[Surly Official Firing Squad] David Pierce Has Left The Building - FIRED

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

3 hours ago, Bevo20 said:

Assuming, or hypothetically if CDC fires Pierce after the season. Who would be the candidates to replace him? Schlossnagle? O'Sullivan? Who else?

Hypothetically, he's not getting fired. Even if he was, these two aren't coming here. 

Those names were dropped last time we were hiring. While they were BOTH in the mix to get to the CWS (which they did) and that IS NOT the way to do do things. Result of that for them and a few others, was big RAISES.

43 minutes ago, Bevo20 said:

Anyone subscribe to d1baseball.com? If anyone would know who would be a potential candidate for Texas, if the job should become available, it would be Kendall Rogers. It would be interesting to pose that question to him.

Seriously?? DO NOT do this... last thing we need right NOW is some idiot here asking this question to d1baseball.

34 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

Kendall is a good guy but he isn’t going to know jack shit.

For an aggy ...

 

 

[Fletch 5800]

1 hour ago, Dbeasy said:

Yea I stand corrected. I was going from memory and his similar six year stretch wasn’t the last six. It’s a few years off. The point I was trying to make is that Augie at the end was not leading a competitive program, and Piece still hasn’t returned it to the stronger performance of the earlier Augie and Gus years. Maybe the program never gets back to that. 

Are you talking ‘06-‘12 or ‘13 then? Those were some rough years. Still won the conference I think 5 of those years. But the drop off was significant after the ‘10 team lost in the supers. Went from Rupp behind the plate to Jacob Felts. Our starting rotation of Jungmann, Cole and Workman went to, well, Jungmann and I honestly can’t remember who else. Huge talent drop off either way. And the 2011 team couldn’t hit a beach ball. It’s pretty close between the ‘11 and ‘14 teams being Augie’s best last team. But yeah it got real shitty real fast after 2010

Edited March 4 by Fletch

[Had Enough 2079]

What’s the reason behind this?

We walked 8 LSU guys. Gave up 6 runs.

Walked 2 Bobcats. They scored 11.

Walked 1 Commodore. Score 14 in only 8 innings.

[ClubWhatever 12120]

3 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

What’s the reason behind this?

We walked 8 LSU guys. Gave up 6 runs.

Walked 2 Bobcats. They scored 11.

Walked 1 Commodore. Score 14 in only 8 innings.

We threw a lot of fat pitches in those second two games.   If you can't hit your spots then high 80s/low 90s doesn't work anymore.

[Spaceman_Spiff 121]

We won’t and shouldn’t fire Pierce this year, obviously. A repeat of 2019 puts him on a very hot seat, but I think anything else and he’s ok. Though I do think CDC starts to look at available names because after next year we’ll likely either need to extend or fire him.

I’ve been adamant for a long time that Pierce has been a poor recruiter (though great eye for pitching and coach). In his tenure our HS recruiting rankings have averaged 25th in the nation on PerfectGame. We’re out-recruited every year by teams we think we should be on par with or beating: Vandy, LSU, Tennessee, TCU, Arkansas, Florida, Texas Tech, A&M…The 2021 class, which should have multiple senior players leading this team a la Hansen, Faltine, Zubia, Campbell landed at 97th and may not have a single meaningful contributor if Harrison doesn’t recover.

‘21-‘22 were great because we had a solid, senior HS core and hit on multiple all-star JUCOs/transfers. Now, with injuries and recruiting it could be a rebuild this year (though I’m waiting to see how the next 3 weeks or so go).

BUT, I do think there are several promising signs. Our past two classes have been better and ‘24 and ‘25 are ranked 3rd in the country (the first time that Pierce classes even sniffed the top 5). That plus better NIL performance and I think we can improve quickly.

[BurntOrange&White 39930]

TCU's coach is worth taking a gander out when we can Pierce's bitch ass...has familiarity with CDC

[B00M 6414]

4 hours ago, Spaceman_Spiff said:

We won’t and shouldn’t fire Pierce this year, obviously. A repeat of 2019 puts him on a very hot seat, but I think anything else and he’s ok. Though I do think CDC starts to look at available names because after next year we’ll likely either need to extend or fire him.

I’ve been adamant for a long time that Pierce has been a poor recruiter (though great eye for pitching and coach). In his tenure our HS recruiting rankings have averaged 25th in the nation on PerfectGame. We’re out-recruited every year by teams we think we should be on par with or beating: Vandy, LSU, Tennessee, TCU, Arkansas, Florida, Texas Tech, A&M…The 2021 class, which should have multiple senior players leading this team a la Hansen, Faltine, Zubia, Campbell landed at 97th and may not have a single meaningful contributor if Harrison doesn’t recover.

‘21-‘22 were great because we had a solid, senior HS core and hit on multiple all-star JUCOs/transfers. Now, with injuries and recruiting it could be a rebuild this year (though I’m waiting to see how the next 3 weeks or so go).

BUT, I do think there are several promising signs. Our past two classes have been better and ‘24 and ‘25 are ranked 3rd in the country (the first time that Pierce classes even sniffed the top 5). That plus better NIL performance and I think we can improve quickly.

What were DP’s prior classes ranked prior to the draft? Is there reason to believe these next 2 classes won’t be gutted by the draft? 

[Hookem2147 21200]

4 hours ago, Spaceman_Spiff said:

The 2021 class, which should have multiple senior players leading this team a la Hansen, Faltine, Zubia, Campbell landed at 97th and may not have a single meaningful contributor if Harrison doesn’t recover.

The 2021 class is in their 3rd season on campus. They wouldn’t be seniors. We only signed 9 players in that class because a) it was the Covid class where you couldn’t evaluate on or off campus for the entire year and b) we were returning 90% of our team from 2021 and didn’t have many spots open. Covid killed classes nationwide. LSU’s class ranked 4th and the second best player they signed was Grant Fontenot.

PG rewards team that oversign every year. It’s a point based system. It’s why Tech is always up there. They sign 22 guys every year and then cut half of them after fall ball.

[Rockethorn1978 6072]

Whoever the best coach in college baseball is we give him a call first. 

[Hookem2147 21200]

12 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Whoever the best coach in college baseball is we give him a call first. 

Hahahahaha

We. Are. Texas!

[ztejas 43414]

I don't think we're in "Fire Pierce" territory but I'll remind everyone that we basically went into last season without any established late-relief or closing pitching and paid the price for it quite a few times over the season. We had to get hot on the road in Coral Gables to get to a Super and obviously came up a bit short of a CWS trip.

We appear to be worse from a pitching standpoint this season (not that the overall #s wound up being terrible last season) and on top of it appear to have absolute dick at catcher. 

The bats clearly have some pop - which might help this team's ceiling out - but so far the defense is way below what it should ever look like at Texas and the pitching isn't far behind. 

Whether DP can coach or not (and he obviously can) he can't keep going into seasons at fucking TEXAS with bizarre roster holes. I'm willing to write off a rebuild year or a down season but this is back-to-back seasons where we are seriously lacking at key positions. You can make whatever excuses you want as to why, but ultimately it's DP's job to put the roster together and the fact is he hasn't delivered to what the standard should be at Texas the past couple seasons.

Someone mentioned our '24 and '25 classes are ranked more highly so maybe this thing gets turned around going into the SEC but as of now shit isn't exactly trending in the right direction. 

[B00M 6414]

1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

It’s why Tech is always up there. They sign 22 guys every year and then cut half of them after fall ball.

If this is accepted practice why the fuck don’t we do it? Between injuries, head cases, and busts, if you want an elite group of players you need to start with a ton of dudes

[Hookem2147 21200]

3 minutes ago, B00M said:

If this is accepted practice why the fuck don’t we do it? Between injuries, head cases, and busts, if you want an elite group of players you need to start with a ton of dudes

It is not really an accepted practice and Tadlock has gotten blasted on it the last few years. It has cost him some players. His recruiting practices is the reason Ivan Melendez ended up at Texas and not Texas Tech. That was an all-time screw-up.

But we did oversign a tad this year and had to cut 4-5 freshman. It's just not something you want to get in the habit of doing yearly. 

Edited March 4 by Hookem2147

[NorthLoop 14183]

2 minutes ago, B00M said:

If this is accepted practice why the fuck don’t we do it? Between injuries, head cases, and busts, if you want an elite group of players you need to start with a ton of dudes

I think what he's saying is that this works out well for them in the recruiting rankings but in the end it doesn't help them on the field. 

[B00M 6414]

19 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

but in the end it doesn't help them on the field. 

How could it possibly not help on the field? 

[WBT 20561]

2 hours ago, ztejas said:

Whether DP can coach or not (and he obviously can) he can't keep going into seasons at fucking TEXAS with bizarre roster holes. I'm willing to write off a rebuild year or a down season but this is back-to-back seasons where we are seriously lacking at key positions. You can make whatever excuses you want as to why, but ultimately it's DP's job to put the roster together and the fact is he hasn't delivered to what the standard should be at Texas the past couple seasons.

Well said and my biggest complaint with DP.  We never seem to have enough guys that look good enough to play at Texas.

[Cairn Horn88 8260]

Whatever position we are in…it’s because of the head coach….period…

[Brandywine 1316]

When Angie was coaching and he would have situations like this of losing those early games, I would just say he's tweaking the team to get ready for conference and sometimes you lose those games. And then Texas would do well, even going deep into the tournament and CWS. Not sure there is the same confidence with David and whether are not he can win a National Championship at Texas. 

[Fletch 5800]

30 minutes ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

Whatever position we are in…it’s because of the head coach….period…

So DP personally ripped off Mercers arm off and make Luke Storm quit like a bitch? Those 2 would’ve seriously helped last weekend 

Edited March 4 by Fletch

[B00M 6414]

21 minutes ago, Brandywine said:

When Angie was coaching and he would have situations like this of losing those early games, I would just say he's tweaking the team to get ready for conference and sometimes you lose those games. And then Texas would do well, even going deep into the tournament and CWS. Not sure there is the same confidence with David and whether are not he can win a National Championship at Texas. 

this is a romanticized recollection of Augie. Starting the year after his last championship…

2006: 41-21, B12 champs, lost in Austin Regional

2007: 46-17, B12 champs, lost in Austin Regional (at Dell)

2008: 38-22, 5th in B12, lost in Rice Regional 

2009: 50-16-1, B12 champs, CWS, National Runner up (LSU)

2010: 50-13, B12 champs, lost in Austin Supers (TCU)

2011: 49-19, B12 champs, CWS (0-2)

2012: 30-22, 3rd in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

2013: 27-24, LAST in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

2014: 46-21, 5th in B12, CWS, finished ~3rd

2015: 30-27, 5th in B12, lost in Dallas Baptist regional

2016: 25-32, 7th in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

So in Augie’s final 11 seasons, we missed the tournament 3 times and reached the CWS 3 times. 

David Pierce’s 7 seasons (6 if you remove the covid year we started 14-3) have produced 3 CWS appearances and he’s missed the tournament once. 

Claiming DP isn’t meeting our standard is ignorant and arguably fucking regarded. Like, a brief review of our last 20 years of results should probably be required before people post here. 

 

[petscii 1189]

25 minutes ago, B00M said:

this is a romanticized recollection of Augie. Starting the year after his last championship…

2006: 41-21, B12 champs, lost in Austin Regional

2007: 46-17, B12 champs, lost in Austin Regional (at Dell)

2008: 38-22, 5th in B12, lost in Rice Regional 

2009: 50-16-1, B12 champs, CWS, National Runner up (LSU)

2010: 50-13, B12 champs, lost in Austin Supers (TCU)

2011: 49-19, B12 champs, CWS (0-2)

2012: 30-22, 3rd in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

2013: 27-24, LAST in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

2014: 46-21, 5th in B12, CWS, finished ~3rd

2015: 30-27, 5th in B12, lost in Dallas Baptist regional

2016: 25-32, 7th in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

So in Augie’s final 11 seasons, we missed the tournament 3 times and reached the CWS 3 times. 

David Pierce’s 7 seasons (6 if you remove the covid year we started 14-3) have produced 3 CWS appearances and he’s missed the tournament once. 

Claiming DP isn’t meeting our standard is ignorant and arguably fucking regarded. Like, a brief review of our last 20 years of results should probably be required before people post here. 

 

The stat about Augie and "standard" is that we went over 700 days (non covid related season ending bullshit) without a conference series win.

Pierce is doing fine.

 

[Fletch 5800]

@B00M I hate you so much right now. ‘06-‘08 hurt so fucking bad. ‘06 and ‘08 would’ve done some serious damage in Omaha. Same with the 2010 team. Still can’t believe the drop off from 2010-2012. Did Augie think he could just remake the T-Nic days instead of recruiting the Cameron Rupp, Kevin Keyes,Brandon Belt and Russell Moldenhaur’s of the world, 2 years later we have Felts, Walsh, Etier, Marlow (who was kind of a beast but inconsistent that year). IIRC, our strategy in 2012 was “just wait till Payton and Weiss are up. A hit or walk from anyone else is just gravy.” What a fun time that was 

[BERT 4358]

15 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

We threw a lot of fat pitches in those second two games.   If you can't hit your spots then high 80s/low 90s doesn't work anymore.

I hated my high school coach but one thing he did always say right while we were pitching was "get ahead, stay ahead". Still holds true and we aren't doing that

[BERT 4358]

2 hours ago, Brandywine said:

When Angie was coaching and he would have situations like this of losing those early games, I would just say he's tweaking the team to get ready for conference and sometimes you lose those games. And then Texas would do well, even going deep into the tournament and CWS. Not sure there is the same confidence with David and whether are not he can win a National Championship at Texas. 

[B00M 6414]

2006-2008 we were still basking in the warm glow of the championships and playing at a consistently high level. 2014 and 2021 were the ones that hurt me the most because we’ve wandered in the wilderness and the team was so insanely close to dog piling in Omaha. 

[freyguy 4265]

1 hour ago, B00M said:

this is a romanticized recollection of Augie. Starting the year after his last championship…

2006: 41-21, B12 champs, lost in Austin Regional

2007: 46-17, B12 champs, lost in Austin Regional (at Dell)

2008: 38-22, 5th in B12, lost in Rice Regional 

2009: 50-16-1, B12 champs, CWS, National Runner up (LSU)

2010: 50-13, B12 champs, lost in Austin Supers (TCU)

2011: 49-19, B12 champs, CWS (0-2)

2012: 30-22, 3rd in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

2013: 27-24, LAST in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

2014: 46-21, 5th in B12, CWS, finished ~3rd

2015: 30-27, 5th in B12, lost in Dallas Baptist regional

2016: 25-32, 7th in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

So in Augie’s final 11 seasons, we missed the tournament 3 times and reached the CWS 3 times. 

David Pierce’s 7 seasons (6 if you remove the covid year we started 14-3) have produced 3 CWS appearances and he’s missed the tournament once. 

Claiming DP isn’t meeting our standard is ignorant and arguably fucking regarded. Like, a brief review of our last 20 years of results should probably be required before people post here. 

 

[Helobious 9451]

How hard is it to be a baseball manager beyond high school anyway? Everyone (should) know all the fundamentals beyond that level and works with specific coaches to tweak their game. I mean all you’re doing is putting together lineups and depth charts, I could do that and lead a winning team. I guess the only different animal is recruiting in the college game

[Hookem2147 21200]

4 minutes ago, Helobious said:

How hard is it to be a baseball manager beyond high school anyway? Everyone (should) know all the fundamentals beyond that level and works with specific coaches to tweak their game. I mean all you’re doing is putting together lineups and depth charts, I could do that and lead a winning team. I guess the only different animal is recruiting in the college game

Yeah, recruiting is about 85% of the college game. Finding the balance between recruiting guys you know will make it to campus vs draft risks, managing 11.7 scholarships, increasing or decreasing a kids scholarship once they are on campus, managing the portal, managing the JUCO ranks, knowing which guys off your current team might get drafted and properly filling holes a year or two in advance, keeping the freshman backup happy as a senior transfer plays in front of him, managing the ego of a kid and his “advisor”.

But yes, other than that, piece of cake.

Edited March 4 by Hookem2147

[petscii 1189]

4 minutes ago, Helobious said:

How hard is it to be a baseball manager beyond high school anyway? Everyone (should) know all the fundamentals beyond that level and works with specific coaches to tweak their game. I mean all you’re doing is putting together lineups and depth charts, I could do that and lead a winning team. I guess the only different animal is recruiting in the college game

In before the fire Helobious thread. 

[Henry Hill 3156]

Y’all want to fire a coach who has taken us to the CWS 3 times in 6 seasons?

[Dbeasy 15042]

8 minutes ago, Henry Hill said:

Y’all want to fire a coach who has taken us to the CWS 3 times in 6 seasons?

I think the mental challenge is the fact that the program historically had very good success getting to the CWS, and when Augie let the program slip for several years, Pierce hasn’t quite gotten back to where it was. As other posters have mentioned, maybe it’s unrealistic in today’s sports to get back to that, but it’s still a hard pill to swallow. 

[TwiceHorn 31440]

8 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

I think the mental challenge is the fact that the program historically had very good success getting to the CWS, and when Augie let the program slip for several years, Pierce hasn’t quite gotten back to where it was. As other posters have mentioned, maybe it’s unrealistic in today’s sports to get back to that, but it’s still a hard pill to swallow. 

And Cliff let the program slide at the end too. And Augie had some trouble getting it back going. Shit happens. 

But there may be some indications... 

[Horn80 6114]

DP is doing fine.  Amazing how fast people forget about how Texas beat ECU and Miami and fought back at Stanford only to lose because the players couldn’t see the ball which you can’t fault them for, possibly another return to CWS last year but for bad break.  The season is young and I’m not ready to throw in the towel because losing three games in a row.  

[MontereyMX 869]

1 hour ago, Henry Hill said:

Y’all want to fire a coach who has taken us to the CWS 3 times in 6 seasons?

hell no, just the pitching coach!

[Fletch 5800]

3 hours ago, BERT said:

I hated my high school coach but one thing he did always say right while we were pitching was "get ahead, stay ahead". Still holds true and we aren't doing that

My head coach when we would be in a 0-2 or 1-2 counts and one of us would try to spin a curve into the dirt or a slider that ends up in the lefties batter box. He’d yell “GOD DAMMIT THROW STRIKES!!!! Basically meaning fuck that off speed shit. Toss a fastball or change over the place. With a pitcher friendly count. Couldn’t believe my ears. 

[Fletch 5800]

12 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

TCU's coach is worth taking a gander out when we can Pierce's bitch ass...has familiarity with CDC

We’re not canning him dude. Seriously do you watch Texas baseball? We’ve started this way pretty much every year Pierce has been here. Talk to me in mid April. I’ll go ahead and guess we’ll be top 3 in the conference standings by then 

Edited March 5 by Fletch

[Fletch 5800]

Also I like Witt starting Tuesday. He looked pretty good his last 2 outings. Christ if he could be just 80% of what he was in ‘21 and early ‘22, we’re in business. 

Edited March 5 by Fletch

[Helobious 9451]

1 hour ago, Fletch said:

My head coach when we would be in a 0-2 or 1-2 counts and one of us would try to spin a curve into the dirt or a slider that ends up in the lefties batter box. He’d yell “GOD DAMMIT THROW STRIKES!!!! Basically meaning fuck that off speed shit. Toss a fastball or change over the place. With a pitcher friendly count. Couldn’t believe my ears. 

I mean in high school I was pumping 95mph+ over the heart of the plate 3 straight pitches and daring fuckers to hit it. But you do you. 

[Fletch 5800]

26 minutes ago, Helobious said:

I mean in high school I was pumping 95mph+ over the heart of the plate 3 straight pitches and daring fuckers to hit it. But you do you. 

Yeah I’m sure you did. Let me guess, you had a 90 mph slider and an 81 mph circle change

[Helobious 9451]

I could actually touch 93 with my slider. And everyone in school liked me.

[Fletch 5800]

4 minutes ago, Helobious said:

I could actually touch 93 with my slider. And everyone in school liked me.

Liked you? Have they heard your opinions on, well, anything?

[BERT 4358]

39 minutes ago, Helobious said:

I could actually touch 93 with my slider. And everyone in school liked me.

Ok now we know you’re lying 

[B00M 6414]

8 hours ago, B00M said:

this is a romanticized recollection of Augie. Starting the year after his last championship…

2006: 41-21, B12 champs, lost in Austin Regional

2007: 46-17, B12 champs, lost in Austin Regional (at Dell)

2008: 38-22, 5th in B12, lost in Rice Regional 

2009: 50-16-1, B12 champs, CWS, National Runner up (LSU)

2010: 50-13, B12 champs, lost in Austin Supers (TCU)

2011: 49-19, B12 champs, CWS (0-2)

2012: 30-22, 3rd in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

2013: 27-24, LAST in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

2014: 46-21, 5th in B12, CWS, finished ~3rd

2015: 30-27, 5th in B12, lost in Dallas Baptist regional

2016: 25-32, 7th in B12, failed to make NCAA Tourney

So in Augie’s final 11 seasons, we missed the tournament 3 times and reached the CWS 3 times. 

David Pierce’s 7 seasons (6 if you remove the covid year we started 14-3) have produced 3 CWS appearances and he’s missed the tournament once. 

Claiming DP isn’t meeting our standard is ignorant and arguably fucking regarded. Like, a brief review of our last 20 years of results should probably be required before people post here. 

 

Quoting myself bc helobious 

Edited March 5 by B00M
In case anyone wants to debate

[Gatorubet 30189]

On 3/3/2024 at 6:18 PM, Bevo20 said:

Assuming, or hypothetically if CDC fires Pierce after the season. Who would be the candidates to replace him? Schlossnagle? O'Sullivan? Who else?

You shut your whore mouth!!

[ClubWhatever 12120]

It makes little sense to look at Augie's decline years for comparison purposes.  You don't get to endure a decline that long if you haven't kicked ass to earn the right.

[B00M 6414]

37 minutes ago, ClubWhatever said:

It makes little sense to look at Augie's decline years for comparison purposes.  You don't get to endure a decline that long if you haven't kicked ass to earn the right.

Counterpoint: Augie’s 1st 6 seasons: 2 CWS (1 championship), 2 missed tournaments..

regardless of the cause or duration of decline, going back to 2006 might even be generous. The players we’re recruiting weren’t alive when won our last national title.

Edited March 5 by B00M

[Braff Zacklin 13556]

That run from 2002-05 was borderline dynastic. Champs in '02, 3/4 in '03, runners-up in '04, champs again in '05.

[Beau Vine 54209]

Fuck Jared Windsor.

[ClubWhatever 12120]

^^  Hahahahaha

[Fletch 5800]

42 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

That run from 2002-05 was borderline dynastic. Champs in '02, 3/4 in '03, runners-up in '04, champs again in '05.

I’d stretch it to 2011. What, like 8 or so conference titles, what you said above, along with hosting in ‘06, ‘07 and ‘08. Runner up in ‘09. What I think was the best team in the country won the conference and drew a shitty draw for the supers. Then 2011 once again won the conference, hosted our way to Omaha and got bounced in 2 games. Hell of a 10 years