JMU's McFarland announces his retirement

Great coach and great guy! Sad to see him leave, but Spanky is JMU Baseball. 

He helped build a great thing up there.

Now, let the speculation, politicking & rumor mill begin!

On the outside looking in, this seems like a job that will generate tons of interest!  It will be fun to watch whose names move up and down the "white board".  Will the powers that be look to make a splash with a big national name?  Will they go for a more local or regional type of guy?  Will they hire from within and move up their assistants?

I'm sure they are already being flooded with calls!

Rich

www.PlayInSchool.com

They sure have a nice stadium. I was able to see a game their this summer.

Greg Guilliams would be a great hire!

http://www.vstateblazers.com/staff.aspx?staff=16

Its probably a good time for him to retire and the school turn a new leaf.  The last few years have been tough on JMU and their position among the VA D1 schools have dropped considerably. 

There is so much potential there.

Very nice facilities

Popular school with respectable academics but not out-of-reach admission.

The perfect distance to be away from home but not too far away from central and northern Virginia population centers.

The right hire could raise the program to a high level.

sleeping giant.  This job will be VERY interesting to just about any coach within a thousand miles.

The right hire could take this program to Omaha in 2-3 years.  JMU has everything any coach could ask for in a program and it could easily pressure all the ACC programs on the recruiting trail if they chose to make that a priority.

Agreed 100% with the above posts.  Between the facilities, location and the academics, the right coach can take this program to new heights. It'll be exciting to see what direction the AD goes with this hire.

Also agree with many of the posts above.  I have to believe Coach McFarland wants to follow his son Ty in the minor leagues.   Heck, I know I would. 

One thing that also stuck with me about Coach McFarland over the last few years is that his guys could hit up and down the lineup.  They were a very offensively minded team.  Yet McFarland's  background was in pitching and he wrote a book about "Coaching Pitchers".

Fenwaysouth,   Yet McFarland's  background was in pitching and he wrote a book about "Coaching Pitchers".

You are right on with the pitching issue at JMU.  Last year they were ranked 291 out of 296 D1 schools in ERA....  Not sure I am buying that Book!

Dunno - If Mr. O'Conner just down the road has anything to say about it (and I think he does) he has a huge advantage in drawing the top talent in the state with the record he has built up.  The school and campus are trump cards too.

JMU and ODU are more comparable I think.  Make the tournament yes, take out ACC, SEC or Pac 12 etc. are upsets.  The place that should be doing better is Tech.

Three or four years ago I was at a UVA game where I struck up a conversation with a local high school coach.  I don't know if he knew what he was talking about or not, but he said that Macfarland was having to deal with some budget cutbacks.  I don't think he was talking about scholarships but rather non-scholarships roster spots.  (Even with no scholarship obligation, it still costs to keep a kid on the roster).  

I fall somewhere in between.  I think, on balance, the high-majors certainly have several obvious advantages.  Having said that though...there was a time, when the JMUs, ODUs, VCUs, Richmonds, etc (the Virginia mids)...were BETTER than both UVA and Tech.  Things are cyclical, and having a solid mid-major program rise to the top would not be shocking to me in a State such as ours, where there is plenty of talent to go around.

In the 90s, in the CAAs "hay day" there were as many as 4 or 5 programs in the Commonwealth who were in and out of the rankings each and every year.  Things have changed, but that's the point!

Things always do!

Isn't about 2/3 of last year's UVA roster from out of state?

Not quite...quick look on the web site has 14 of 28 from VA.  All are the top end of the states talent from the last 3/4 years.  They also lost D. Fischer who decided to sign with the Red Sox out of HS this year. 

I think baseball is going the way of Football and Basketball....the 2nd tier can find some players and win occasionally but the best players that are not signing with MLB will gravitate to the bigger conferences.  The Conference networks will put them on TV the facilities will be better with the football money.  Deck is stacked...and that is why ODU added football and bailed on the CAA.  Didn't want to be left behind. 

luv baseball,

I agree with everything you said except the last sentence.  While ODU didn't want to be left behind, they are being left behind along with JMU, VCU, Richmond, W&M, VMI and Radford, etc.  That train has left the station, and the mid-majors are going to have to fend for themselves. They are not members of one of these big conferences, so no chance of a big payout or revenue sharing.  At best, I would describe them as having not lost any ground.

The deck is stacked, but not against UVA or Virginia Tech.  Baseball gives these mid-majors schools the best opportunity to upset the big boys.  It happens every year.   Heck VMI beat UVA last year in baseball and VT will lose mid-week games they should win on paper.

Today, the very best one of these schools like JMU, VCU, ODU and W&M can hope for is a Super-Regional berth.  It would take a seriously hot team for one of these schools to beat a 1 or a 2 seed in the Regionals to advance, but I think it can be done.   JMU had such a talented team a few years ago led by Jake Lowery, and others.   They led the nation in homeruns but were unable to get to the Super Regional.  I just don't see these teams having the depth, firepower or experience to get to the CWS.  JMO.

In 2014 - 4 out of 64 teams in the NCAA Regionals were Virginia teams. 

George Mason, ODU, Liberty and UVA.  That is a great # but would be great to see more in the future.  Nice to see that most of these 4 programs recruit from the state/Mid-Atlantic area.  Too bad a lot of these teams would have to beat eachother out to make it (for example for the A10 spot - it would've been George Mason OR VCU..whoever won the tourney goes)  I guess those that expect to get in via the conference championship route - have to hope to have a good enough season for an at-large big.

Fenway, you make a fair clarification.  I didn't mean it was going to work for ODU,  Only claim is that is their goal.  They will have more revenue from having football which should help with the baseball but the chances of the them making it into the ACC or SEC are probably about 4 or 5 zero's down from the decimal point.  Maybe more.

Here is the thing about UVA compared to all the rest of the VA schools.  They almost won the CWS this year.  Sitting in their bullpen was a potential 1st round pick in the MLB draft in 2013 and I do not think he pitched a single inning in the post season.  It is not a gap for JMU or ODU or the rest it is the Grand Canyon they have to cross. 

If Mr. O'Connor stays at UVA he has a huge built in credibility factor that will be very hard to beat.  IMO he won't get them all, but he will get enough to stay out in front.

FYI... O'Connor signed contract extension with UVa.  7 year deal.  Was in the news 2 nights ago.

Rich

www.PlayInSchool.com

Yeah, that was an eye opener.  I had no idea you could make 600k in college baseball anywhere outside of LSU or Texas.  Heck, that starts getting up there with some schools' football and basketball coaches.  (Not in major conferences, of course, but still ....)

UVA has quite a bit more home grown talents than you lead on.  Nonetheless, you're making the wrong argument.

UVA is now, and has been for some time, a national program.  National programs, by their nature, recruit nationally!  Depth of talent in a state is better illustrated by the number of successful programs within a state.

Someone else has previously made mention, but the state of Virginia was represented by four programs in the NCAA tournament.  In addition, there were several other D1 programs with 30+ wins who missed out.  Outside of the obvious (California, Florida, and Texas), which state had more representation?  How many more teams did Georgia, Louisiana, North and South Carolina have, over VA?

(I'm too lazy to look!)  

Here's UVA's 2014 roster.  Show me where I'm wrong.

http://www.virginiasports.com/...m-basebl-mtt-14.html

As for ODU, Liberty, and George Mason... 59% of their collective roster players were from out of state.  Liberty had the most with 29 of 35, ODU had the least with 14 of 34. George Mason was 17 of 33.

I have been saying for a while now that College Baseball is about to come into the big time.  The new Conference TV networks & ESPN will be airing significantly more baseball than ever before. 

For the first time baseball has a chance to become a big revenue stream.  I think the CWS may also be at critical mass to become a big TV event in the next few years as well.  If that happens it probably will never become the March Madness revenue monster but it could really change the finances of the sport. 

Already the sport is getting increased support on facilities everywhere so as the money grows the established coaches will be able to command this kind of money.  UVA probably gets it back just by hosting the regional and Super Regional alone.  Make the CWS and they are way in the black. 

Considering that O'Conner is in his early 40's he has a chance to build a mega dynasty at UVA.  He is as secure as any coach can be in his position and he can become a very wealthy man.  Since about 1/2 of MLB managers make less than $1mm per year his job almost as good in dollars as being on that merry go round.  It would seem to me he has very little reason to ever leave, great school, great in state talent pipeline, ability to attract nationally, major conference and support from the school.  There are not many jobs that are on that level in any sport. 

IMO ... He built it so he earned it. 

NYdad2017,

I think the first point GoHeels was making is that UVA recruits nationally.  Your roster link shows that and is no great surprise to me or anyone that lives in the Commonwealth.  I think the same can be said for Liberty (private).  They've become a national program with national level facilities and folks come from far and wide to enroll in a Christian education.  The second point was that many from the Commonwealth find themselves playing baseball in other states at various levels.  He's right.   There is a handful of talent that stays home and handful that find opportunities regionally.  My oldest son was the only one from his national travel team to attended college outside the region (MD, VA, NC, SC).

ODU, George Mason, VCU, Radford, JMU, VMI and W&M are D1 state schools.   Each has their own situation that relates to your point.  For example ODU has 18 or 34 Virginia residents.  I'm expecting that to go down as they joined Conference USA, and they will be competing with more national level competition (Rice, ECU, etc..).  They are going to have to step up their recruiting.  I don't think you can look at these schools as a whole, I think you have to understand each one separately.  The one that intrigues me is GMU.  Lots of baseball talent in Northern Virginia, yet very few Virginians on the GMU roster.  I spoke to someone close the program last year as my oldest son's team was playing GMU.   He's been totally frustrated with the school as they will not invest into the program which had a lot of success in the 1980's.   These recruits have choices and many times GMU loses when it becomes a battle of facilities & programs. 

Tying this back to JMU and Spanky, they have great facilities and their own challenges IMHO.  JMU is an extremely popular choice where I live, and I'm guessing throughout the Commonwealth.   One of the things I noticed 5 years ago was that I never saw JMU at showcases, events, or high school games.  In my mind VMI, Richmond, W&M, and others were always at these events and showed a much greater interest in my son (pitcher) and others.   I truly do not know how JMU recruited their (pitching) talent, because they certainly had guys that could hit the baseball.  They were rumored to have a large presence at the Commonwealth games.  I think my son spoke to or received an email from every D1 school in VA except JMU.  Possibly that has changed...I dunno.  But my impression is JMU could do a better job of recruiting (pitching) talent under the new Coaches.  As others have said, it could be a diamond in the rough with the right head coach, staff & recruiting energy.  JMO.

Also consider that many NoVA-resident, potential college ballplayers want to get out of Dodge. 

JMU's VA-centric recruiting tactics escape me. Unless they're incognito, I've haven't seen them at VA or non-VA events. Having said that, it seems that they have an excellent relationship with the Demarini Stars program, which you would expect given that Coach Carroll has two sons on the squad.

Outside of the Stars program, there are more than a few quality ballplayers in NoVA that haven't heard a peep out of JMU. Given the location, facilities, and student body out of NoVA, I hope this changes.

Also, many players want the "full college experience" which includes a football team, no matter how bad the team.

One other thing about the Virginia schools is it's proximity to major population centers in the "north".  Much of the Penn., NJ, MD and NY major populations are drivable distances to VA for a weekend.

It does give recruits the possibility of "having it all".  Away from home, close enough for mom and Dad to get down to see you play, warmer weather, high level baseball and generally good to very good schools.  As examples UVA has about 6 players and Shenandoah about 12 that fit this category.  All the places mentioned could probably do well in these regions as well especially the NOVA area.