This may seem like a redundant question considering the current state of affairs but I have to ask. How in the world does a D1 college baseball team commit 5 wild pitches and leave 12 men on base?? Baseball isn't rocket science. Move runners over, situational hitting and proper pitching mechanics. Admittedly baseball is the most difficult sport to play but it can easily be over coached. Campbell is a good, solid program but for crying out loud.

Don't believe coaching directly leads to wide pitches and/or 12 LOBs ---

WVAPPeer wrote:Don't believe coaching directly leads to wide pitches and/or 12 LOBs ---

Yet coaches are responsible for results. Especially recurring results over multiple years.

WVAPPeer wrote:Don't believe coaching directly leads to wide pitches and/or 12 LOBs ---

Have to disagree with you, pitching coach and batting coach should be able to handle most of those issues.

I sure do hope they clean house at the end of the season. Billy was a close friend of Charlie Cobb and without Cobb here, I hope Doug sees the vast room (and need) for improvement. The team is 8-21 this year. They went 17-36 last year and 21-34 in 2014. This is how much we have fallen in four years since going 41-18 in 2012. We need to see some improvement right now, as the competition has stepped it up. The next hire should not come from within house, either. It needs to be somebody who has proven they can build a product that stands the test of time. Football is great and I'm glad we're a powerhouse, but we need to invest in every sport and make sure that we are winning across the board, not just in a handful of our programs.

Admittedly, I haven't followed baseball very closely since Pollard left - however, I was a head baseball coach in high school for 15 years and I stand by the fact that there is little a coach can do during the course of a game - now if it a constant problem then something needs to be addressed - major league players commit multiple errors in one game and teams leave 12 men on base all the time

If you are defending Billy I can agree that you haven't been following the baseball program.

WVAPPeer wrote:Admittedly, I haven't followed baseball very closely since Pollard left - however, I was a head baseball coach in high school for 15 years and I stand by the fact that there is little a coach can do during the course of a game - now if it a constant problem then something needs to be addressed - major league players commit multiple errors in one game and teams leave 12 men on base all the time

Ok, we were talking two different times. I am saying practice time should be able to address these problems so they do not occur during games and you are talking game time adjustments. My experience is with football where we can make multiple substitutions to handle problems.

Saint3333 wrote:If you are defending Billy I can agree that you haven't been following the baseball program.

Where did you read Jones in my post? - I was speaking in general terms about the game of baseball

huskie3 wrote:

WVAPPeer wrote:Admittedly, I haven't followed baseball very closely since Pollard left - however, I was a head baseball coach in high school for 15 years and I stand by the fact that there is little a coach can do during the course of a game - now if it a constant problem then something needs to be addressed - major league players commit multiple errors in one game and teams leave 12 men on base all the time

Ok, we were talking two different times. I am saying practice time should be able to address these problems so they do not occur during games and you are talking game time adjustments. My experience is with football where we can make multiple substitutions to handle problems.

Not really sure how practice can alleviate these problems - yes practice does make players better - I agree that 5 wild pitches is way too many but not seeing them I can't categorized who fault it was - official scoring gives a wild pitch to the pitcher if the ball hits the dirt or is so wide/high it is was uncatchable - now a really good catcher can greatly reduce the number of wild pitches by stopping that ball that hits the dirt, etc., and LOB can be very frustrating but again, without seeing this game how many of those outs were well hit balls that happened to go right at the players in the field, or where hits were snuffed out by great plays by the defense as compared to APP just not getting the bat on the ball when it counted? -

Billy's contract pays him $8,750 a month through June of 2018. That's 27 more months and $236,250 total in base pay.

WVAPPeer wrote:

huskie3 wrote:

WVAPPeer wrote:Admittedly, I haven't followed baseball very closely since Pollard left - however, I was a head baseball coach in high school for 15 years and I stand by the fact that there is little a coach can do during the course of a game - now if it a constant problem then something needs to be addressed - major league players commit multiple errors in one game and teams leave 12 men on base all the time

Ok, we were talking two different times. I am saying practice time should be able to address these problems so they do not occur during games and you are talking game time adjustments. My experience is with football where we can make multiple substitutions to handle problems.

Not really sure how practice can alleviate these problems - yes practice does make players better - I agree that 5 wild pitches is way too many but not seeing them I can't categorized who fault it was - official scoring gives a wild pitch to the pitcher if the ball hits the dirt or is so wide/high it is was uncatchable - now a really good catcher can greatly reduce the number of wild pitches by stopping that ball that hits the dirt, etc., and LOB can be very frustrating but again, without seeing this game how many of those outs were well hit balls that happened to go right at the players in the field, or where hits were snuffed out by great plays by the defense as compared to APP just not getting the bat on the ball when it counted? -

My initial comment really had nothing to do with the coaching. I have always believed that baseball is mostly a collection of individual talent. Major League teams bring a position player or pitcher in and they play immediately. There is no learning curve with a play book. That being said, this is not the Major Leagues but it is a high level of college baseball. To me it is more about either recruiting (do we have guys capable of this level) or motivation. If we do have guys capable of playing at this level perhaps the effort isn't there. I say "perhaps" because I am only going off of what I read. I have done my share of coaching and am around baseball quite a bit. Even if it is a collection of individual talent players tend to feed off of each other. Hitting and fielding can be contagious. There is no guarantee that a team will knock the collective cover off of the ball all the time and there is no guarantee that a pitching staff will throw lights out all the time but at this level there should not be blown save after blown save (last year) and anemic batting stats (this year). I am a believer that most coaches' deemed success or failure is a product of the talent (or lack there of)that they assemble. It is true that coaches don't throw wild pitches and don't commit errors but coaches do make the personnel decisions and coaches do send runners home when they should hold them up. Coaches do make the decision to bunt, hit to the opposite field, make pitching changes, etc. I guess to sum it up a program of the stature of ASU should not be at the level it has hit over the past few years.

T-Dog wrote:Billy's contract pays him $8,750 a month through June of 2018. That's 27 more months and $236,250 total in base pay.

Just going back to last season:

Last season final result 19-36

This season thus far 8-21

Those results are not worth a $8,750 per month salary!!

WataugaMan wrote:

T-Dog wrote:Billy's contract pays him $8,750 a month through June of 2018. That's 27 more months and $236,250 total in base pay.

Just going back to last season:

Last season final result 19-36

This season thus far 8-21

Those results are not worth a $8,750 per month salary!!

Many times us "arm chair coaches" say that we can do better than that. In this case we can....

Although I've never been a coach, I too have had jobs/careers/etc. that required results. As a matter of fact all of them did. To be honest, I've not always been a success in every job I've held. Thus, I have changed positions/careers a few times during my working career. It happens to the best of us. In any position I've ever held I've never been given four plus years to improve. Anyway, BJ has one more year left on his contract after this one, and I sincerely hope he turns things around. However, to date (four plus years later) I see a program stuck in reverse.

bigdaddyg wrote:

WVAPPeer wrote:

huskie3 wrote:

WVAPPeer wrote:Admittedly, I haven't followed baseball very closely since Pollard left - however, I was a head baseball coach in high school for 15 years and I stand by the fact that there is little a coach can do during the course of a game - now if it a constant problem then something needs to be addressed - major league players commit multiple errors in one game and teams leave 12 men on base all the time

Ok, we were talking two different times. I am saying practice time should be able to address these problems so they do not occur during games and you are talking game time adjustments. My experience is with football where we can make multiple substitutions to handle problems.

Not really sure how practice can alleviate these problems - yes practice does make players better - I agree that 5 wild pitches is way too many but not seeing them I can't categorized who fault it was - official scoring gives a wild pitch to the pitcher if the ball hits the dirt or is so wide/high it is was uncatchable - now a really good catcher can greatly reduce the number of wild pitches by stopping that ball that hits the dirt, etc., and LOB can be very frustrating but again, without seeing this game how many of those outs were well hit balls that happened to go right at the players in the field, or where hits were snuffed out by great plays by the defense as compared to APP just not getting the bat on the ball when it counted? -

My initial comment really had nothing to do with the coaching. I have always believed that baseball is mostly a collection of individual talent. Major League teams bring a position player or pitcher in and they play immediately. There is no learning curve with a play book. That being said, this is not the Major Leagues but it is a high level of college baseball. To me it is more about either recruiting (do we have guys capable of this level) or motivation. If we do have guys capable of playing at this level perhaps the effort isn't there. I say "perhaps" because I am only going off of what I read. I have done my share of coaching and am around baseball quite a bit. Even if it is a collection of individual talent players tend to feed off of each other. Hitting and fielding can be contagious. There is no guarantee that a team will knock the collective cover off of the ball all the time and there is no guarantee that a pitching staff will throw lights out all the time but at this level there should not be blown save after blown save (last year) and anemic batting stats (this year). I am a believer that most coaches' deemed success or failure is a product of the talent (or lack there of)that they assemble. It is true that coaches don't throw wild pitches and don't commit errors but coaches do make the personnel decisions and coaches do send runners home when they should hold them up. Coaches do make the decision to bunt, hit to the opposite field, make pitching changes, etc. I guess to sum it up a program of the stature of ASU should not be at the level it has hit over the past few years.

There is no question what you state is true - it starts with talent and then you need talent and more talent!!! - motivation is important but Coach K could have coached the APP basketball team this season and motivated the hell out of them and they still wouldn't have sniffed the Tournament -