Hiring of new head baseball coach near?

[SpeedkingATL]

Coach Smith has one heck of a track record. I really look forward to seeing what he can do with our program. I'm pretty excited about this hire. Welcome to the mountains Coach K!

[asu66]

My take-aways from this search?

1.) KSmith has one heckuva record as a baseball coach.
2.) His philosophy of making Boone weather a strength of the program rather than an excuse is spot on. I already like this guy.
3.) Finally, since I started this thread on July 2 on a hopeful note that the search was over...doh...I've learned that when Doug
Gillin posts a vacancy announcement that calls for a mid-July hiring date, he really, really means mid-July.

[moonshine]

Coming from the Pollard tree, does Coach throw his former player a bone and bring those Devils up the mountain?

[JTApps1]

This guy seem hungry and gritty. First priority keeping all the young talent on the team, second priority getting back to fundamentals.

We're going from a guy that came from programs that many things were handed to them and/or taken for granted to a guy that did more with less. Great hire on paper and just what a program like ours needs. Good luck coach.

The grateful attitude will go a long way. Apparently Jones started complaining about what we didn't have from the start instead of focusing on the positives.

[HeffnerIV]

I think the use of our weather as an advantage was a Pollard thing too.

[Blackandgold]

I think the use of our weather as an advantage was a Pollard thing too.

Yessir. It was a big Pollard philosophy. I heard him say at several functions , "We gotta be the best cold weather team in the nation".

[T-Dog]

Couple things. One of the other finalist was Brett Boretti, head coach at Columbia.

Also, Billy has landed on his feet with an assistant's job at Tulane.

[Blackandgold]

Couple things. One of the other finalist was Brett Bretti, head coach at Columbia.

Also, Billy has landed on his feet with an assistant's job at Tulane.

Bretti? I haven't heard his name at all through this process.

Glad someone hired Billy, so we don't have to pay him. Tulane will be in trouble if they give him a big leash.

[T-Dog]

We have to pay Billy the difference between what he's contracted for at App minus what he makes at Tulane.

[APPdiesel]

We have to pay Billy the difference between what he's contracted for at App minus what he makes at Tulane.

Sounds fair. Any idea (roughly) how much that is?

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

[AppDawg]

We have to pay Billy the difference between what he's contracted for at App minus what he makes at Tulane.

Sounds fair. Any idea (roughly) how much that is?

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

With Tulane being a private university, the difference may not be much. I read an article that they were paying one of their recent baseball head coaches (lot of turnover of late) in excess of $500k. That does not include income generated from endorsements and camps, which does count as total compensation and reduce what we owe BJ.

Given a head coach has a package in excess of $500k, I dont think it is unreasonable to assume BJ will be making in the neigborhood of $100-$130k as an assistant... He was right around $125k at App.

[TheMoody1]

We have to pay Billy the difference between what he's contracted for at App minus what he makes at Tulane.

Sounds fair. Any idea (roughly) how much that is?

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

With Tulane being a private university, the difference may not be much. I read an article that they were paying one of their recent baseball head coaches (lot of turnover of late) in excess of $500k. That does not include income generated from endorsements and camps, which does count as total compensation and reduce what we owe BJ.

Given a head coach has a package in excess of $500k, I dont think it is unreasonable to assume BJ will be making in the neigborhood of $100-$130k as an assistant... He was right around $125k at App.

Why wouldn't they just pay him minimum wage until the App contract expires.

[T-Dog]

Jones' base salary at App was $105,000, or $8,750 at the end of every month until June 30th, 2018.

Either Tulane and App will work it out so Billy will get the difference, or he'll have to write a big check back to App after filing his tax forms in the spring. He's contracted to submit all his W2's/1099's/etc to App during the length of his contract due to being terminated without cause.

Regardless of how much Tulane is paying Jones, I'm sure Gillin won't mind not having to pay Jones as much as he originally thought.

[8993]

I'm glad Billy landed on his feet somewhere! That's not so much because I think he deserved a second (or sixth) chance, but because it is good for App. Him getting picked up by Tulane is going to help us out when it comes time to pay out his contract. On a personal level, Billy was a great guy that seemed to gel well with the rest of the athletic department. On a coaching level, though, Billy just didn't have it in him to step up as a head coach.

Sometimes it is okay to know your peak and knowing that that peak (be that in a head coach position or just at App) isn't at the top of the mountain is okay, too. I'm just curious as to what Tulane's end goal is now. Billy is an outstanding guy, but Tulane just hired a coach that was let go after going 86-130 at App, in addition to another assistant coach that was released from Oklahoma for a few NCAA violations. While both might be great in their own fields, you have to wonder what kind of team Tulane is hoping to pull together under this new regime.

[CornCobPipes]

Sounds like Excellent hire.......if he continues success here at App which I think he definitely will turn the baseball program around, I doubt he stays put and will aspire to larger school.....to bad we don't have this strong of homegrown source.

[ASUGoose]

I'm hoping Kermit decides to keep Coach Aspegren on the staff. He's a rock solid coach and did a terrific job with the pitching staff. May be good to keep some continuity around to help with the transition to Kermit's leadership.

[SlappyAppy72]

After watching the presser, Kermit seems to be the type that is committed to developing the boys as players as well as developing them as men. This hire seems to be a step in the right direction for our program.

[T-Dog]

The presser was basically a celebration for Kermit and his family, many of which had driven up for.

Gillin mentioned the search committee, which included Jonathan Reeder and Troy Heustess along with Jim Fox (who looks like he's been golfing for the last month), former player Seth Grant, Dr Fred Witt, Kristina Bittle and current players Sean Mason and Matt Brill.

Kermit can talk and talk he did. Mentioned the core values of a program, the goal of winning a National Championship and the youth of the team. Nothing groundbreaking, but all of the right things.

[ASUGoose]

I'm hoping Kermit decides to keep Coach Aspegren on the staff. He's a rock solid coach and did a terrific job with the pitching staff. May be good to keep some continuity around to help with the transition to Kermit's leadership.

YES!! Just saw a tweet from Kermit saying that Coach Aspegren has agreed to stay on the baseball staff! That is huge.