re: Texas A&M hires hitting coach Michael Earley

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Everything the two of you do is a reaction to something the other has done, and it never gets you anywhere.

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I wouldn’t quite say that. A&M had a phenomenal year, so Texas took their coach. That should improve our baseball program and set A&M’s back. As a reaction A&M went on a coaching search, and hired an assistant which probably won’t improve their program from its 2024 season.

Now if you’re talking about the posters, well it’s a message board….

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Your choice wasn’t retread or no tread. There were plenty of other good coaches out there in the middle.

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ColoradoAg was telling us last night that they rejected both the coaches of Oklahoma and Wake Forest.

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ColoradoAg was telling us last night that they rejected both the coaches of Oklahoma and Wake Forest.

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Actually they did. Skip is a loser, and I have no idea why the WF baseball coach was rejected. Earley may not work out, but if he does we will have him a very long time. And at least we have a team …

Funny thing is I heard some of Texas’ best players will be coming our way because they hate the PoS.

Time Factor.
aTm was only D1 school w opening(ok, only Power5;).
Everyone was in their 4th of July places.
UofA been there, done that.
Won’t work….but….Smile!

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It's a panic move

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I don't see it as that. But there certainly was a sense of urgency based on the portal. They couldn't have let this go on for another week or 2.

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keep the roster intact.

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That obviously played a big part. And it's a pretty good roster and great start for a 1st-time coach.

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You don't let players and families dictate how you run your program.

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Of course not. Especially the families. But they'd be crazy to not at least hear what the players have to say. If you are hiring someone and getting references for them, ignoring the people that literally worked with him every day would be silly. I'm sure that wasn't the only factor, though. I'm Trev called around and discovered that Earley was a highly respected coach amongst other coaches. I'm sure he was told by people he respected that Earley was a future head coach and would be one eventually, whether that was at A&M or somewhere else.

And the former players and boosters wanting him factored in. Keeping the fanbase bought in will keep the money flowing in, and you keep the momentum going of the best state of the program in its history. Again, the players wanting him can't be the only factor, it can't be the main factor, but it is a factor. And you keep some of the studs away Austin and make Schloss's rebuild at UT take a little bit longer. With the hit his rep took, I think he's going to have more problems recruiting in the short-term than he would have if A&M had lost in the regional or Super and he had taken the job then.

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We also don't know how many coaches turned them down.

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I'm sure a few. Reports that he went hard after Vitello and the coach at Virginia. I'm sure you could add OU's coach and a couple more too. And they may have been more willing to listen if it weren't the end of June. I've always said that we really underestimate how much timing plays a factor in coaching changes. I think it's more important than money a lot of times. The only "big name" hires he could have made are already at good and established programs. Otherwise, they wouldn't be "big name" coaches.

And uprooting your family, your assistant coaches' families, working for an AD you don't know, and taking over a new program with the whole roster in the portal is probably not that appealing on June 30th. It would be a complete rebuild for a coach who's already built his current program into a championship level one. Is that worth an extra $500k/year? If that's what they were even offering. Apparently not.

I don't think this was "panic" or "knee jerk." It was prudent. Timing was of the essence, and they went with a guy everybody likes, that is obviously a good baseball coach, and who will keep the momentum of the program going for at least a little while. The big question is how he is as running a program. It's a lot different than being a good assistant. And being a good recruiter is a lot easier when you are recruiting for a HC with skins on the wall. He may be great at it or he may flame out. But an advantage of hiring him is he won't cost as much, will have a lower buyout, and they can cut bait quickly and do a longer, more proper search at the 1st sign that he can't handle the job and then maybe get their long term guy. Or he could stay at A&M for the next 20 years and have them as perennial CWS participants. Who knows.

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Tony Vitello

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Assistant coach for 15 years, including stops at Mizzou, TCU, and Arkansas, with 1 World Series.

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Kevin O’Sullivan

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Assistant coach for 15 years, including stops at Virgina and Clemson, with 3 World Series.

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Brian O’Connor (UVA)

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Assistant coach at Notre Dame for 8 years, with 1 World Series.

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Tim Corbin (Vandy)

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Assistant coach at Clemson for 8 years, with 4 college World Series.

Early has 8 years as an assistant coach (5 at Arizona State and 3 at TAMU) and 2 World Series, both at TAMU.

So in all reality, that is close to O'Connor at UVA.

That is one hire that worked out that is most similar to what TAMU just did.

Here are some cautionary tales:

Ole Miss hired assistant coach Matt Luke because that's what they players and recruits wanted. It did not work out.

Mississippi State hired assistant coach Zach Arnett because that's what they players and recruits wanted. It did not work out.

Maybe it will work out for TAMU.

I'm excited by the hire.. it's risky but there's an immediate payoff (higher retention of current players) and a real long term shot for hiring an exciting young up and comer.

Make no bones about it, and no matter what others says, Schloss left A&M in a tricky situation. I honestly don't believe Schloss was trying to overly sabotage the A&M program beyond much more than getting to texas with CDC as his boss. The complexity of his situation was magnified by the fact A&M made such a deep run in Omaha. He might have started recruiting for another team early but that's pure speculation at this point and probably not something anyone is ever going to prove.

If the Aggies get eliminated in the regional this is no where near as controversial as things have played out this last week.. although there's obviously still some controversy with any HC leaving a program for their rival school. That shite doesn't really happen too often.

All that being said, A&M was relatively hand cuffed and had a week to open their hiring process before the transfer portal closes on 7/2. And contary to what Schloss/CDC will have you believe, the process is a bit more involved than meeting up at a local graveyard and getting a new deal banged out over a quick handshake in less than a few hours. But I respect the game there.

A&M takes it shot with the bigger names as it should.. I was surprised Tony V gave it much thought to be honest. But with the limited time (we need guys answers and we needed those answers yesterday), you're not getting a full run hiring/interview process - you're hiring off of an hour or two conversation with someone you likely just met this week. And you're probably not going to immediately uproot an established coach who will want time to go back and forth with their current program to get the best deal for them.

In the meantime Earley has crushed his interview with Alberts and checks all the boxes for a younger/talented guy looking to break out with major support from his previous roster. Maybe we get a Vaughn type coach if we are given a full hiring cycle, but realistically we're probably looking at a Skip Johnson type hire to fill the hole in our given situation. So all due respect to Skip and the like, but I'm glad we are taking the shot we are with Earley.

I'm sure some of yall will get your kicks watching this all play out as it has. But I think we're going to have a better idea of the direction this hire will go as Early looks to fill his coaching cabinet in the coming days. All things considered, I'm excited to see how this plays out and am glad yall are having a good time of it as well, lol.

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I don't think his reputation took as much of a hit as some people think.

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I actually think it took more of a hit.