Report: Exit Erik Bakich
Thanks to the inaction of the conference over decades of shortsighted corruption at the NCAA, the Big Ten is a mid-major when it comes to America's Pastime, and that mid-major conference is now watching a Major pick off its best head coach in a century. Per reports, Bakich has accepted the open Clemson job.
Sources: #Michigan HC Erik Bakich is leaving for #Clemson. https://t.co/653hBf6Qdo
— Brandon Justice (@BrandonJustice_) June 15, 2022
Also per reports, Clemson, which plays in the ACC, and where Erik Bakich got his first assistant job in 2002 before moving on to Vanderbilt, tripled Erik Bakich's salary; he was making $400k/season at Michigan and would be getting $1.2 million/year or thereabouts after bonuses. For college baseball that is a Saban-to-LSU contract (only Vanderbilt, TCU, and Louisville pay their coaches more than $1 million), and as long as they play in a mid-major conference it made no sense for Michigan to pony up anything in the ballpark.
In ten seasons at Michigan, Bakich led baseball to a 328-216 record, two conference tournament championships, five NCAA Tournament appearances, and to within one win of a National Championship in 2019, their first World Series appearance since Barry Larkin was at shortstop. Bakich's .603 winning percentage is higher than that of Don Lund and Moby Benedict, and the best of any coach here since 1989. The future was looking even brighter; because the sport's recruiting cycle is so long, this year's and next year's freshmen were the first recruited with Michigan in mind as a contender. As Bakich said last week "we've got some absolute dudes coming in here." Certainly, some of those absolute dudes might not be coming anymore.
But such is life for a school in a conference that doesn't care about the sport. Over the last 30 years, an alliance of big and small schools in the South have pushed the baseball and softball seasons deeper into winter, forcing northern teams to play tournaments in Florida, Arizona, and California in January, February, and March, before trying to squeeze in a conference schedule in April and half of May. They've also allowed the NCAA to limit schools to 12 scholarships (which can be divvied up in fractions) per sport. It's an arrangement that's great for Southeastern power schools, which no longer have to compete with the moneyed programs, better degrees, and richer baseball histories of the North for top talent, and have always supplemented the meager scholarship restrictions by other means. It's also perfect for small southern programs, which often get to host those tournaments, and don't have to divert funds from football to be reasonably competitive. Talk of the Big Ten joining with other northern conferences to stem this tide, either by threatening to leave the NCAA, doing so, or hosting a second season over the summer, has thus far only amounted to that.
Michigan is in considerably better shape than when Bakich arrived, and has a couple of very good options to replace him from his direct coaching tree. Detroit Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter is a rising star in the sport and coached at Michigan through the 2019 run, though he's probably not interested in coming back unless he desires the lifestyle. Assistant head coach/infield coach Nick Schnabel has been with Bakich since he arrived, and should be ready to take the head job if Fetter wishes to remain in the majors. If they go outside the program, they won't have to go far; CMU's Jordan Bischel has been interviewing for major jobs. Either way, assistant coach/former Tiger Brandon Inge has deep local ties and would be likely to stick around. Current pitching coach Steve Merriman was probably gone either way.
Thus is life for a mid-major program. Trying to match Clemson's offer—and doubling up Carol Hutchins' salary for her men's counterpart in the process—would have been facially ridiculous considering the way of things in college baseball. What really grinds for fans of this team and sport is that it doesn't have to be this way. The few games they do get to play at Ray Fisher are usually well-attended, and a delight. With no other revenue sports active in the summer, and little else (apologies, friend/owner of the local soccer club) going on in town, Ann Arborites would be a sure bet to fill those seats in June, July, and August. Hopefully Michigan will use this as a wakeup call to start pushing the league for more direct action on its own, its players, and its fans behalves. Until they find the guts, ours will get wrenched exactly thus.
Warren has been a huge disappointment. He's had multiple chances to lead the Big 10 on important issues and has come up empty. Granted Delaney's actions seemed to always benefit osu, but at least he wasn't afraid to stick his neck out. You would think saving Big 10 baseball would be an easy issue to take up. There are multiple ideas you could at least throw against the wall to see what sticks, and the cost of them not succeeding won't really be that significant. The alternative of seeing Big 10 (and northern baseball) slide into irrelevance is certainly the worst of all scenarios.
What would be the chances of the Big 10, and other northern schools, splitting their schedules between fall and spring? Would that have to be sanctioned by the NCAA? You wouldn't have to depend on southern/western schools for that, unless they wanted to go along with it. Just try to skip winter as much as possible. You wouldn't have to worry about draft-eligible players skipping summer leagues. The entire roster would be available for both fall and spring. It would probably be better for pitchers, too. They already cram too many innings into the spring.
Schnabel is gone as well.
https://twitter.com/KendallRogers/status/1536901384720744451
Damn, Guess he was not a canidate for the HC gig.
You wanna swing by the house and kick my dog while you're at it! As a huge baseball home with no other rooting interest than Michigan this sucks!!!
I have to admit, when I first heard about Bakich leaving, my reaction wasn't what you would call "charitable." It was actually more of "Well, fuck you."
But after reading this, I get it. To have your salary tripled (knowing that your current school can't/won't match it), and to not be hamstrung by the circumstances that keep UM a mid-major in your sport, and to be able to return to a school where you previously worked ... yeah, I get it.
I'm not going to bend over backwards wishing him well. (It's still Clemson, and I'm still pissed about him leaving, like I would be about anybody leaving.) But I can honestly say that "fuck you" is off the table. (That's about the best I can do right now.)
I’m going to gently push back here: the southern schools dominate the sport. They take it seriously. It’s not somehow nefarious or unethical that there are rules that happen to favor them in their climate.
Yes, the B1G could push back, try to change things, and maybe they should. But why shouldn’t schools that care about the sport maximize their season length? Why shouldn’t they work to make the sport work well for them (and their corresponding softball teams)?
We want the same thing in hockey and the fact that one particular rule in hockey does not work in our favor (home regionals) has been an open sore spot with me and others on this site.
Meanwhile, the spring schedule really does benefit a lot of players who then play in summer leagues after their season is over. So it’s not like it’s just the schools; it’s the players that want this structure, too.
I’m all for changing things to better suit the B1G’s geography. We already benefit from that geography in hockey, after all. But geographic sport imbalance is not the same thing as villainy.
Yeah, I agree about this not being some nefarious plan by southern schools here - they have a geographic benefit and have a culture that really does support baseball and so they're going to advocate for it. That makes sense to me. It's similar to how usually southern and west coast teams win golf national titles; they have geographic advantages and so they maximize them.
And as you noted, the summer leagues are really popular with players and I'm not sure they'd like to pass them up so they could play deep into July on mostly empty college campuses.
I always thought a big reason we have these sparsely-attended regionals in bumfuck nowhere is because a bunch of the smaller schools didn't like the idea of the "big" programs always having home-ice advantage, and so they did what made sense to them and pushed for an advantage on that front. Similarly, they pushed for the over-agers to have eligibility in college so they could push a bunch of 23-year-old sophomores out there to mangle 18-year-olds.
I don't feel like UM is trapped in mid-major doom or anything, only that it's an uphill climb to being nationally competitive in a sport where the weather doesn't always cooperate with the "optimal" scheduling and, for various reasons, the sport isn't as popular as maybe it once was. It means there's probably more variance season-to-season but I don't share the sentiment some have that Bakich had some secret sauce to keep UM chugging along with their recent success.
It doesn't just start in college, either. When my son was 12, his team (from Illinois) went to Cooperstown to play in a tournament against teams from Georgia and California. It was like playing 16 year old's, not necessarily in size, but in skill and discipline. They play year round whereas our league started in early April and we could be playing in the snow until early May. You can continue to play in the summer, but it's a different league and additional money (this is before you get to high school).
Easily the best take on this situation--eloquently stated.
I will also add that southern conferences / schools are competing with the professionals for prep players. With less games, college baseball in general starts to look less appealing to a lot of high school players. As you said, it's not nefarious. There are practical reasons for a longer college baseball season.
The summer leagues shouldn't be seen as something to avoid but replace. The NCAA could do so much better than some small towns in Maine.
And it does get into villainy when benefiting a small cadre to the greater loss for the sport. Players who would rather play at Michigan can't get a scholarship because USF needs there to only be 12. And because Softball gets dragged along, that sport just disappears all summer. It's no different than super rich nobility fighting to keep their tax free status when France is about to collapse in debt despite overtaxing the poor. The morality of fighting for you and yours ends when you start to cause more damage to others than you're doing good for yourself.
Give it a few years with climate change and MI will be a warm weather State and the South will be too hot…
I appreciate any success that softball and baseball has as it has always been cold v warm. On a related note, as a buddy and I were walking into a UM hockey game last March we walked past Ray Fisher on a below freezing and snowy/sleety night. And there was the baseball team practicing/playing. I couldn’t help but think “oh hell no.” Major props to UM players.
*Sort* of on topic question:
I’m coming in from Chicago so my 10yo can attend the Michigan baseball camp later this month. Um… any idea if that’s still a go?
Blergh. Looks like it was canceled. Suitable punishment for me and my son taking UM baseball more seriously than the AD does.
Is it this one? https://camps.mgoblue.com/baseball/index.cfm
Unfortunately, it looks like it has been canceled.
Yup. Thanks, OA. Man. Bout to have a majorly bummed out 10 yo baseball player.
What a bummer. It has been s joy watching this program recently. Best of luck to bakich
Michigan will never be playing baseball in June, July, and August unless you want to be the most meaningless season in sports. The big ten is a mid major conference in a number of sports. That is the reality of college sports and regionalization. The big ten is a mid major conference in golf and track and field too. The other conferences are mid majors in wrestling, don't even have hockey, etc. Michigan took Bakich from MD when MD was still in the ACC. This is just Clemson caring more about baseball than Michigan and potentially Bakich wanting to return home. LSU taking Saban didn't make Big ten football a mid major conference it was a commentary on where those two teams sit in the landscape. Clemson sits higher than Michigan in the college baseball landscape. Michigan isn't even at the clear top of the big ten in baseball.
It sucks because Bakich is a good coach. Punting on being in the NCAA and relegating yourself to being a meaningless baseball league with no talent by playing in the summer isn't a real answer to the reality that Michigan is below clemson in the baseball order right now.
I love baseball but I'm not really a college baseball fan (if that's weird to say?). But, I would absolutely love it if it was played in the summer. I spent a summer in Ann Arbor and I definitely would've gone to games. I live around the corner from a D-1 college now and I would love it if the softball/baseball teams were still playing. And I imagine ball games in June/July would be incredibly popular in great college towns like Iowa City and Madison (actually, Wisc doesn't even have a baseball team).
But, this is another reason to hate the NCAA: it's toothless and let's some power conferences turn certain sports into regional cartels. This is also why there is no growth for some non-rev sports and why some of them remain stubbornly regional (think: hockey, volleyball, wrestling, lacrosse).
The NCAA and the conferences don't do nearly enough for non-rev sports (even baseball) and that's why you get these competitive imbalances. It's a shame that they don't really care.
Obviously Michigan wasn't going to go seven figures to keep him, but did they at least offer to double his salary?
Why can't we go out, get a good new coach and do the same with that good new coach, at Michigan? Everyone also thought the sky was falling when Beilein left on a morning in June. Ended up turning out alright.
Seth: I'm generally a fan of yours, but I've heard this take many times from you over the past few years and you are very, very far off on this one. Concluding that Michigan can't compete with other major programs in the current atmosphere because of the sport's alleged bend to the south doesn't hold water. Is Oregon State a warm weather southern school? What about Louisville, who had no history to speak of prior to McDonnell and has rattled off the best 10-15 season stretch in recent memory? What about recent CWS champ UVA? Is C-ville warm is February? What about 2022 CWS team Notre Dame? And there was a school in 2019 that made a run to the CWS finals from the north... the name slips my mind...
I don't think it's helpful to repeatedly promote a "pack it in" take on this blog and the roundtable when our program clearly can compete and has competed on a national level. M has been to three straight NCAA tournaments, advanced to the CWS is 2019, and has taken out the No. 1 overall seed twice in recent years. Players want to play in the tournament and CWS. Recruiting would TANK if that's not an option at M.
Do schools in the south have recruiting advantages? Sure. That's not unique to baseball. Are the southern schools throwing their weight around in a way that I wish Warren would do for our conference? YES. Is the ACC a better baseball conference than the Big Ten? Abso-frickin'-lutely. But these are issues to be fixed or overcome, similar to M's obstacles in every sport. Not reasons to take our ball and go home.
Bakich is one of the best coaches in the game, and has decided that he wants to make more scratch and give himself the best opportunity to win championships. Clemson is a better place for him to do that right now. But there is a coach out there for whom Michigan is a better place to compete and make $. I have no interest in our school communicating to that coach and our players that we have no chance to compete for the CWS. They don't believe that because the facts say otherwise.
I absolutely love this post and even more that this was made your one post every six or so years.
I think we agree on all of this except you're taking my call to change things for "pack it in." I didn't say we can't compete--I said that we're in a mid-major conference that refuses to fight for systemic changes to improve their lot.
You make the argument above that it didn't make sense to make a run at Bakich to stay because we compete in a mid-major conference and should resign our program to that mid-tier status. On the roundtable you have repeatedly called for the Big Ten to leave the NCAA in baseball. Above, your post says "Talk of the Big Ten joining with other northern conferences to stem this tide, either by threatening to leave the NCAA, doing so, or hosting a second season over the summer, has thus far only amounted to that."
That's packing it in. That's leaving the big dance to host a small dance. That would kill the relevance of this program to anyone outside of driving distance of Ann Arbor.
The reason I am responding to this in my once-in-a-blue-moon lurker post, is that MGoBlog's obsession with this half-baked idea oddly dominates its baseball discussions and it's unfair to our program, fans, players, etc. Our program regularly competes with the best programs in the country and we do it OUR way (with overlooked players, that manufacture runs, and aggressively leverage scoring opportunities). I love college baseball and I love Michigan and I love MGoBlog. But I get annoyed at the point where this, one of the most popular of all M fan outlets, repeatedly tells M fans that nothing matters because we'll never win in the current system. That's simply false, it's deflating to our fanbase, and at worst, it's informing our athletic department's expectations for itself.
I see what you're saying, and I appreciate the opportunity to discuss this with someone who knows what they're talking about more than you can imagine.
I disagree that NCAA baseball is big potatoes. It was once, but that was back when baseball was America's most popular sport, and the NCAA didn't hoard it and limit it to such a degree that only a few regional schools take it seriously. That said, I think you're selling its upside way short by suggesting the hash the NCAA has made of it is anything close to what college baseball could be. The CWS barely makes it to main networks, and finding the rest means buying the same subscriptions that the parents of volleyball players do.
Leaving the NCAA to form a northern wood bat league isn't a half-baked idea. At least one Michigan AD was for it, and other Big Ten ADs have floated the idea. If you can get the Pac Ten, Big Ten, Big XII, and half the ACC on board, and draw in whatever assistance you can get from the MAC and quasi-independent mid-majors in the Northeast, that's a chunk of schools that can no longer be ignored, and importantly, one you can't run a real CWS without. And freed from the NCAA these schools wouldn't have to worry about all the rules and restrictions. They could offer contracts to these players, and with built-in fanbases better than any AAA franchise, those contracts would be large enough to pull the best talent out of the South and the Summer Leagues. No more traveling to Maine to see a 1st and 3rd rounder pitch the same day. In fact they could contract with the majors to keep drafted talent--MLB just severely contracted their whole minor league system, which means there are more ballplayers in that college-to-AA level with lesswhere to go.
And I don't want this to be taken as the only possible end either. The threat of striking out alone and gambling on ourselves could also just force the NCAA's hand towards reform. At the very least, the Big Ten and Pac 12 should be screaming at the scholarship restrictions that hold back baseball and by extension softball. We're sitting here talking about giving money to a coach, but the school would be far better off if they figured out a way to compensate more players, or just not have so many of them have to pay their own way. Keeping the scholarship limits low to make things affordable for Sun Belt teams infuriates me--if your school can't support a D-I football team and still have other sports, don't be D-I.
Forming a league with the Pac12, Big 12 and the ACC North is quite a different proposition (and would have strikingly better odds of success) than a Big Ten breakaway strategy. However, I'm skeptical, to put it lightly, that ADs and college presidents would have the political, financial, or organizational wherewithal to pull that off. That crowd is not known for innovation. The only tectonic changes in college sports in my lifetime have all been matters of (1) revising existing structures, and (2) forced hands. The CFP, which is basically the Bowl System 2.0, came about when Congress starting making some noise about intervening and the conferences figured out how to make additional revenue while excluding the mid-majors, Super-League style. Shift 2, Conference realignment, had periodically popped up over the last half century, abd suddenly hit the major conferences in successive waves as ADs/Presidents became terrified of being left behind in lower revenue conferences. Shift 3, NIL, was literally forced upon the NCAA by legislatures, and even it is merely a slight reworking of a practice that has taken place under the table since the beginning of our fair institutions.
A new baseball league outside of the NCAA is neither a revision of the existing structure nor do I believe any AD/President would feel particularly compelled to join at this point. The type of tectonic change you are talking about does not come about simply because it makes sense (or dollars and...), or is preferable from the status quo (even far if preferable). I venture to say there is no precedent in the modern era for something like this.
M simply cannot wait for this unlikely alternative reality to form around it. Sustained baseball relevance is no different than sustained success in any other college sport. It's not a secret formula. It will stem from M committing to competing in the system as it stands by spending the gobs of cash flowing from the revenue sports, while pushing for systemic changes on the margins that improve their lot. Louisville - a commuter school in Kentucky with no baseball tradition - mustered the cash to raise and sustain a competitive program out of whole cloth. M has more cash at hand, a better tradition, a Nike contract, famous baseball alums, a history of racial activism (Moses Fleetwood Walker and Branch Rickey), etc. etc. M can and should commit the resources to competing. To borrow a phrase from an erstwhile Louisville booster, "Better ingredients. Better baseball."
If, as it has been reported, M failed to match or approach Clemson's offer, it's very disappointing. Resources should not be the question here. If M matched and he still left because he thinks Clemson is a better job, I get it.
Plus, the NCAA baseball tournament and CWS are a helluvalotta fun and have future revenue sport potential. I'm bullish on the future of the CWS/tourney, if they can, as you say, manage to broadcast the event on something other than ESPN's rugby/cricket/KBO platform.
What do you think is realistically the odds to get the Pac-12, ACC and Big12 on board? I'd say slim to none. Sure the SEC dominates but it's not like these other conferences are mid-majors like the Big Ten.
In the last 5 years these are the CWS appearances by conference - SEC 17 ACC 8, Pac12 8, Big12 8, Big Ten 1, Big West 1. It's not like one school has all the appearances for these conferences. For the ACC it's been NC State, Florida St, Louisville, Virginia, UNC, ND. For the Pac 12 it's been Stanford, Arizona, Oregon St, Wahington. For the Big 12 it's been Texas, TCU, Texas Tech, OU.
These conferences aren't going to break away with the Big 10 to do some summer league when they are putting teams into the CWS every year and sometimes putting multiple teams in the CWS.
Someone is going to have to explain this "we cant do anything, poor us, we are in a mid major"
I cant tell you how infuriating it is when Michigan penalizes itself. Cincinnati football is probably in a worse position than we are in baseball. Damn it stop being a bunch of p@#$% and pay the man.
You were one game from winning it all.
WHAT IS THE FUCKING PROBLEM? Is that not enough to prove you can get there? I just dont get it I really dont.
Sigh. I'm ornery and so sick of this kind of comment right after answering one just like it. Saying "let's change this system!" isn't "we can't do anything, poor us." That's such a fucking gaslighting response. It makes it look like you want to show you're somehow better or different because you don't care about whatever you're responding to, a Grade A example of the kind of shit people say without thinking on the internet that they'd never say in person unless they're really trying to start shit.
I was going to say I'm sorry I can only downvote your comment once, but it turns out I run this site so i'm downvoting it 10 times. No 50 times. 50 downvotes. Take that!
I think you took my statement as meaning you specifically Seth. I meant "US" collectively and specifically the university. Lets not accept being beaten by Clemson for anything. Be a jewel in the void that is Big Ten Baseball and collect most of the stars that are in the region. Sorry just in general it seems we all kind of give up when Im not sure why. Again should we let Cincy football know they are in too big of a disadvantage?
Dang you did hit me with a -50. I love it! That is the passion we need. You probably wont read this but take my upvote in return. I sure do love me some MGOBLOG!
Baseball is a warm weather sport, and programs in warm weather areas have always had the advantage in talent and recruiting. It is what it is, and no amount of maneuvering will change that. B10 schools know this, which is why they don’t pour a ton of resources into their programs.
Good luck, Bakich. Interested to see how he does at Clemson.
Bullshit. Louisville is less than a 5 hour drive from AA. Michigan CHOOSES to put a limit on their competitiveness.
Look at the long history, or lack thereof, of the B10 in the CWS. It’s not an aberration. Less area talent, and very few touted recruits will leave somewhere, especially somewhere warmer, to go play in the Midwest.
Also, on average Louisville in 10 degrees warmer and gets 40+ less inches of snow than AA. It may be 5 hours away, but it’s much better for baseball.
There seems to be quite a bit of fist shaking at things that seem like they would be relatively obvious to most Michigan fans. Michigan is a mid-major in baseball because they play in a mid-major conference. Nothing that is argued about or changes proposed is going to alter that. Baseball is going to be a warm weather sport just like track and field, golf, etc. Why don't SEC schools have hockey? Is it probably because of the same reason(s) baseball sucks in the Big Ten? Yes.
I wish Bakich well and hope Ward can find the next Bakich. There is no reason Michigan can't have success in baseball by Big Ten standards but the buck stops there and I don't understand why some fans just can't accept that.
In 2016 Louisville gave Dan McDonald a 10 year contract for $1.05 million per. That was 6 years ago!!!! It’s an absolute disgrace that Bakich was being paid $400k in 2022 at UM. Shame on Warde Manuel.
HIRE BAKICH!
I'm not sure what the discrepancy or if I'm reading this wrong but it looks like half the SEC baseball coaches make more than a million?
They don't show their methodology so it's hard to tell.
I'm sorry, this site bangs on and on about how unfair the way college baseball is structured and it's always the most nonsense thing in the world and it's just divorced from how the sport works. You can't do a summer baseball season, if you did, ZERO players of any quality would ever play college baseball. Summer is when all the wood bat invite only leagues play! Top college players want to go play those so they can be seen by top Major League teams and be scouted.
The actual reality is there's only a fraction of good HS baseball talent in the northern states. Parents of kids with top end baseball talent usually move their families south to allow their kids to play baseball year round in top end HS travel teams/showcase leagues. Top end northern HS talent are far more likely to get drafted straight to pro ball because they tend to stand out more, and since there's so few northern schools that give a crap, northern top end HS players tend to end up centralized at a few programs that dominate their crummy leagues. The state of North Carolina produces more future pro baseball players than the entire Big 10 combined.
You could play the entire baseball season in the middle of July and its still not going to make Illinois a hotbed of HS baseball talent. Complaining that college baseball is oriented towards the south is like complaining that hockey is oriented towards northern schools. The current system rewards programs like Michigan who hire a dynamic coach with great recruiting ability who is able to stockpile players and then run roughshod over a pathetic league and then play in regionals that are usually much weaker because they try to be somewhat geographical.
As far as scholarships go, there's a big push to increase scholarships to cover an entire roster, but what's always stopped that is that most of the country already loses money playing baseball, the only revenue it generates is from the college world series broadcast rights and their bat/cleat/uniform deals. It's not as cut and dry as Seth makes it sound, and saying on one hand that Michigan is at a disadvantage because "THE SOUTH WON'TT LET THEM INCREASE SCHOLARSHIPS" while then pointing out Michigan lost their baseball coach because Michigan wouldn't pay him market value to stay is real insane sounding to anyone who pays attention.
Love you guys, buy your stuff every year, but this place is always 100% wrong on baseball.
Yep. It has become - to be blunt - utterly insufferable.
Nobody any good will play summer collegiate baseball. Michigan could win a summer national title 100 consecutive years —- they would do it, however, with teams that the present day Michigan teams would completely wipe the floor with.
I guess that is what Brian (and by extension Seth because this board has gone all “hive mind” on this illogical baseball idea) wants. Quit playing spring college baseball with the best. Start some summer league with massively inferior talent and claim a bunch of faux national championships.
I mean Michigan's athletic department has multiple times the revenues Clemson does. Clemson's AD is one of the poorest in major college football and practically every dime they bring in goes to football. For Michigan to let Clemson come in and triple their head coach's salary and let that happen is just.....don't try to tell me that the sport is biased against the Big 10 because the SOUTHERN SCHOOLS WON'T LET MICHIGAN SPEND MONEY. That's just totally insane. Michigan had the thing, they had the dynamo recruiter who can build great rosters at Michigan and they let him leave over money, a thing they have more of than anyone.
The school just doesn't care about baseball.
Seth, guts is exactly the right word. Or balls. Gonna take some to make this stupid college baseball model functional. Don’t blame Bakich at all, but damn we’ll miss him.
I’m sorry but the “woe is the big ten and Michigan in baseball” on this blog has become absolutely insufferable.
Besides coaches would leave even if Michigan was a blue blood in baseball! Notre dame and Oklahoma lost football coaches this off-season. Notre dame and Oklahoma!!!
Net; it happens. Quit the woe is me routine.
The difference here is that I am not married to a take, and the door is always open for a good faith discussion that can change each others' thinking to find a reasonable consensus. A response like yours closes that door, and with so few of them open on the internet these days, why would you want to do that?
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