Coaching Change at Wm. & Mary

quote:

Originally posted by WB Reporter:

quote:

Originally posted by dblemup:Old news...or old rumors...either way...old

Ah, yes, old news. But old news is history and if one does not learn from history, one may be doomed to repeat it.

I see your point.

Wonder who or where they will look to replace Leoni. W&M has a lot of jobs to fill right now within the athletic department. Maybe they should look closer to home instead of looking further away for a replacement. You know there is a very successful program just down the road in CNU if I am not mistaken. I think that program has been to three national championships in the last ten years. So they must be doing something right. Also remember that program had not been anywhere until 2001. Now they have been in 7 or 8 ncaa tournaments. Just something to think about.

Recruiting at CNU and recruiting at W&M are two completely different animals.

W&M is retaining the Pitching Coach/Recruit Coordinator which could lead to speculation that they will not be seeking a "pitching guy" as a head coach.
It would be great to see local guys (CNU) be given the opportunity to advance to D1. Especially with the success they have had at the D3 level. Heck, I would love to see the 2011 CAA Coach of the Year get the head coach position.
Will be interesting how it plays out with the other coaching positions that have become available.

Lynn Metheny

I would guess that they will be looking for a current D1 guy esp. with the 2013/14 recruiting cycle coming up fast. As redbird pointed out recruiting in D1 is vastly different than DIII. Coaching is as well.

quote:

W&M is retaining the Pitching Coach/Recruit Coordinator which could lead to speculation that they will not be seeking a "pitching guy" as a head coach.

Or, maybe that P Coach will BE the new Head Coach....he has successful D1 head coach experience.

I see some people still tend to downplay the coaching at DI vs DIII. Last time I checked UNC Coach Fox was a DIII coach at NCWC before going on to great things in a UNC program that was not very good prior to his arrival. He took a DIII team to the CWS and a DI as well. Current Stonybrook Coach has taken his once DIII team to DI and is now at the CWS after defeating LSU. Anyway my point is if you are a good coach, you are just a good coach period.

D3 and D1 are very different in a lot of ways, but obviously guys like Fox prove that some can make the jump. But there's also a long list of guys who prove that the Peter Principle applies in this context as well.

W&M, as a mid-major program, is certainly at a level where a D3 guy could be given a shot. Whether they choose someone with D1 head coaching experience (as they did with Leoni), someone who knows D1 from the perspective of an assistant coach (especially if they promote from within), or if they look for the up-and-comer who has excelled at the D3 level, who knows. My guess is they'll consider all three types of candidates, as opposed to automatically excluding any of them, and maybe they'll also look at others who've been in other aspects of baseball (e.g., pro scouts) for a while as well, and it'll come down to which one guy impresses the most on his own merits.

The one thing I'd say is, if they don't hire someone with D1 experience at some level, they'd better do what they can to hold on to the assistants they have at the very least. Otherwise they will be severely behind the 8 ball in this summer's recruiting. In fact, they already are, so they really need to get this decision done ASAP so that players can know who they're dealing with and whether W&M will be an option for them or not. Right now the assistants are out there scouting, but they are not empowered to commit the program to offers, and that means they could miss out on kids who are good matches for them if the players get offers from competitors that they need to answer sooner rather than later.

PG Junior National is going on right now, PG National is this weekend, and then it's open season for offers and negotiations. Really they need to make their decision and announcement before this week is out.

I've never been in a position to hire a college coach but I do have enough experience in business to understand that a short-term issue (this year's recruiting class)should not be the major driver in the decision making process. Find the right guy for the long-term with the full understanding of the short-term implications.

I don't think it changes the decision. It merely adds urgency to the decision process.

If you lose one year of solid recruiting, it can hamper your team's performance for 3-4 years. It is not at all comparable to business, because in business you can make the personnel changes on your time table. In college baseball, the time table is imposed upon you by others and you either work with it or you lose out. You cannot expect to dictate your time table to others. Not even LSU or UVA can do that.

I'm not downplaying the coaching at all. I think Harvell is a solid coach. I simply said the recruiting is completely different.

With that being said, Stoney Brook has so very good baseball players on their roster. At the college level, it is 80-90% recruiting good players and 10-20% coaching them up to play.

Any new info out there? The web site has "no coaching staff listed" for 2012-2013, the old coach names were all deleted on the 1st.

Rumor was that they were doing interviews this week or next.

I'd expect Aug 1 announcement.

Rich
www.playinschool.com
W&M Class of 2001

You begin to wonder if the AD just has it in for baseball. How the heck are they supposed to build their 2013 recruiting class with no head coach in place until after the most critical month of the year?

MidloDad,

Take off your alumni hat, and think about it from the perspective of a committed recruit or someone who is very interested in playing there. This is going to take years to turn around. If it was my son, I'd be looking at the next school on my list. W&M is a great school, one of my favorite academic schools and campuses in the country. But, gosh they really are making it harder than it has to be. What exactly is the hold up?

From what I understand, the normal process is for them to post a job for 4 weeks and then they start the interview process. In this case they got a waiver to reduce that down to two weeks, which has passed and they have started the interviews.

My bet is that they will pick a new coach NLT mid-July, retain the current staff and keep on trucking. Let's face it, lots of schools go through coaching changes and many of them happen at season's end. Just like in this case.

Not saying that it won't affect recruiting but come on, most players who go to W&M go there for more than just the baseball. I would bet that they will still have the same pool waiting to see what happens because the pull of W&M reaches far beyond the field of play. It remains one of the most sought after academic institutions in the state, and well beyond, and it will remain so regardless of the coach.

The big thing I hear is that the AD wants to see more WINNING, especially in CAA games. I wonder how this is supposed to achieve that goal.

They have a nice facility for a mid-major facility. They have a reasonably strong conference, good weather, outstanding academic opportunity, in-state cost structure, and in recent years they've had their 11.7 fully funded. So, all the pieces are in place, except for one very big one.

The reality is, the AD had to know he was at least strongly considering making a change at season's end. In that situation, he should've been making inquiries quietly during the spring. He should've been ready to jump when the announcement was made. There is no excuse for not having this done by now. All sorts of players are interested in W&M and they don't know what to do. Are they supposed to pass up other offers in hopes that maybe, just maybe, the new coaches will like them? There's no way this doesn't just destroy their 2013 recruiting class and put them behind the 8 ball with the 2014's, too. The new coach is going to be out there sifting through the kids left uncommitted after all the competition have had their picks.

If this were a result of a sudden instance of misconduct that forced an unanticipated firing, maybe you give the AD a pass and say he did what had to be done. This, on the other hand, is a major screwup that will hurt the program, potentially for years.

Midlo,

What would you consider the time-frame that you would like to see here? If the school normally requires a month for job postings and the AD got a waiver to get it down to 2 weeks, which from what I understand ended 22 June, then isn't this actually moving along fairly well?

If they announce a hiring in the next week or so then I would have to think that that was a pretty decent turnaround. I'm sure that they knew quite some time ago that Leoni was out and I would bet that they (AD) had a pretty darn good idea as to who they would like but you never know who is going to apply until you post. They then have to at least give the appearance of due process to those folks prior to an actual hire even if they did already have someone in mind. Especially at a school like W&M...

I just think that with it being less than 2 weeks since they were able to officially interview for the position (and with a holiday in there to boot) that they aren't behind schedule quite yet. Now if this drags on for another month then I would agree...

From the names that I have heard that are being considered I think that they will be fine. I would bet that it doesn't hardly impact them much at all mainly due to the reasons that you listed.

heard from W&M coach at WWB17U event that he thought the new coach would be announced by Monday..also hearsay is that VMI coach is one of the 5 finalists, but have no direct knowledge of that.

quote:

Originally posted by latazaea:
heard from W&M coach at WWB17U event that he thought the new coach would be announced by Monday..also hearsay is that VMI coach is one of the 5 finalists, but have no direct knowledge of that.

I believe that the telephonic interviews concluded last week and this week is for the in-person interviews for the final cut. Announcement to then be made very soon thereafter... Sounds like Monday could be an interesting day...

It is July 19 and still no announcement on this. Hard to understand how it can take over 6 weeks to make this decision in the heart of summer recruiting. Hopefully an announcement comes soon. During this six weeks, Duke and MD have both removed/lost coaches and replaced them in 2-3 weeks.

Everybody relax. W&M has been around for over 300 years. I think taking a few extra days to find a baseball coach will probably not be that big a deal in the long run.

Anyway, we should be finding out who the next head coach is very soon.

Rich
www.playinschool.com

I understand from a good source that it is down to 2 candidates.

Three head coaches and a fallback still in mix. Two head coaches previously had interviewed in person. A third head coach interviewed this week in person. W&M finishing due diligence; decision could be made today, announced officially as early as today but likely early next week.

How about all these folks that are "in the know" name who is still in the mix?

I believe a couple of the names have been mentioned previously. The third has not been mentioned. Personally, two coaches asked me not to mention their names for various reasons (recruiting, their existing players, etc.). In this case, I have agreed with them.

quote:

Originally posted by CBInsider:
I believe a couple of the names have been mentioned previously. The third has not been mentioned. Personally, two coaches asked me not to mention their names for various reasons (recruiting, their existing players, etc.). In this case, I have agreed with them.

Understood. If they asked you not to post their names, you are doing the right thing.

Announcement coming Monday, Tuesday latest.

Leoni's departure was decided at the end of May (at the latest) and public knowledge by the first of June. So the replacement process took about 7 1/2 weeks.

By comparison, when Midlo Son's head coach at Wake Forest got fired back in 2009, I think the replacement was hired within 2-3 weeks, and a national search/interview process was done in that case.

I hope it's an "all's well that ends well" situation, but I don't understand the AD's frittering away that much time when it's peak recruiting season. I know the assistants have been scouting actively, and both have been in the running for the job as well. Hopefully they'll be in a position to pull the trigger on some guys quickly once everyone knows what their job is for the coming year.

Also hearing Monday for offering job. Formal announcement could be a couple days after that.

Just came across this news on twitter:

Sean Ryan ‏@collbaseball
Expect William & Mary to name pitching coach Jamie Pinzino (former Bryant head coach) as its next coach as early as Monday. #caa #tribe

Being told late tonight that W&M pitching coach Jamie Pinzino (former head coach at Bryant) will be named coach.

quote:

Originally posted by CBInsider:
Being told late tonight that W&M pitching coach Jamie Pinzino (former head coach at Bryant) will be named coach.

Great reporting job! (Love your tweets)

Jamie Pinzino is the new head coach. He was the WM pitching coach last year. Just released on tribeathletics.com

Good Hire.

Jamie will have the Tribe back atop the CAA in short order.

One of the hardest working coaches out there and a VERY good evaluator and recruiter.

He did an amazing job bringing Bryant up to D1, and to a very successful level in its conference. He is really respected up here. Being a Tufts alumnus is also a plus I think, as they are comparable academic institutions.

In Tufts' dreams!!!!

Alumni Pride rearing its head?( appropriately so ....) .

LOL.

Speaking of alumnni pride rearing its head, I watched MY Bryant Bulldogs (coached by Pinzino) beat Virginia Tech and Radford in Blacksburg a few years ago. They also beat JMU and Richmond on that roadtrip. It was Bryant's first year in D1 after transitioning from D2. The man can recruit and coach. W&M did well.

It was a very enjoyable ride back to Richmond.

I am glad to hear here they made a decision/announcement before my kid went to their camp today.

quote:

Originally posted by fenwaysouth:
Speaking of alumnni pride rearing its head, I watched MY Bryant Bulldogs (coached by Pinzino) beat Virginia Tech and Radford in Blacksburg a few years ago. They also beat JMU and Richmond on that roadtrip. It was Bryant's first year in D1 after transitioning from D2. The man can recruit and coach. W&M did well.

It was a very enjoyable ride back to Richmond.

Fenway you really are a New Englander aren't you??

Wow, it must have been fun to see that 'new' D1 program defeat all those storied baseball programs.