Arizona State

Wow... Bit of a shocker to me for some reason.  Wonder if Ken Knutson will get a chance to step up... Or if he even wants to return to head coaching.

Those applying for the job should probably recognize the AD is working from ASU history and not  the current parity in college baseball:

"Just last week, ASU athletic director Ray Anderson told Bickley and Marotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM that he was disappointed in the program's season and was evaluating the head coaching position.

"The fact remains is that when you think and talk about college baseball Arizona State is going to instantly come to mind as a top four or five program in the country no matter how long it's been since we won a championship, and that's just the way expectations are appropriately set," he said. "I mean, there's no better place for college baseball than right here in Tempe, Arizona, so it's a program that should be, very frankly, doing a lot better and winning more consistently.

"And that's where we need to go."

If the AD said that on a radio show last week, then I guess coach has been in the process of boxing up his stuff and moving out of his office for a while now.  Hard to mistake where that relationship was headed given the public comments the AD made.

Yeah, I think the days of single/handful of school dominance are long gone.

As an ASU Alum and huge fan of Sun Devil baseball I'm disappointed in the AD's decision.I like Tim Esmay as a coach and person.Was he the reincarnation of the immortal Jim Brock ? No.Who could be ? However, he was the right coach at the right time,and steered the ship through some turbulent times that his predecessor Pat Murphy created.

Here is an article in Saturday's AZ Republic by Jeff Metcalfe :

http://www.azcentral.com/story...-tim-esmay/10202585/

ASU plays a tough schedule year in and year out.The PAC 11 is super competitive with mid week games against teams like Fullerton, Long Beach State,Pepperdine etc.Look at the last two  College World Series champs UCLA and uofa.They are at home watching UC Irvine and Pepperdine ! It's called parity which makes it impossible for any one team to dominate anymore.

The Washington Huskies had an amazing run this year.They have now set the bar high in Seattle.If the Huskies are not able to sustain this which will be difficult IMHO,Coach Meggs may find his head on a chopping block 3 years from now.

Whether you are a player or coach the song remains the same......What have you done for me lately ?

Bobby,

I am wondering where the ideas came from about UW and Coach Meggs.  They are reported to have a beautiful new stadium and the players he recruited to get them to the Regional this year were recruited 2-3 years before the Stadium became a reality.

When we build in the fact that a number of his NLI kids actually never attended UW because they signed after the draft, it sure seems like he has done many things right so far.

If you are saying he set the bar and expectations too high to sustain them into the future, I am not sure I can agree. If you are saying the expectations are higher than were set this year, and it has to be that way every year, such as the ASU AD stated, there are going to be an awful lot of coaches, and unfortunately players,  who won't be very comfortable.

What will be expected from D1 scholarship players if the ASU example spreads will be higher than it is now, with the repercussions for not getting there shared by coaches and scholarship players, alike. 

One of those will have a multi-year agreement with the school and buy-outs to be faced for early termination.

One of those will, for the most part, be year to year with no buy-out and a one year sit rule as part of the equation.

Infielddad,

All good points.

The coaching staff and players at UW did a tremendous job this year.Coach Meggs was the right choice for PAC 11 coach of the year.My point is if ASU can show Tim Esmay the door(coach of the year,680 winning % highest in conference last 5 years) then UW could do the same thing to Coach Meggs a few years down the road.Not saying it's going to happen, but the precedent has now been set.

Also, I wouldn't say the UW coach has set the bar too high.He obviously has the team going in the right direction.They surprised a lot of people this year.Let's see what happens the next few seasons.

ASU has been winning for decades

Hard to imagine a UCLA buyout of 11 years of Coach Savage contract, based on the ASU view of college baseball, for instance. Clearly Savage is going nowhere at UCLA, but the coals might be hot if ASU sets the example.

I sure hope I am wrong, but the ASU approach tends to squeeze the D1 scholarship player even more..I mean really squeeze the .25.

"Coach Meggs was the right choice for PAC 11 coach of the year."

Bobby,

That's two references to "PAC 11".  Is that a typo or is there a message there?

Smitty28,

Colorado does not field a D1 baseball team.( I think they have a club team)The other 11 schools do.That's why they are the PAC11.Also, I did not want Colorado to join the PAC 10.San Diego State would have been a better and more logical fit.

I didn't know that, thanks for clarifying.  I kind of thought there was something there but I haven't seen that reference anywhere.

What does it mean for recruiting when a coach is fired at this time of year?  As I understand it, this is  prime recruiting time.   And what does it mean for those verbal commitments?  Are they just null in  void?  

Verbals are gonna be null and void.  Next coach will likely try and hang on to the better ones, but there are not guarantees for any of them.

Recruiting for a program like this should be ok.  They may 'miss' a year, which will in fact hurt, but they'll be back on track quickly.  The already signed 2014's are still committed to ASU and cannot get out of it unless the school releases them from it.

so then would those 2014 still have to sit out a year if released?. Just curious how that all works. Thank goodness my 2014 doesn't have that worry