This was a name mentioned to me earlier last week so I think this info is going to prove to be true. Has a great resume. You can find it here.
Report: Maryland pitching coach Jim Belanger joining UK staff
- Thread starter Derek Terry
- Start date
Jon Hale from the Courier-Journal confirmed the news so Belanger will be on the staff. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with this hire. Pitching would seem to be the big weakness on Mingione's resume as he's never really worked with them. Belanger has had a lot of success and should be just what UK needs to rebuild the pitching staff.
I like it. I think this guy is a great mix of youth and experience plus he played athe Louisville and coached at Louisville under Williams. So he should know the difficulty of coaching at UK. Excellent hire Nick M!
Haven't heard any names in particular but I wouldn't be shocked to see Keith Vorhoff stay on.
I just saw here Miami this year hired a catching coach to work with catchers on team according to their high draft pick Zach Collins. That gives them have 3 full time paid assistant coaches. I may be wrong, but I don't remember UK having that many the past few years. Any idea how many paid assistant coaches will be on staff?
The remaining coach will likely depend upon what Nick coaches. Will he coach outfielders or will he strictly be a hitting coach? I have to assume that he will coach both. Vorhoff coached catchers in the past and if he returns then it's likely he continues in that role. So then you have to wonder who will coach infielders and overall defense. Probably a lot of options.
I've seen where several Oklahoma State fans are praising Fanning for recruiting a majority of their upperclassmen. Looks like a solid hire.
Is Fanning still the guy? Been two days and the only one reporting it as possible is Skipper's Corner.
I am a bit more on the fence with Fanning. I like that he was coaching with Josh Holiday and OK State, especially since OK State has done so well this year. What concerns me is that I don't really know what he has done as a coach. Did he coach hitters? At OK State it says that he was the recruiting coordinator and assistant coach, but it doesn't say what positions he coached. On his bio at Arky-LR it props up the hitting, fielding percentage, and overall success of the team, and mentions his recruiting, but doesn't really specifically say what he coaches. So, what role is he going to have here? Simply recruiting coordinator or will he be coaching infield or outfield or what?
I have to assume that Fanning is going to be our new recruiting coordinator. If that is the case, then I have to wonder what kind of direction we are going in with our recruiting. Our recruiting at UK has typically been (at least more recently) in Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, and Canada. There has been some spackling of recruiting in other places like Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois, but it isn't all that consistent. However, we're now hiring a recruiting coordinator from Oklahoma, who has almost exclusively recruited Oklahoma and Texas. Is Mingione just trying to open up some new recruiting ground, or is UK going to start focusing on this area a lot more? 18 of our players on last year's roster came from out of state, so the out of state recruiting is a pretty big deal. So, it really kind of begs the question of how will Mingione approach it? Is he thinking that he is from Florida and the gulf coast area so he can recruit the Georgia, Miss, Florida area while Belanger can recruit the mid-west and east coast and then you have Fanning recruiting Texas/Oklahoma? Sounds like a solid idea, but that makes for a pretty broad brush.
I also have to assume that Fanning would coach the infield/defense. Not sure how good his defenses have been. I think the bio for Arky-LR said they had a percentage of .975 as a team. Hard to say if that is some solid defense. We had a percentage of .968 as a team this year.
What do you guys think?
I am a bit more on the fence with Fanning. I like that he was coaching with Josh Holiday and OK State, especially since OK State has done so well this year. What concerns me is that I don't really know what he has done as a coach. Did he coach hitters? At OK State it says that he was the recruiting coordinator and assistant coach, but it doesn't say what positions he coached. On his bio at Arky-LR it props up the hitting, fielding percentage, and overall success of the team, and mentions his recruiting, but doesn't really specifically say what he coaches. So, what role is he going to have here? Simply recruiting coordinator or will he be coaching infield or outfield or what?
I have to assume that Fanning is going to be our new recruiting coordinator. If that is the case, then I have to wonder what kind of direction we are going in with our recruiting. Our recruiting at UK has typically been (at least more recently) in Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, and Canada. There has been some spackling of recruiting in other places like Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois, but it isn't all that consistent. However, we're now hiring a recruiting coordinator from Oklahoma, who has almost exclusively recruited Oklahoma and Texas. Is Mingione just trying to open up some new recruiting ground, or is UK going to start focusing on this area a lot more? 18 of our players on last year's roster came from out of state, so the out of state recruiting is a pretty big deal. So, it really kind of begs the question of how will Mingione approach it? Is he thinking that he is from Florida and the gulf coast area so he can recruit the Georgia, Miss, Florida area while Belanger can recruit the mid-west and east coast and then you have Fanning recruiting Texas/Oklahoma? Sounds like a solid idea, but that makes for a pretty broad brush.
I also have to assume that Fanning would coach the infield/defense. Not sure how good his defenses have been. I think the bio for Arky-LR said they had a percentage of .975 as a team. Hard to say if that is some solid defense. We had a percentage of .968 as a team this year.
What do you guys think?
UK just announced that Todd Guilliams has been hired. Reading his bio he seems to have a knack for hitting. I think this is going to be a pretty good staff.
Hmm... interesting. Not sure about that one. He coaches catchers. So... is Mingione coaching all defense and then this guy coaching catchers? Very strange.
One of the big resume builders of Mingione is that he is from the Cohen line and can coach hitting. So, why we hiring a hitting coach? Strange.
I think you're just going to have to trust Mingione on who he hires.
Well, I really don't have any control over it. So, I've got to trust or live with it no matter what. Nonetheless, I think, at this point, it is fair to discuss and speculate on what he might be trying to do with his coaching staff, what each person's roles will be, and what the overall philosophy may be.
Who's to say the staff is complete? And I want Mingione to manage the entire team, not just concentrate on his area of expertise. One of the issues that I had with Henderson is that he just to be concerned with pitching and lost track of fame situations. IMO
Well, we've usually only had 2 hired assistants and then a volunteer assistant. So, we do still need a VA. But that is kind of the question... what are each of these guys going to do? What are their roles? We know Belanger is the pitching coach. Todd Gulliams is likely to be the hitting coach. So, will Gulliams be coaching catchers or infield or the entire defense or what? Many teams traditionally have a recruiting coordinator designated. So far no one seems to have that designation, so it might be that Mingione is going to continue as kind of being that person. It might also be that Mingione is going to be the defense guy with some help from a VA. It's a slow time of year for UK sports... might as well try to discuss something. lol
I still wonder if Keith Vorhoff will stay on as the VA? Also, Congratulations to Coastal Carolina!
According to the release sent out by UK, Guilliams will be the VA. It also looks like he'll be coaching the catchers as well as hitting.
I am really annoyed that ESPN put the Coastal game on during the day yesterday. Could have bumped Canadian football on ESPN2 prime time instead of making the CWS a daytime game. Still, good to see Coastal win.
I didn't notice that Guilliams is going to be a VA. I really like that. Means we should have one more assistant to hire.
I didn't notice that Guilliams is going to be a VA. I really like that. Means we should have one more assistant to hire.
Yeah, I sat down at 8:00 pm to watch, and nothing was on. I thought it got rained out again !
Interesting - if you check Roland Fanning's Twitter, it has UK Baseball branding but nothing official has come out yet - unless I completely missed it?
Seems like nice staff mix - young group - if he is definitely on board.
Seems like nice staff mix - young group - if he is definitely on board.
Huh... that is very interesting. Gulliams was announced pretty quickly after we found out, and the rumors about Fanning were out before Gulliams. Fanning isn't on the UK site and there has been no announcement.
Don't have any huge problems with the staff, but I am interested to see what kind of recruiting approach these guys take.
Fanning shows up in the UK Staff Directory but not on Staff in UK Athletics. Not sure what the holdup might be.
Coach Nick has gotten assistant coaches who are enthuiastic and energetic, much like his personality, I love it !!
