Has "Fire Mike Anderson" Taken Hold of the Husker Baseball Program?
by Jon Johnston on Apr 12, 2010 7:00 AM CDT
in Nebraska Husker Baseball
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PrintNebraska lost another Big 12 series to Kansas State this weekend, leaving the Huskers at 4-8 and in eighth place in the conference. The Huskers have yet to win a conference series this season, having lost to Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and now Kansas State.
There are a number of baseball fans that feel like Rob Childress should have been made the head coach instead of Mike Anderson. I'm not sure what they're basing that on, as it isn't exactly like Childress has turned the Aggies into a baseball power.
I'll be honest - I'm not sure what to make of the baseball team's problems. I like Anderson. I think he's a pretty decent coach, and that it's more difficult to run a decent baseball program than most Husker fans think. Haymarket Park is still one of the finest in the nation, but in baseball terms, Nebraska is still a cold-weather team, meaning that it's a heckuva lot harder to recruit top talent. Still, if this season falls apart and the Huskers finish out of the running for the Big 12 tournament, Anderson's resume' gets much harder to defend.
I seriously doubt that Tom Osborne will fire him, but if things go poorly, Anderson may be forced to make some changes, such as finding replacements for assistant coaches Dave Bingham or Eric Newman.
Another part of me wonders if fans really care about baseball all that much. Should Anderson be under this much pressure? Is baseball a sport that garners this much attention, or is it just an expectation that Nebraska should excel in every sport?
How many of you have jumped on the "Fire Mike Anderson" bandwagon, and if you have, what's the reasoning?
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Can I vote for option 5?
“I don’t know what needs to happen, but something definitely needs to be done”
My option 5
I would trust Tom Osborne to do the right thing.
by Roadweary on Apr 12, 2010 10:39 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
I think we've been spoiled by the baseball team's success in the past.
We’ve forgotten that like Jon said, Nebraska shouldn’t be good at baseball. We’re in a cold-weather state, and Joba and Gordon notwithstanding, our in-state talent is mediocre at best.
If K-State can be ranked #20
Nebraska can find a way to compete.
I’m getting tired of hearing how the draft decimated our team. This is college baseball, it happens to every team. You’d think that having that many players drafted would make it easy to recruit more high quality players…
You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane
Big Red Kool-aid Drinker @ Corn Nation
I'm less concerned about where the program is now...
…or where it was last year. I’m more concerned about the future of the program. I admit I haven’t followed the baseball team that closely, but any decision should be based on what it’s going to take to take to get the program back to where it’s competing on the conference level again.
I’m not saying fire or keep Mike Anderson. But someone needs to make a decision whether these are just excuses or whether Husker baseball is positioned to rebound. And right now, I trust Tom Osborne to make that evaluation.
If the team was able to rebound
from last year, you would think we would be seeing positive signs this year, and I’m not. I’m seeing no pitching, and no player development. What I am seeing is excuses of why we have to be patient.
What am I waiting for?
You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane
Big Red Kool-aid Drinker @ Corn Nation
You watching tonight?
Huskers up 8-0 in the bottom of the 5th against Wichita State, who’s leading the Mo. Valley and beat Okie State. Yes, it’s one game, but the freshman pitcher has only given up 1 hit in five innings.
Have To Disagree With you
About the “spoiled-by-success” thing: Ironically, it was Mike Anderson who set the expectations for the team:
Finish in the Top 3 of the Big 12.
Get a home regional.
Go from there.
Sounds reasonable to me. But Husker fans should never, EVER, tolerate finishing DEAD LAST in the Big 12 in ANYTHING!! You’ve got to have expectations.
About the cold-weather state thing: My reply has always been, “it’s cold in Yankee Stadium in April, it’s cold in Yankee Stadium in October.” Dave Van Horn proved that you can win here. Besides, the Big 12 South teams hate coming up here in early spring , especially that team in Burnt Orange. Van Horn’s teams used to OWN Texas!!
About the in-state talent: Don’t underestimate the baseball talent here in Nebraska. Legion baseball has been solid for years and high school baseball is growing steadily. The bad news is I heard a rumor that Anderson and the Omaha-area high school coaches are not on good terms. What’s the old saying, “the toes you step on today may be attached to the ass you’ll have to kiss tomorrow?”
"No 00:01 Chances!!"
About the cold-weather state thing: My reply has always been, "it’s cold in Yankee Stadium in April, it’s cold in Yankee Stadium in October."
True – but they don’t train in New York. They train in Tampa. MLB teams travel to warmer sites to prepare for the season. College baseball does not have that luxury. Teams like UT can practice outside in January/February when the temperatures can reach above 60. The Big 12 north teams do not have that luxury since it can be well below freezing during that same time. Added practice time (even if it’s on your own) creates that advantage the southern schools can use.
Surgeon General's Warning: K-State-Mizzou basketball may increase the risk of high blood pressure. Please consult your doctor prior to watching any of these games.
I thought they moved the start of baseball practice
so the southern schools wouldn’t get such an advantage?
You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane
Big Red Kool-aid Drinker @ Corn Nation
That was the given reason...
…but until they move it to a season (i.e., summer, which they won’t) when all teams can have equal practice time outdoors, it’s not going to matter.
Also, the Yankees pay for their players, and they can pay a lot more than other teams. Nebraska, unless it wants to commit flagrant NCAA violations, can only offer a scholarship, which is what every other program can offer. Comparing any college baseball team to any pro baseball team is really an apples to oranges comparison.
We'll carry the banner high!
Bring On The Cats
by TB on Apr 14, 2010 7:40 AM CDT up reply actions
But that doesn't stop
a group of guys getting together and work on a little fielding and batting by themselves though. It’s not an official practice, but it sure as hell can be an advantage.
Surgeon General's Warning: K-State-Mizzou basketball may increase the risk of high blood pressure. Please consult your doctor prior to watching any of these games.
Sorry Mike,
Look I don’t want to appear to harsh here but Mike Anderson has underperformed for the Last three years. I don’t know how great of a coach he is but if he can’t get us to at least the top 1/2 of the conference by the end of this year I say boot him. Hey I understand that Nebraska is a football school, and that we’re a cold weather school but all I’m asking is that we finish in, or at least near the top half every year, and occasionally make a run for the conference championship, possibly a world series appearance. Some may look at that and think that I’m a fair weather fan, but really I don’t think that’s true. I have been to games in good and bad years and continue to follow the team this year. I just believe that sports are a very important part of the indentity of the University and also to the state and it reflects poorly on us when we suck in a sport. Also the whole we don’t have the ability to get talent is totally bogus, when you look at our baseball team they are loaded with top tier talent, they just continually blow leads through underdeveloped pitching and bone head plays. Sorry I guess I’m rambling a little bit but the point is that I think we should probably try to find a replacement for anderson or at the very least find a new pitching coach.
Don't know
enough about the program to care. All we here about is spring football, which is the cash cow for spring athletics. I bet the Husker baseball team doesn’t get 80000 fans all year unless they make the world series. I don’t know this for a fact, but if I was a betting man I would bet our volleyball team has better attendance than our baseball team. Does anybody have the figures?
From the LJS
Home attendance dipped 33 percent last season to 2,912 fans per game and is down to 2,160 this season. Empty seats and lost revenue always attract an athletic director’s attention.
You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane
Big Red Kool-aid Drinker @ Corn Nation
I think Anderson has one more season... maybe
As someone who has followed the Nebraska baseball team religiously for the past 10 season, this weekend’s losses were terrible. I think the worst part of the entire weekend was when on Sunday Kansas State had men at the corners with just one out and what did they do… squeeze bunt. Mike Anderson has lost his edge. That used to be him squeezing, not Brad Hill. Even worse, the team just kind of looked at the situation as “what do we do here?” I like Anderson. He runs a clean program. He seems to pull in some decent talent (for the state). I think Tom Lemke can be a stud pitcher. I think Josh Scheffert can be a stud corner infielder. The biggest problem I see is how no one on the team seems to get any better in the off season. Remember it was Alex Gordon’s play between his freshman and sophomore year that turned heads. Who on this team has gotten better? Khiry Cooper? Nope. Cody Asche? Nope. Boomer Collins? Nope. Kyle Bubak? Nope.
I live and die with this team as much as anyone. I’d like to give Anderson a chance with the youngersters he has one the team. There’s a core of them in Lemke, Scheffert, Peters, Christensen and Giller. I think they could be something special.
I keep
thinking I’m going to go out and compare the LOB stats across the Big 12 teams, and if we did that, we’d probably find Nebraska leading by a fair margin. Maybe not…. but how many times have they loaded the bases this season and got nothing out of it?
Agreed on that “lost his edge” thing. Hopefully he can get it back…. soon!
Maybe it was the combination of Anderson and Childress that made them greater than the sum of their parts.
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by Jon Johnston on Apr 12, 2010 11:34 PM CDT up reply actions
Lost His Edge
Done a terrible job of recruiting the past three years and it shows on the product he is putting on the field. Need to clean house with the staff and start from scratch with new staff.
We
don’t need another John Sanders in there and let us be yearly doormats. Numbers don’t lie and Anderson’s numbers lately aren’t very good.
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