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I wouldn't know how it will turn out at a D2 - but there have been numerous threads on here in the past about D1 schools where the change wasn't too good for incoming freshmen, and even leftover sophs/juniors/seniors.

Sometimes coaches want their own team.  Sometimes they're fine with the team they inherit.  At this point, you probably just have to go with the flow and hopefully its all good!

Wolf posted:

Son was recruited by HC and is an incoming freshman starting this Aug at a D2 school.  HC took a position at another college in the same conference.  Search for a new HC is underway according to the AD.  Anyone experience this?  How did it turn out?  Any advice?

When my son entered college the HC that recruited him was fired and the school's AD was in the process of finding a replacement.  Since this school was son's "dream school" (a D1), there was no thought of going somewhere else (though there were some other schools he liked that had made offers before).  Given the storied history of the school's baseball program, we felt they'd certainly find a good HC and understood player's still have to compete to play every season to play.  We were wrong about the AD's search and wound up with a HC that liked my son, but was not a good HC for him or the baseball program and was also fired after 3 years.  Son had pro aspirations and his time in that college program did not help him improve his pro prospect standing.  But he loved the college just the same.  He was only one of two drafted his Jr. year (there should have been more) and the only one left still playing pro ball.  

Some of the recruited players didn't stay and one stayed a year and left for a different college and did very well in his baseball program, was drafted and is currently doing very well.   Interestingly, this latter player was recently signed by my son's team, and so they're once again playing on the same team but now as Pro's and probably reminiscing about their college experiences.

Last edited by Truman
justbaseball posted:

I wouldn't know how it will turn out at a D2 - but there have been numerous threads on here in the past about D1 schools where the change wasn't too good for incoming freshmen, and even leftover sophs/juniors/seniors.

Sometimes coaches want their own team.  Sometimes they're fine with the team they inherit.  At this point, you probably just have to go with the flow and hopefully its all good!

Several years ago I was watching Hofstra @ Northeastern. It was back when I was trying to learn as much as I could for my son's benefit. I was chatting with a pro scout. He handed me the game program. He asked me if I saw anything odd. Hofstra's roster had twenty-four freshman and former JuCos among the thirty-five. 

The warning from the scout was watch for stability in the program. A new coach came in and cut every existing player but three seniors. 

A kid from our LL verballed with an ACC bottom feeder after soph year of high school. It was a very good academic choice. A new coach came in and offered to release any of the previous coach's recruits. The kid ended up on a nationally ranked SEC team. His stock had shot up junior year.

Last edited by RJM

It worked out OK for the Arizona players this year. 

In all actuality it will depend on: 1. His talent relative the rest of the team. 2. His work ethic 3. His attitude. Any coach is going to want a kid hard working kid with a good attitude. He has likely little to worry if he does 2 & 3 correctly, particularly at this late stage of the game. 

Wolf posted:

Son was recruited by HC and is an incoming freshman starting this Aug at a D2 school.  HC took a position at another college in the same conference.  Search for a new HC is underway according to the AD.  Anyone experience this?  How did it turn out?  Any advice?

It seems to depend on the circumstances.

If the former coach was fired or pressured out, and the new coach is hired to engineer a turnaround, expect extremely high turnover on the current roster and among recruits signed by the former coach. New coach may keep obvious studs but will not invest much effort into developing his predecessor's recruits because doing so would create ambiguity over who deserves the credit when the player performs well.

If the former coach resigned after a successful run and is passing the baton to a chosen successor, the new coach may have greater inclination to maintain a steady course.

My son was in the first situation. Of his recruiting class of 14, only one was still on the roster as a senior--a backup utility infielder.

Almost exact same thing happened to my son, but the coach left closer to the end of June.  The AD, who was the previous coach, took over.  He made it clear that he wanted his own team by telling the players that the coaches were out recruiting replacements for each and every one of them.  This was during the season.  He took away almost all of the scholarship money from players, and he is bringing in well over 20 players for next season.  This is at a DII school, and there are worse things that the coach did and said to drive players out.  I was told to remember that all college baseball coaches are associated with a certain part of the anatomy, but I do believe there are coaches out there who would never treat an entire team like garbage.  

BOF posted:

It worked out OK for the Arizona players this year. 

As far as we can see...it probably did.  But sometimes there is stuff below the surface.   Coach seems like a good guy - its probably good stuff below the surface too.

I did see him in the post CWS press conference talking about a certain senior who he 'was advised should be let go from the program' but he kept - and it paid off.  I thought that quote though, was quite revealing about the underbelly of college athletics in general and what I actually believe is more the norm...than not.

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