Big changes for Southern Cal baseball

InfDad,

I honestly believe the hiring of Pat Haden as AD is going to help bring the Trojans baseball program back to National prominence in the near future. It may take a few years, but it's going to happen. As I said in another thread, Frank Cruz was out watching a game my son's team was playing in. He seems like a good guy, but I don't know how long his interim tag as coach will remain. I suspect that USC will go after a few high profile guys, and after 2011 Cruz will be gone? I wish him the best, but the Times is talking about Horton, Serrano, and Hill (USD). In fact, I had heard about the Rich Hill talk last week...we'll see what happens?

I know that Cal State Northridge has hired their coach as of today. This is per Facebook ! One of my son's friends will be a freshman at CSUN this year. He posted that he received a phone call this afternoon, and I assume that something will be on the Matador website by tomorrow after the athletes have been notified?

I have to think that those kids who signed NLIs must have known that Kreuter's firing was a matter of when, not if. LHP has done a few USC camps and we thought Kreuter was a great guy... why couldn't he get the job done? Too many recruits who went to MLB rather than school? I wonder what's going to happen to him, and whether Tom House will stay there.

LHP, since most on the outside seem to be linking this firing to the very recent hiring of Pat Haden as AD, I don't think any recruit could have anticipated the firing, at this time.
bsbal247, at least at first blush, it seems Haden's hiring is good for USC athletics, including baseball.
His stated goal of returning USC to its former status during the Dedeaux years sure sounds good for USC baseball.
What it also may say is that players should realize getting back to the level of Dedeaux does not end with the firing of Kreuter. I am not at all suggesting they will handle players like UNLV did. I am suggesting however that performance on the field at a much higher level will be the expectation for playing at USC going forward.

I'm not sure any recruit anticipates that the coach that recruited them won't be there. Its discussed over and over here...and nearly every time parents (let alone the kid) seem surprised.

Without an AD change, this wouldn't have happened.

quote:

Without an AD change, this wouldn't have happened.

Without the turmoil on the football/basketball side this would have happened a long time ago. My son is a 2011 and everyone in So Cal knew this was a program to stay away from unless you were a complete stud or don’t care like Boras’ son.

quote:

Without the turmoil on the football/basketball side this would have happened a long time ago.

Not that it matters much at this point, but what makes you think Mike Garrett would have terminated Kreuter "long ago." He hired Kreuter in 2006.
Look, I can appreciate that outsiders might guess or speculate that the pressures were increasing as USC fared poorly in the Pac 10 and UCLA was rising. Kreuter however was recruiting some pretty fine players who were not complete studs and who certainly did care and played the game hard, from from the games I saw in Palo Alto over the last 3 years.
From what I could see, not enough of his recruits were pitchers who were successful in getting the job done. We also have to realize that the more L's a team puts up, the tougher it is to keep spirits high. Sometimes that gets translated into not caring when it is a result of caring too much.
I don't know if that was true at USC or not.
College baseball and team chemistry is a fascinating dynamic.

quote:

My son is a 2011 and everyone in So Cal knew this was a program to stay away from unless you were a complete stud or don’t care like Boras’ son.

What makes you think Mr. Boras kid doesnt care?

At this point Tom House is the interesting question. He hasn't had good results as the pitching coach as far as I can see. Some of the pitchers he inherited seemed to take a step back when he took over.

I think there's a fair amount of talent at USC. BTW, I tend to go into it with a bit of anti Scott
Boras bias but when you look at the numbers, Shane Boras did pretty well in the CCL hitting .315 in a wood bat league with enough at bats for it to be meaningful.

It is going to be difficult for anyone to compete with UCLA when it comes to recruiting pitchers as Savage is just plain great when it comes to recruiting pitchers.

Tom House is a good pitching coach.There are many things many dont know. Time will tell.

fog,
There's always things behind the scenes that most of us aren't going to know about, so we go by what we can see on the outside. The results haven't been good. This last season their conference ERA was about 6.3. That doesn't cut it.

I'm a bit biased though because I thought Dave Lawn was a good guy and a good pitching coach.

Fanofgame.

My comment to Boras' son was not meant to be derogatory at all. My point was that it matters little if he gets 100% or 0% contribution from the school as he can afford to go there regardless what happens to the coach. The same could be said about the McCourt’s son at Stanford. They obviously regard the education at USC. Most others searching for schools do not have this luxury and have to be cautious where they go. The USC program for new recruits has been a red flag school for some time now, and like I said, unless you are high draft material and then it does not matter who is coaching. This will continue until a new coach is named. Chad Krueter is probably a very nice guy, but nice guy or not, the expectations of the program are very high and he was not meeting these expectations.

BOF,

Yeah from that perspective I understand what you are saying.USC is very expensive, and unless people get a good scolly or as you say can pay for it its tough.That is part of the problem there.Maybe they need to go to the IVY school system where it is based on income.

And yes the expectations are very high at USC.

quote:

Look, I can appreciate that outsiders might guess or speculate that the pressures were increasing as USC fared poorly in the Pac 10 and UCLA was rising. Kreuter however was recruiting some pretty fine players who were not complete studs and who certainly did care and played the game hard, from from the games I saw in Palo Alto over the last 3 years.
From what I could see, not enough of his recruits were pitchers who were successful in getting the job done. We also have to realize that the more L's a team puts up, the tougher it is to keep spirits high. Sometimes that gets translated into not caring when it is a result of caring too much.
I don't know if that was true at USC or not.
College baseball and team chemistry is a fascinating dynamic.

I think that is a great assessment of the overall situation.

I was told last week that an athlete was allowed to transfer without penalty when there is a coaching change made. I had never heard that before, but had an athletic trainer for our gymnastics program and a volleyball player both tell me that was the case? We had a gymnast who as a freshman last year was recruited by our then-head coach. Well he decided to leave in September-October of 2009 and go to a bigger school. She has now decided to transfer to go to that school as well.

Why is it she'll be eligible right away, but a baseball player wouldn't?

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog 19:
I was told last week that an athlete was allowed to transfer without penalty when there is a coaching change made. I had never heard that before..

Why is it she'll be eligible right away, but a baseball player wouldn't?

The coaching change has nothing to do with her ablity to transfer and play.

In D1 to D1 baseball, you, in most situations, do not have a one time exemption to the sit rule. Coaching change is not a reason a player can transfer and play without sitting.

Bulldog 19,
For D1, the one-time transfer exception applies when:
The student is a participant in a sport other than baseball, basketball, bowl subdivision football or men’s ice hockey at the institution to which the student is transferring.........

If a student isn't participating in one of the abvoe sports, then (assuming the other requirements are met) the student is immediately eligible to compete.

quote:

Originally posted by infielddad:

I am not sure which is more of a surprise, replacing the head coach 2 weeks before school starts or Cal State Northridge which still has not hired a head coach, a few weeks before school starts.

Matt Curtis, long time assistant at Fresno State is taking over the program at Cal State Northridge. I've heard a lot of good things about him, and I wish him the best...he has his work cut out for him at CSUN!

Good job 3fingered!