I remember seeing someone on here had a son playing for them.
How do you think their new coaching staff will be?
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My son does not play for Wake, but I am familiar with at least some of the new coaches, and I believe they will have the Deacons at the top of the ACC in very short order. They have some great talent on hand, they are top-level recruiters and very, very outstanding coaches. It a fantastic school with a beautiful setting in one of the most competitive leagues. It is a place of great opportunity for great players.
Several posters here have sons at WF including but not limited to MidloDad. From talking to them, the coaches really haven't had a lot of interaction with the players yet as they have been hard on the recruiting trail.
In addition to myself, current Wake parents include Baseball Buzz and BaseballDad1228, and we have past parents including SDBB on here.
Last year was very challenging. We suffered a spate of pitching injuries that just left us too short handed, and we couldn't get people out consistently. We went into the season down a few men. But then it went from difficult to impossible. Especially over the last 4 weeks, we learned that our top freshman pitching recruit would be out for the rest of the year, then our top senior starter went down, and then arguably our best performing freshman to that point also was shut down due to what (thankfully) turned out to be a temporary and minor problem. But we just got waxed repeatedly, and it was demoralizing.
The result of all that was that the coaches who recruited Midlo Son, Buzz Jr. et al., were all let go.
The new staff comes in very heralded. Coach Walter has won big in his past positions, and as impressive as the post-Katrina performance at UNO was, I suspect his ability to win at George Washington despite the high cost and high academic requirements might well be what cinched the hire for him. Walter was able to get two former proteges to rejoin him on staff, including getting the head coach of an NCAA tourney program at Marist to take the pitching/recruiting assistant position.
The coaching change-over left them behind the 8 ball coming in, so these guys have been busting their hind parts trying to make sure we have a strong class of HS 2010 grads. It is true, though, that as a result of that, our sons have not yet had a whole lot of interaction with the coaches yet, because they've been on the road constantly. Fall practices start soon, and we'll be there for the Black & Gold World Series games in late Oct/early Nov with a chance to meet them ourselves.
The positive side is, at a time when many schools are scaling back on baseball, the athletic department has demonstrated its firm commitment to the program. Wake just bought the former minor league park and started playing there last spring. The new clubhouse for the players is a head turner, to say the least. No money was spared to get the guy many felt was the very hottest coaching candidate on the market.
Though we did like the former coaches, I have to agree that a change was needed. I think the players are going to feel good about getting a fresh start, heading into 2010 healthy, and trying to put things back to right.
Honestly, I feel we have the talent to get back into the ACC playoffs and to contend for an at large bid, though that would require a lot of things to fall into place all at once. What I'd like to see is solid progress in 2010 and a strong year in 2011. One thing's for sure, by playing a lot of freshmen last year, we now have a lot of battle tested guys, so we will be much more experienced on the field with each passing year.
Last year was very challenging. We suffered a spate of pitching injuries that just left us too short handed, and we couldn't get people out consistently. We went into the season down a few men. But then it went from difficult to impossible. Especially over the last 4 weeks, we learned that our top freshman pitching recruit would be out for the rest of the year, then our top senior starter went down, and then arguably our best performing freshman to that point also was shut down due to what (thankfully) turned out to be a temporary and minor problem. But we just got waxed repeatedly, and it was demoralizing.
The result of all that was that the coaches who recruited Midlo Son, Buzz Jr. et al., were all let go.
The new staff comes in very heralded. Coach Walter has won big in his past positions, and as impressive as the post-Katrina performance at UNO was, I suspect his ability to win at George Washington despite the high cost and high academic requirements might well be what cinched the hire for him. Walter was able to get two former proteges to rejoin him on staff, including getting the head coach of an NCAA tourney program at Marist to take the pitching/recruiting assistant position.
The coaching change-over left them behind the 8 ball coming in, so these guys have been busting their hind parts trying to make sure we have a strong class of HS 2010 grads. It is true, though, that as a result of that, our sons have not yet had a whole lot of interaction with the coaches yet, because they've been on the road constantly. Fall practices start soon, and we'll be there for the Black & Gold World Series games in late Oct/early Nov with a chance to meet them ourselves.
The positive side is, at a time when many schools are scaling back on baseball, the athletic department has demonstrated its firm commitment to the program. Wake just bought the former minor league park and started playing there last spring. The new clubhouse for the players is a head turner, to say the least. No money was spared to get the guy many felt was the very hottest coaching candidate on the market.
Though we did like the former coaches, I have to agree that a change was needed. I think the players are going to feel good about getting a fresh start, heading into 2010 healthy, and trying to put things back to right.
Honestly, I feel we have the talent to get back into the ACC playoffs and to contend for an at large bid, though that would require a lot of things to fall into place all at once. What I'd like to see is solid progress in 2010 and a strong year in 2011. One thing's for sure, by playing a lot of freshmen last year, we now have a lot of battle tested guys, so we will be much more experienced on the field with each passing year.
quote:Originally posted by Midlo Dad:
One thing's for sure, by playing a lot of freshmen last year, we now have a lot of battle tested guys, so we will be much more experienced on the field with each passing year.
Having witnessed the HUGE strides players make from freshman to sophomore years, a lot is certainly possible. I do believe the jump between those years is more than all the other years combined...when the players are of course, playing.
The new staff offered new recruits the opportunity to back out of their verbals. Verbals aren't a signed commitment. But it's uncool to walk from one. I know one player from our area changed his verbal commitment to Florida. Two other kids stuck with Wake.quote:Originally posted by CPLZ:
Several posters here have sons at WF including but not limited to MidloDad. From talking to them, the coaches really haven't had a lot of interaction with the players yet as they have been hard on the recruiting trail.
True, though I understand his money's been put back in play to replace him in the 2010 class. Feedback I get is that the new guys know their stuff when it comes to recruiting, and they work VERY hard at it.
have the new wake coaches settled on the 2010 class or are they still beating the bushes? and, have they have even had time to look ahead to 2011 yet?
