I just don't see how Rick Jones could be any worse than Smoke...although I am keeping my fingers crossed that Bianco comes here.:yelwink2:
Jones wouldn't be at the top of my list and I dispise him and his team, but he would be an improvement.
Is that freshman coming in 2007 or 2008? Because the signing period for next year is almost over if I am correct.
It would seem any hire would come after the teams for the tourney are announced, or the season is over for all teams. Up and coming coach you should look at is Frank Anderson from Okie State. The guy is a real baseball man, and you might even sign his son, though he will probably be drafted in the first 2 rounds. T. Boone is dumping so much money up there, however, I doubt he would leave. I would love to read the Okie State Forum if you took Anderson.
Any decision concerning Smoke being replaced will beg the obvious question--Who are we going to get that is better? And also willing to coach in the pressure cooker that LSU baseball has become. When a guy has the best W/L record in the SEC in the five years he's been here and gets run off after one rebuilding season . . . it inhibits a top coach from leaving a comfortable situation to take this on. I don't know if Jones is better . . . or Bianco . . . or Wells or whoever. But I imagine Skip does.
Smoke has taken a lot of pressure off the next coach. The next guy isn't replacing a legend with 5 national titles in a ten year span, a guy who built the program from the ground up. Instead he is replacing a guy who took over the best program in the nation and turned it into a middle of the conference pack can't win in the post season, falling fast and no light at the end of the tunnel team. With the tradition, facilities, fan support and notoriety of the LSU program there is no reason a top notch coach shouldn't do better than Smoke. The best coaches in any sport aren't scared off by high expectations IMO, so if a coach is too scared to take over the program he isn't the right guy anyway. I remember a reporter asking a Nebraska resident outside of Rosenblatt who would be playing in the CWS championship game. He responded "I don't know which two teams will be playing but LSU is going to win it!!!!!" I like high expectations. PS we did win that year. The question isn't whether Skip knows who is better or not it's if he cares. I'm beginning to think he likes the fans missing his tenure as the ol ball coach. JMHO
this may be true, but if they are loyal, they should accept what is best for the team, and this man is a good coach... it's like spurrier coming here... it would be hard to accept, but when the wins pile it, it'd be worth it...