Assistant coach?
- Thread starter Mulder14
- Start date
I think it would have been really good to keep him for continuity sake. He helped run a solid offense and he knows Mingione's mentality and how he wants to run things. Still, I am going to hold judgment on how big of a loss until we know who replaces him. But, also note that there probably wasn't a ton UK could do here. Ammo was a 3rd assistant and those guys don't get a paid a ton by the university. They get a lot of extra money from camps. It is my understanding, he may be going to be the 2nd assistant at Georgia, where he'll make significantly more. UK has Cousino as a second assistant so it wasn't likely that we were going to be able to move Ammo up and give him any sort of pay grade.
This makes sense. Is it your sense that UK is willing to spend with the big boys when it comes to baseball? I'm hoping that the trip to Omaha whets the appetite of both the UK admin and the UK fanbase when it comes to spending on NIL, coaches, etc.
I don't have any special insight on that, but it seems to me that when Barnhart finds a coach that has success, he wants to keep them here and will pay them accordingly. Others were reporting that Ammo made about 40k and that his salary was not all that far off from what others around the league were making as a 3rd coach. He might not have made as much with camps, but that could also change after this season as people around the Bluegrass and Southern Ohio area might be more excited to attend the camp of a team/coach that went to the CWS. So, it wasn't necessarily UK not paying him enough that led him to leave. It was moreso that he got a better opportunity to move up from being a 3rd coach to a 2nd coach. Would be like moving from a position coach to an OC in football.
By the way, Mingione got a contract extension last year, so UK probably isn't in a big hurry to renegotiate the thing unless someone comes seriously knocking at the door. Here are the details from that agreement: https://www.on3.com/teams/kentucky-wildcats/news/nick-mingione-kentucky-baseball-contract-extension/
I think it will be interesting to see what happens with the coaching vacancy. Does UK find someone experienced or do they go with youth? Would be harder to find experience to take a job like that, I would think. So, they could turn to a guy who is cutting his teeth and looking to move up from a graduate assistant type of role into a bigger role. They could also change some duties around and have Cousino be a bit more of the hitting coach as well.
Yes, that was his salary and then it is bolstered by the profits made by running camps in the off season. Others have said that they looked at the 3rd assistant at other schools and the salary was the same or similar to what others are paying. So, it is basically the going rate for the 3rd assistant and was not necessarily UK underpaying him. The 3rd assistant is also pretty much a brand new thing. Prior to a year or two ago (IIRC) the 3rd assistant was entirely a volunteer and they weren't paid any salary and only made the money off of camps.
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This was the first season of a 3rd paid assistant. Before that Ammo was a volunteer coach here and just making cash off of camps. Wes Johnson handling the pitchers as the head coach at UGA allows all 3 of their paid coaches to be offensive minded. With an offensive minded coach you essentially lose one of your two higher paid spots to a pitching coach. When it comes down to deciding between Cousino and Ammirati about who is going to get the most cash, I don’t think there is really a conversation though.
UT paid their third assistant 50K last year. USCjr paid theirs 46K. Ammo was correctly paid for the job he was doing. As Comebak said above, he essentially made a jump from coaching running backs to being an offensive coordinator. No fault to anybody how it went down.
I have no insight, but I would be stunned if Troy Squires isn’t in the conversation for the 3rd assistant. Mingione likes familiarity with his assistants and he has that with Squires as a player from his time at UK. Troy has also been a P12 assistant for 3 years. He would come in with more legitimate experience at a high level than Ammo had. Move would make sense for Troy to get in the SEC and he would be more than capable of spreading a consistent message offensively as Ming and would slide in and coach the catchers effortlessly. It might not be him, but it would make a bunch of sense to me.
UT paid their third assistant 50K last year. USCjr paid theirs 46K. Ammo was correctly paid for the job he was doing. As Comebak said above, he essentially made a jump from coaching running backs to being an offensive coordinator. No fault to anybody how it went down.
I have no insight, but I would be stunned if Troy Squires isn’t in the conversation for the 3rd assistant. Mingione likes familiarity with his assistants and he has that with Squires as a player from his time at UK. Troy has also been a P12 assistant for 3 years. He would come in with more legitimate experience at a high level than Ammo had. Move would make sense for Troy to get in the SEC and he would be more than capable of spreading a consistent message offensively as Ming and would slide in and coach the catchers effortlessly. It might not be him, but it would make a bunch of sense to me.
He’s been deeply involved with the offensive side at Utah as well. I don’t think Ammo was rebuilding swings as much as he was helping our strategically and analytically in situations.
Also, don’t forget that Cousino is one of the best hitters the program has ever seen. I’m sure he carries his end of the bargain when it comes to offense as well.
Ammirati was the swing coach even when Coggin was here according to the players. So I think he actually did do a lot of that.
Cousino and Squires would be two offensive coaches who’ve both never been a hitting coach. That’s not typically what you want in the SEC, having someone do it for the first time.
I think that’s two good coaches and people I’d like to have on staff, but it would leave a hole for an offensive coach imo.
There isn’t a coach in America that has been a true “hitting coach” that is taking a third assistant spot, IMO.
I agree with you. I guess that’s where my questions have come from bc that’s going to be a tough assignment to fill.
And that’s where I fall back to Squires. He has 3 years on staff at Utah being involved in the offense and then spent 2 years here. Feel like he’s about as qualified to make the jump as anybody. And as I mentioned earlier I think Cousino will be asked to take a more hands on role in the offense as well.
Squires resume really isn’t that far off from what Ammo’s was when he arrived. Ammo probably got more involved at his JUCO stop, but who knows how transferable that even is.
Was unsure where Matt ended up after the Bohanon debacle at Bama. If Reida is looking for a third assistant job (very likely in how that all went down) this search should be over tomorrow.
