how to win at a high level and is he willing to do what it takes to win at a high level? Perhaps we have an issue here? I dunno.

 

[MWBATL]

Bobby Knight was once asked in a Roy Firestone interview how his teams at Indiana were so consistently good when his players were rarely the highest ranked. His answer was revealing. He said more than personal stats, he looked at the program the kid came from and the heart of the kid, and asked himself: Does he know how to win at a high level and is he willing to do what it takes to win at a high level? Perhaps we have an issue here? I dunno.

Our issue is just pitching. Has been for a decade (or more). Not smart enough to tell you why, but “want to” doesn’t seem to me to be the problem. Just mho, of course.