Fayetteville Regional thread—-Baseball

[Doc Hogaday]

This may be misinterpreted but I truly mean just about that comment, very Nuttish.

It's a bitter moment for all of us, so maybe I will regret even saying that in hindsight.

Kinda agreed.

If he is on the fence about retiring, I would rather him go now and hire a coach when we're coming off a season where we were #1 for a good portion of it...versus mail in next season and then try to hire a coach back when we're middle of the pack. We caught lightning in a bottle w/ the original Petrino hire and the Calipari hire, inheriting a shitty roster and no roster, respectively. We can't always count on that.

Granted, baseball facilities and fan support are a huge draw here vs what the rest of the country has for any coach.

That said, hopefully he gets a little more fire back in his belly and comes back for 2-3 years and wins one. He deserves it.

[jdcatty]

Kinda agreed.

If he is on the fence about retiring, I would rather him go now and hire a coach when we're coming off a season where we were #1 for a good portion of it...versus mail in next season and then try to hire a coach back when we're middle of the pack. We caught lightning in a bottle w/ the original Petrino hire and the Calipari hire, inheriting a shitty roster and no roster, respectively. We can't always count on that.

Granted, baseball facilities and fan support are a huge draw here vs what the rest of the country has for any coach.

That said, hopefully he gets a little more fire back in his belly and comes back for 2-3 years and wins one. He deserves it.

I agree he deserves it.  I just hope he has that fire in his belly.

[Barton Fink]

I wonder if DVH is considering retiring.  A friend of mine knows him pretty well and talked to him for a while at the SEC Tournament last week. He said DVH seemed down then. But he loves his grandkids (and said he wants lots more), and made some comments about not being able to spend time with them. 

Just a thought.  Nothing concrete at all

I could see that being the thing that pulls him away. I also think he would give anything to win a title. Lot of struggle between those 2 emotions.

[piglosopher]

I would add, unless it's a total collapse which I don't see happening, DVH has earned to go out on his own terms.

I also can't ever see him mailing it in.

This is the wildness of post season baseball and it sucks to be on this end of it.

[Cardiac Hog]

Record at Baum when Razorbacks are the visiting team = 0-2 this season

[Borenutz]

Absolutely agree with you on that. The comment that I didn't like was something to the effect of we don't have good athletes and we need to get some guys who are better athletes. 

While that statement is true, I don't like the implication. It kind of absolves the coaches of any responsibility. If these guys aren't good enough athletes, then don't recruit them. Don't get to this point and then blame them.

He mentioned 4 high school guys they didn't get who were athletes with speed, which I assume got drafted but idk. I didn't take it as much of a knock against our team as some guys they didn't get who could have helped his overall strategy and where he wants to go.

[Thin Red Swine]

He mentioned 4 high school guys they didn't get who were athletes with speed, which I assume got drafted but idk. I didn't take it as much of a knock against our team as some guys they didn't get who could have helped his overall strategy and where he wants to go.

He said they need better athletes. "Better" is a comparative adjective.

Maybe he didn't mean it to sound that way, and maybe he should've cut the entire press conference short and just said they need to "take some time to evaluate the roster and any philosophy adjustments."

[Cardiac Hog]

Those athletes had us as the #5 national seed. 

We have been the highest seed knocked out of the regionals the past 2 years (#5 in 2024, #3 in 2023). 

Dave Van Choke, indeed!

[BASS]

The entire team got worse from march to June.

Hitting was never great but tanked. Thompson has to go.

The pitching was top notch, then faded like a fart in the wind.

I think we practice too much or too hard and don't get enough rest.

We look fatigued which exacerbates our weaknesses and diminishes our strengths.

The hitting stats of transfers posted earlier is pretty damning.

Maybe it's time for Dave to retire.

[TC]

I would add, unless it's a total collapse which I don't see happening, DVH has earned to go out on his own terms.

I also can't ever see him mailing it in.

This is the wildness of post season baseball and it sucks to be on this end of it.

This is why we're the program we are, in totality. Football, baseball, basketball...doesn't matter. We get attention on the national stage and piss our boots in excitement for getting noticed.

"He deserves it," is loser mentality.  Now I do agree that you don't run a NCAA HoF coach off tomorrow morning, but Im also scratching my head wondering why he "deserves it". For winning what exactly?  Those big recruiting classes and top 5 rankings? Sorry, but those aren't bringing home any hardware.

DVH is a great ambassador for the game and for the University, and he's well respected. If we want a figurehead then boy we have him in spades. HY needs to offer him a golden parachute with all the parades and accolades, and give him a lifetime box.

[RazorB]

I do like DVH but giving him three years to decide if he wants to coach or retire is a recipe for disaster.

That's not fair to fans or players.

[piglosopher]

This is why we're the program we are, in totality. Football, baseball, basketball...doesn't matter. We get attention on the national stage and piss our boots in excitement for getting noticed.

"He deserves it," is loser mentality.  Now I do agree that you don't run a NCAA HoF coach off tomorrow morning, but Im also scratching my head wondering why he "deserves it". For winning what exactly?  Those big recruiting classes and top 5 rankings? Sorry, but those aren't bringing home any hardware.

DVH is a great ambassador for the game and for the University, and he's well respected. If we want a figurehead then boy we have him in spades. HY needs to offer him a golden parachute with all the parades and accolades, and give him a lifetime box.

So we're the buffalo bills of college baseball. I get it, we're all frustrated. Moving on from dvh is no guarantee that changes for the better, in all likelihood, for the worse.

Near a decade of dominating the toughest baseball conference . #1 recruiting classes and #1 rankings. Still looking to get better and utilize whatever analytics and tools available.

He keeps that up, you just hope it can finally happen. He loses the fire then I agree (so does he probably) that it's time to hang it up.

This isn't a Nutt, happy with 8-5, golden parachute situation.

[DrMongoose]

Agree but at some point coaches coach and players play.
I'm certain Diggs wasn't coached to watch two right down the middle and then try to hit a ball on his shoelaces.
Aloy sure as hell wasn't coached to swing at a ball two feet over his head.

Ag

Not crazy about the comments about the players honestly. Our coaches recruited them. Don't blame the players now.

Agree, if the coach keeps putting the player in the same situation and keeps getting the same subpar results or expects a different result suddenly - that is on the coach. It is pelfrey-esque.

And if a coach doesn't have a better option to put out there, that is on the coach too since he controls the roster.

This team seemed to a) lack a leader and b) play with any emotion or passion (other than Holt).

I do think we are frustrated and the past few seasons the team just has not passed the eye test compared to what we seen in the past.

Baseball is hard, but maybe all the nice facilities have dulled our edge?

[Doc Hogaday]

"He deserves it," is loser mentality.  Now I do agree that you don't run a NCAA HoF coach off tomorrow morning, but Im also scratching my head wondering why he "deserves it". For winning what exactly?  Those big recruiting classes and top 5 rankings? Sorry, but those aren't bringing home any hardware.

Because you dipshit he had one won and dipshit Shaddy lost it for him, the team, and all of us trying to be a dipshit hero.

Tell us your great dipshit plan.

[BleedinRed]

https://x.com/choatemason/status/1797398043546771655?s=46&t=lD8yygcF-k5I6Qnx3SfeHw

"We've got to get a little better athlete."

WTF?   We recruit top talent every year.   Nate is the common denominator.  

[hit_that_line]

He's right we are very average talent wise outside of Gaeckle and Smith.

[Feral]

This team seemed to a) lack a leader and b) play with any emotion or passion (other than Holt).

DVH talked at several points in the season about how he challenged the team because they were "boring" and had no energy or identity. Hence the stupid gorilla doll and mask for home runs they came up with, which is funny in retrospect given how piss poor our offense was.

I thought that maybe that boring, workman-like grind mentality might pay off for us in the postseason because we've seen high passion teams flame out (2022 Tennessee). But alas it didn't. I think you actually need that energy to refuel you in the postseason. 

That was one of the issues with this team. No leadership and no fire. Just felt like — offensively anyway — some guys were playing with an eye cast toward the draft.

Diggs was the baseball equivalent of Bumper Pool's football captaincy when he was our worst defensive player.

When recruiting the portal, I'm hoping DVH goes out and gets some high energy guys with leadership potential. Josenberger last year was a great example of what we need. Experienced hitter, good fielder, speedy, and respected vocal leader. Hate that we lost him to the draft last year, because he also could've solved our gaping hole in the outfield.

[Feral]

Back to the "who do we have coming back" discussion.

Position players
C - Helfrick
1B - Robinett (redshirted)
2B - ?
SS - Aloy
3B - Souza (or plays 2B)
LF - Edmunson & Jones
CF - ?
RF - Diggs (may be gone per DVH)

Pitchers
Gaeckle (probable starter)
Wood (probable starter)
Fisher (potential starter)
Bybee (potential starter)
Foutch
Coil
Hachman
Dossett
Faherty (?)
Carter (?)

All in all, I don't hate the pitching we have coming back. However, we have a shitload of holes all over our lineup, with Aloy likely being the only everyday player returning.

Better go recruit some bats because we have a lot of holes in the lineup to fill, and basically no depth.

[animal]

Isn't this just a nice cap on a really shitty academic year for us? I mean how many programs manage to hit for the triple crown of failed expectations? 

I'm not a big baseball fan but I do think DVH deserves to leave on his own terms, but we all know that's not how this works. There is an economy of expectations in addition to the on-the-field expectations. It only looks bad because our expectations are Omaha every year. We are "nationally competitive" each season but have flopped of late and probably need to make some staff changes like new hitting coach. Would be nice if we could get a chicken man for the baseball program too...maybe buy some guys that would otherwise be in the minor leagues. E.G...get some better athletes.

I know whatever revenue Baum brings in traditionally in the post season is a drop in the bucket but certainly has to hurt somewhere when we flop in the early going of the tournament. When we're good and winning an easy regional we're a lock for a super regional most years. That's not just our games that's hosting other games so it's a lot of gate fees not being collected. A lot of concessions not being sold etc. A lot of opportunity for ESPN to ignore us.

[BleedinRed]

DVH isn't and shouldn't be going anywhere.  Any suggestion to the counter is dumb. 

We need to get back to Omaha to though.