NebSports Blog: The State of Husker Baseball

by Husker Mike on Apr 7, 2009 10:03 PM CDT Comment 6 comments

The NebSports blog has an interesting view of the current status of Husker baseball. Yes, we all know the pitching has vaporized. (They gave up 15 tonight to Creighton at home.) But do Nebraska fans want to punish Anderson for this season, or will they show patience?

Poll

What do you think about Husker baseball?

Husker fans need to be patient. This is just "one of those years".

37 votes

I'm very concerned, and will hold off on making any conclusions until the end of the season.

32 votes

I don't believe what we're seeing on the field. Something HAS to change.

33 votes

Stick a fork in it. It's toast.

25 votes

127 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

This is one end of the spectrum.

Found a blog post showing the other end of the debate.
So I’ll see your blog and raise you another.
http://doubleextrapoint.blogspot.com/2009/03/frank-solich-paradigm.html

These 2 posts seem to cover the debate fairly well.

I’m still very much undecided on the whole thing, though it is nice to talk some baseball, and everyone wants to talk when things are really bad.

You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane

by JLew on Apr 8, 2009 3:09 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I know many hate the guy for leaving, but this program has been on a downhill roller coaster since DVH left. Since, there have been ups and downs, but all along, it’s felt like the general direction of the program is a downward one.

I’m not calling for the firing of MA. Even if it happens, we certainly don’t need to go running & crying to DVH. I’m in the “Something ‘HAS’ to change” crowd right now. Exactly what needs to change is the debate not just for those of us in this “crowd.” Everyone is wondering. Clearly, the kids on this team have the “can we get stuck any deeper in this nasty funk?” look not just in their faces, but in their game to.

Such things can come and go quickly, but they can also last for seasons. When a down week or two turns in months, it starts to take it’s toll on everyone and every aspect of the program. From eating programs to workout / weightlifting programs. Practices stink and games are even worse. I’ve directly experienced it as a player, student manager & assistant. We’ve all as fans seen it happen to our football team more than once.

Teams need teammates to be leaders, to lead them back on track. Coaches also need to be leaders, do the job they are hired to do and find, any way they can, a way back on track. Those can feel like overly harsh demands in hard times, but it’s what separates winners from the rest in sports in the long run. Drastic decisions will soon need to be made if this slump doesn’t get turned around.

I’d like to see that start with the team finding it’s best leaders and straightening things out right then, right there, but if it must, this could fall up the ladder to a certain someones desk. I hope it doesn’t need to go that far. Again, I hope the players can set this right themselves. I’d hate to see this season become a lost cause because the players and coaches fail to do their jobs.

If ignorance is heavenly bliss, then welcome to hell.

Note: All post by this member may be edited & self-censored to spare everyone from his endless rants and swears.

by nebstud2001 on Apr 9, 2009 1:17 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Generally a downward trend?

I don’t really see that-
5/6 years under MA Nebraska has reached a regional.
He was named Big 12 Coach of the Year 2003, and 2005

2003 MA’s first year-
a 47-18 record.
The Huskers won the Big 12 regular-season title with a 20-7 mark while Anderson became the second first-year Husker coach to lead NU to a conference title and the first since 1929.

2004
a 36-23 record

2005-
most successful season in school history in 2005.
NU compiled a 57-15 record and advanced to the College World Series for the third time in a five-year span.
The Huskers won the program’s first-ever CWS game, while the 57 wins led the nation and broke the school mark of 51 set in 2001

2006
a 42-17 record and reached an NCAA Regional for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.

2007
32-27
title game of the NCAA Tempe Regional.

2008
41-16-1 and was ranked as high as fifth in the country before receiving a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament

You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane

by JLew on Apr 9, 2009 10:21 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

long time coming

The trend that some of us are just now seeing, has unfortunately been coming since the beginning of the MA era.
In the beginning……one theory I heard recently from an insider is that Burne knew when he appointed MA instead of Childress that he was soon leaving for Texas A&M and wanted to take Childress with him. Childress would be more willing to leave an assistant’s job than a head job.
Second – the first years, MA was winning with DVH’s recruits, then Childress took over recruiting, and we were seeing his guys. Both groups were undyingly loyal to Childress.
I still remember the look on the face of a player I knew, the day he was told that Childress left, and his comment….“no one plays for MA, but we will run through a wall for Childress.”
Now – finally, we are seeing MA’s recruits, and the way they play for a coach who they have no respect for.
Two marks of a quality coach
1. The ability to recruit. It is obvious that we do not have the same level of athlete now that we had in the past.
2. The ability to motivate the athletes you do have to get the most out of them. When a baseball team continuously plays from behind, and can not fight back. Or continuously loses games in late innings, there is no fight left in them. At least some of them are making comments to the effect that they have already mailed it in for this season.

MA has to go before they sink any lower.On another note, the team from up the road just dropped 15 on them with a lot of local talent. There are many quality recruits that are lost because of the state of the program, and the practice of not throwing any money toward local kids. We need some kind of a “Walk On” program for the baseball team.

by bsblfn22 on Apr 12, 2009 9:56 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

two things

first – how do you explain last season, because that team came together and played well.

second – the NCAA in football limits the number of scholarships, not rosters. in baseball, they limit the rosters, specifically for the reason that many big schools would hold a lot of guys on their teams that they were never going to play (which is why the NCAA instituted football scholarship limitations)

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by corn blight on Apr 13, 2009 5:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

re; two things

first – the loss of certain Senior leadership could explain the difference between this year and last, and time. You can only stand up under certain circumstances for so long.

Second – I am not talking about adding numbers to the squad. What the walk on program in football does above everything else, is promote our local talent by putting their names in the paper as walk ons. Also, giving them a legitimate chance at earning a scholarship later in their careers.

by bsblfn22 on Apr 13, 2009 5:57 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs