Brett Marshall
- Thread starter Big_Blue_1018
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That's what I understand. Obviously, there will be more. Wish he could have stayed as he was feel liked, but he just wouldn't likely have contributed on the field.
It has stirred up a hornet's nest among former players. Pompey and Troy Black have weighed in on twitter coming out against Coach.
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It is pretty shocking and telling what the former players have to say, not only about this, but about Mingione in particular. They don't pull any punches, especially Pompey. They aren't just disappointed in what happened, but are very vocal in blaming Mingione and throwing him under the bus. They did the same with regards to Fanning being let go.
Still think MB better have somebody on speed dial...NM's program is under water. We will need to be looking after this season if MB wants to save the bb program.
We will see how things go. 2017 feels like it was a really long time ago. I have heard some rumblings that the new pitching coach is lightyears better, so maybe we will see some big jumps from most of our arms this year.
What I fear is that you have some SEC programs that are digging themselves back out. Tennessee as an example... they hadn't made an NCAA tournament for well over a decade and broke through this year with a 1st (maybe 2nd) year coach. I imagine that was no accident and it wasn't really due to him having a more mature roster like Mingione inherited.
Players are encouraged to leave after the fall break at every major university across D1. This is commonplace. You can’t coach at the D1 level without making enemies along the way from hurt kids. I experienced this myself as a player. Luckily social media wasn’t as prominent at the time. I guarantee coach mingione offered to help find him a place to play. Most kids would want to play where they can and not be buried on the depth chart just to stay put.
I think it’s deeper than just asking players to leave to make room for others. Matt Jones said it best, don’t crucify me for mentioning him, Minge created a problem with taking too many guys and has to trim the roster. That being said, seeing so many players speak out against him is not a good look. Pompey seems to be the one who is speaking out the most. Either way, 2020 will be an interesting year for UK baseball.
The way the team captains were chosen was silly. It was basically a popularity contest and not necessarily who the best leaders were. Marshall was a team captain a year ago, but if I'm not mistaken he often didn't travel with the team on road trips. He just wasn't that valuable as a player. That's harsh, but it's reality.
Did he take too many? Is his process any different from any other major team? I highly doubt it. It seems weird and harsh because to most of us, you're on the team when you hit campus, but that doesn't seem to be the way baseball works. Numerous players from each class will be cut. Last year Kentucky cut senior pitcher Aaron McGeorge. Aaron was also a Kentucky and Lexington native who dreamt of playing for UK. He came as a JUCO transfer and was here for a year and as a senior he was cut, and actually, I think was one of the last cuts and it happened just a few weeks or days before the first game.
A kid I knew in Oldham County left for Trinity, turned into a pretty good pitcher. Got a scholarship to UofL. Good for him I thought. Later asked someone about him, “he got cut” was the response. Wth? He shows up for his freshman year, too many kids, he’s one that didn’t make it. I’m used to basketball and football, you don’t cut kids after they get to campus. I’m thinking, how dirty is Louisville? Then I talk to a dad who’s kid plays D-1 baseball, he explains it’s common for a school to “offer” 35-40 kids. Can only have 25 on a team - so the math isn’t hard, 10-15 have to go I guess. Harsh. And a team only has 11.7 scholarships to give anyway, so even those that make it are getting half a scholarship.
I have a kid that’s a pretty good athlete. He’s probably more gifted at basketball, but he’s not going to be 6’6 and 210. So I was thinking (too the extent you can really choose a path, I think usually it chooses you), maybe baseball is the way to go, just from a numbers game. Fewer kids (by a lot) play baseball, it’s likely not as competitive to get a scholarship - maybe we should focus on pitching! Until I heard the story in my first paragraph.....
I have a kid that’s a pretty good athlete. He’s probably more gifted at basketball, but he’s not going to be 6’6 and 210. So I was thinking (too the extent you can really choose a path, I think usually it chooses you), maybe baseball is the way to go, just from a numbers game. Fewer kids (by a lot) play baseball, it’s likely not as competitive to get a scholarship - maybe we should focus on pitching! Until I heard the story in my first paragraph.....
I'm sorry, but playing with kids lives is not okay. I don't give a crap what the stakes are. When you give a kid a scholarship to come play for you he too is making a commitment. That includes his family. These coaches don't have the confidence in themselves to coach/train people up to play better. It's not supposed to be a tryout to make the team when you've been given a scholarship to play at that school. That's absolutely weak, cowardly, selfish, and unprofessional to do this to young kids let alone an adult. The truth be known is that those coaches left there because they wanted no part of what's going there right now. I firmly believe that they didn't want there names associated with the decisions that are going on right now.
What ever happened to the definition of a coach. These guys are basically CEO's, not coaches. They are decision makers only. No coaching, no teaching, no role modeling, no relationship building. It's a shame.
I agree. I coach high school baseball myself and the thing I enjoy most is the commaderie with the kids and coaches as well as watching the freshman turn into men who I had a part in shaping on whatever small level. That aspect is being lost with an influx of money, publicity, and expectations. When I got to college I was shocked at how little interaction that players had with coaches. It felt like an uphill battle to get to know the coaches. Once I transferred it was different but it wasn’t the sec.
I think the kids and the parents know fully going into the situation what might happen. Those kids go into the fall fighting to make a roster which will be cut. There are only so many spots available, and even fewer for the travel roster. So, scholarship or not, those guys know coming in that they aren't just automatically on the team. They are still fighting for it. By all accounts this does not just happen at UK, but happens at every single major university in the country. This process seems harsh and cruel because we are often as sports fans conditioned to football where there aren't many cuts, especially to scholarship guys, and if they are cut they are done in the Spring/Summer; or we are used to basketball which doesn't have cuts because of a small roster to begin with.
I personally do not know how the entire process works, but I am sure that the parents and the kids know that they are fighting to make the team even before they reach campus. One thing to note is that they have 35 roster spots and they can only give 27 players scholarship money. They have to spread 11.7 scholarships among those 27 and must give a minimum of 25 percent to each scholarship player. Those scholarships do not renew annually. They are only good for one year.
These players get an entire fall to fight for their roster spot.
So you think that out if 11 scholarship kids in a recruiting class that only 1 is left is healthy. Most of them left on there own because the environment wasn't healthy. I know for fact that the following question was asked sitting across the coach from you know where. What could cause you to lose the scholarship? The answer was- poor grades, failed drug test, or serious team rule violation. That was the answer. Totally a lie! What you said above is never ever explained by anyone during a scholarship offering. You are wrong my friend.
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