re: Coach Brad Bohannon has Alabama in Omaha by 2020.

Solid assistants from good programs have succeeded in this league for a long time. I'd much rather hire a well known, well respected assistant from the Cohen or Mainieri tree than somebody with no ties to the Southeast. There is a graveyard filled with coaches from other regions who came to the ACC/SEC and never figured it out (see Serrano, Dave).


- Mike Bianco, Ole Miss (hired from NW St, prior assistant to Bertman at LSU)
- Nick Mingione, Kentucky (hired from asst at MSU to Cohen)
- Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt (hired from asst at Clemson to Leggett)
- Kevin O'Sullivan, Florida (hired from asst at Clemson to Leggett)
- Butch Thompson, Auburn (hired from asst at MSU to Cohen)
- Dan McDonnell, Louisville (hired from asst at Ole Miss to Bianco)
- Brian O'Connor, Virginia (hired from asst at Notre Dame to Paul Mainieri)
- Josh Holliday, Oklahoma State (hired from asst at Vanderbilt to Corbin)
- Tim Tadlock, Texas Tech (hired from asst at Oklahoma to Galloway)

Problem is most, if not all of our targets are still playing so this might take a couple of weeks. Good problem to have, but the lack of news is frustrating.

quote:

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Greg Byrne asked for an update on baseball coaching search: "We've decided we're going to hire a head coach."

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I imagine this is going to be a tight lipped search.

As noted my CapstoneGrad06 I wanted us to hire Brad Bohannon this time last year, so he's still my #1 choice (among realistic options - we aren't getting a Dan McDonnell type)

Timing is a huge deal as so many promising young coaches have moved on just in the last two years:

Butch Thompson
Nick Mingione
Andy Cannizaro
Travis Jewett
Monte Lee

But ideally Brad Bohannon checks pretty much all the marks for me:

*10+ years experience in the SEC almost all as a Recruiting Coordinator
*ties all over the deep south, midwest and even Canada
*not a pitching coach background
*young and energetic

I'd much rather have a coach with a decade or more experience as an Assistant (and Recruiting Coordinator) in the SEC/ACC/Big 12 than some head coach at a directional school that gets to a couple Regionals. So much different building a program at that level than the major 4 conferences: SEC/ACC/Big 12/Pac 12. And we saw a lot of that with Greg Goff - he was clearly a decent coach just a TERRIBLE fit at UA/big boys. It's just much different at this level - esp with the the "no cut" rule that ultimately gave Byrne enough reason to fire Goff after just one year.

@nextlevelbb (twitter account with 15.2k followers)

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Just heard from reliable sources Arizona's Jay Johnson will be offered the Alabama job and UNO's Blake Dean will be offered UNF job.

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I know nothing about college baseball out west but was is the allure for Jay Johnson to relocate after having been out there his whole life to Alabama? It can't be as simple as we offer him that much more money. Does Arizona not have good facilities and resources?

And he could just be using an Alabama job offer to leverage Arizona for more money - I'm not implying he has no interest in the Alabama job, just that it's a scenario that could end up playing out.


That being said, he'd be a great hire but I wouldn't lie about having some reservations about hiring someone with zero experience in this region of the country - but he's at least from a Pac 12 program with a history of success not some johnny-come-lately directional California school that plays small ball.

We just hired Brad Bohannon

Strong hire, but that is one goofy looking SOB.

Absolutely

INCREDIBLE HIRE!

BOOM!