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Post by unalions on Jul 28, 2022 11:16:42 GMT -6
Glad they posted some commitments after it was brought up on here that we had heard nothing since the hire… I know I sound negative but there are things we could be doing that we can control… I went online today to see if there had been any news on who new assistant coaches are and if you go to the staff link it still has our old staff posted… I’m sorry but this is no good when we are trying to move forward. I guess the answer for that as well is to be “patient”!! I can understand being patient about some things, but the social media accounts still need a lot of work. Your example is a good one. It makes you wonder if somebody from UNA scans this board, saw your comment, and said "yeah I guess we should put something out there about our new signees". The softball Twitter account was totally silent during the season, THEN started tweeting about signees in July. As probably the most successful sport at UNA right now, you'd think they'd want to promote the hell out of it. Guess not. I'm sure I could dig up some other examples if I wanted to, but that's just off the top of my head. Maybe other transitioning schools have struggled in certain areas. I honestly don't know. I'm sure there are areas that we are behind on due to finances, which will hopefully change now that we are full D1. But social media is SO IMPORTANT these days, that it's certainly not an area that you should try to "bare bones". UNA is at least a decade behind when it comes to social media engagement. Sadly, a “decade behind” is a term I equate with a lot of things in the Shoals.
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Post by unabalch on Aug 3, 2022 21:12:45 GMT -6
In case everyone was curious the coaching staff page Miraculously got updated this week… if you have any complaints or concerns this seems to be the place to get something done about it!
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Post by brandon on Aug 4, 2022 8:09:26 GMT -6
In case everyone was curious the coaching staff page Miraculously got updated this week… if you have any complaints or concerns this seems to be the place to get something done about it! I don't know if anyone reads, but I do relay concerns that we all express on here just in case they care about us.
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Post by shoaltime on Aug 8, 2022 8:40:29 GMT -6
They announced the staff this morning. 2 young guys who were unpaid volunteers at Delaware last year. So, we kept 1 young assistant then hired 3 assistants from the University of Delaware (including our head coach). I hope they do great here, but wow pretty safe to assume money played a huge role in the hiring of this staff. I think we underestimate just how far behind the rest of the conference we are. Austen Peay is brand new to the ASUN, and you would think they are comparable to UNA. They just fired a coach with alot more success than our last staff, then hired a young up and coming coach from Oklahoma State, who added a D2 head coach as their pitching coach. Makes you wonder about all the other areas across all sports where we are way behind in funding.
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Post by unalions on Aug 8, 2022 8:45:34 GMT -6
They announced the staff this morning. 2 young guys who were unpaid volunteers at Delaware last year. So, we kept 1 young assistant then hired 3 assistants from the University of Delaware (including our head coach). I hope they do great here, but wow pretty safe to assume money played a huge role in the hiring of this staff. I think we underestimate just how far behind the rest of the conference we are. Austen Peay is brand new to the ASUN, and you would think they are comparable to UNA. They just fired a coach with alot more success than our last staff, then hired a young up and coming coach from Oklahoma State, who added a D2 head coach as their pitching coach. Makes you wonder about all the other areas across all sports where we are way behind in funding. That’s interesting news. Thanks for posting! Austin Peay may be new to the ASUN but they aren’t new to D1. That definitely affects their current budget vs UNA’s. But, I hear ya. UNA is behind most of the conference in funding.
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Post by bbb111 on Aug 8, 2022 9:27:27 GMT -6
They announced the staff this morning. 2 young guys who were unpaid volunteers at Delaware last year. So, we kept 1 young assistant then hired 3 assistants from the University of Delaware (including our head coach). I hope they do great here, but wow pretty safe to assume money played a huge role in the hiring of this staff. I think we underestimate just how far behind the rest of the conference we are. Austen Peay is brand new to the ASUN, and you would think they are comparable to UNA. They just fired a coach with alot more success than our last staff, then hired a young up and coming coach from Oklahoma State, who added a D2 head coach as their pitching coach. Makes you wonder about all the other areas across all sports where we are way behind in funding. All great coaches (both good and bad) have to start somewhere. Give them time before passing judgement. We all know there isn't money in the UNA budget to hire expensive people. And, expensive guys wouldn't be attracted to the facilities/state of the program as it stands today anyway. Give me young hungry guys any day over the overpaid 50+ coach that is on the downside of his career just looking for a 4 year contract.
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Post by unafied on Aug 8, 2022 9:36:41 GMT -6
I think it's pretty clear that of the "major" sports, baseball is taking a back seat to the others. I'm assuming it generates the least revenue, so I won't say that I'm necessarily surprised.
It's frustrating to be budget-restricted when it comes to hiring coaches. That being said, just because guys are cheap doesn't mean they can't be successful. Coach Prachniak has a great resume. I don't know what the budget is at West Chester (where he won D2 titles), but winning a baseball title at a "cold weather" school can't be easy.
I'm not usually what someone would call an optimist, and there's certainly a chance the program continues to be one of the worst in D1. I think, unfortunately, we will need to see wins before the program gets much more money thrown its way.
Maybe they'll surprise us all and announce the new stadium is happening again. That would help.
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Post by shoaltime on Aug 8, 2022 10:05:37 GMT -6
They announced the staff this morning. 2 young guys who were unpaid volunteers at Delaware last year. So, we kept 1 young assistant then hired 3 assistants from the University of Delaware (including our head coach). I hope they do great here, but wow pretty safe to assume money played a huge role in the hiring of this staff. I think we underestimate just how far behind the rest of the conference we are. Austen Peay is brand new to the ASUN, and you would think they are comparable to UNA. They just fired a coach with alot more success than our last staff, then hired a young up and coming coach from Oklahoma State, who added a D2 head coach as their pitching coach. Makes you wonder about all the other areas across all sports where we are way behind in funding. All great coaches (both good and bad) have to start somewhere. Give them time before passing judgement. We all know there isn't money in the UNA budget to hire expensive people. And, expensive guys wouldn't be attracted to the facilities/state of the program as it stands today anyway. Give me young hungry guys any day over the overpaid 50+ coach that is on the downside of his career just looking for a 4 year contract. I agree this could be a great hire and I hope it is. That's what great about a coaching change, no reason not be optimistic and we haven't been able to say that very often since going to the ASUN. It's certainly no fault of the coaches, but I was more commenting on the apparent lack of funding UNA can/will allocate across the board (all sports) compared to our peers. I think it's pretty safe to assume this was an inexpensive hire. 3 assistants from a program that isn't exactly a baseball powerhouse. But, Dr. Looney can only spend what the university will allow him to. Hopefully with the D1 transition done and the school growing rapidly those budgets will increase soon.
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Post by brandon on Aug 8, 2022 10:35:53 GMT -6
All great coaches (both good and bad) have to start somewhere. Give them time before passing judgement. We all know there isn't money in the UNA budget to hire expensive people. And, expensive guys wouldn't be attracted to the facilities/state of the program as it stands today anyway. Give me young hungry guys any day over the overpaid 50+ coach that is on the downside of his career just looking for a 4 year contract. I agree this could be a great hire and I hope it is. That's what great about a coaching change, no reason not be optimistic and we haven't been able to say that very often since going to the ASUN. It's certainly no fault of the coaches, but I was more commenting on the apparent lack of funding UNA can/will allocate across the board (all sports) compared to our peers. I think it's pretty safe to assume this was an inexpensive hire. 3 assistants from a program that isn't exactly a baseball powerhouse. But, Dr. Looney can only spend what the university will allow him to. Hopefully with the D1 transition done and the school growing rapidly those budgets will increase soon. The plan from the beginning in regards to the budget is to increase incrementally after the transition is over. While in the transition, every program got full DQ scholarships. During the 4 years the only money coming in was ticket sales and money games. UNA wasn't getting conference money until the transition is over. Now they will start increasing budgets across the board.
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Post by unabalch on Aug 9, 2022 11:18:19 GMT -6
At least this staff has established connections in the surrounding area… hahahahaha… I feel we are trying not to be any good.
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Post by unalions on Aug 9, 2022 11:47:08 GMT -6
At least this staff has established connections in the surrounding area… hahahahaha… I feel we are trying not to be any good. I feel like you’re just bitter. I get it. However, while your preferred candidate would have had some ties to the area, he didn’t have any head coaching experience and most of his experience was as an assistant at UNA during a time of mediocre results. Some of us are tired of those type of hires - much like we have had with our football staff the past few years.
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Post by bbb111 on Aug 9, 2022 15:27:19 GMT -6
At least this staff has established connections in the surrounding area… hahahahaha… I feel we are trying not to be any good. It's not like football. HS baseball is irrelevant when it comes to recruiting. College baseball is playing at the same time as HS baseball. Coaches don't go watch them play in season. All recruiting is done thru travel baseball. You don't need a bunch of contacts in the area. Just get to know some of the good travel programs and work the juco and transfer portal.
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Post by unabalch on Oct 12, 2022 20:57:02 GMT -6
How did exhibition vs NW shoals go this past weekend?
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Post by lion1979 on Oct 13, 2022 10:46:27 GMT -6
How did exhibition vs NW shoals go this past weekend? They split the doubleheader.
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