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

[ClubWhatever 12120]

Pierce at Texas is now 20-28 against the SEC

[MirrOlure 14760]

Pierce at Texas is now 20-28 against the SEC

Here’s to never experiencing a David Pierce vs the SEC regular conference season

[D3zii 3676]

I say we let CDC bring in a coach. Hes been pretty good in doing that so far 

 

Chris Beard (BBall) 🤬 but the basketball team was definitely on its way up 📈

Vic Shaffer (W.BBall) 📈

Sark (Football) 📈

Mike White (W.Softball) 📈

Coach Flo (Track)  📈

[Pam Cummings 9639]

I don't pay a lot of attention to baseball.....wtf was that....

[Bevo20 35]

Things don't get any easier going to Lubbock this weekend with Tech. They way this team is playing, Texas will be fortunate to go 1-2 there. The heat is on Pierce. The SEC's most dominate sport is definitely baseball. In the last several years, Texas has not fared well against SEC teams in baseball. As has been mentioned, Pierce is not CDC's guy, which could influence his decision. Texas needs to fortify the baseball program going into the SEC. This could get even more embarrassing than it already is as this season progresses.

[n64ra 1081]

12 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

Pierce at Texas is now 20-28 against the SEC

WTF. That won't get better if he's here in '25.

[Dbeasy 15042]

There has been a lot of defending of Pierce in this thread, which I understand. The 3 CWS appearances and Big 12 titles look okay at first glance.

But when you look at his team more closely, cracks have been emerging throughout his tenure. The inconsistency, the roster gaps, the pitching and hitting ups and downs, the performance in the CWS, the performance against good teams, the coaching hires and fires, the recruiting. He’s benefitted from the reputation of the program and that’s made his lack of performance more difficult to discern. 

[hobbes2702 13029]

2 hours ago, D3zii said:

I say we let CDC bring in a coach. Hes been pretty good in doing that so far 

 

Chris Beard (BBall) 🤬 but the basketball team was definitely on its way up 📈

Vic Shaffer (W.BBall) 📈

Sark (Football) 📈

Mike White (W.Softball) 📈

Coach Flo (Track)  📈

Who should he bring in?

[MuellerHorn 4228]

12 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

Who should he bring in?

I don’t know who he should bring in (or even who’s realistic), but I bet Kirk Saarloos would be near the top of his list. 

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

10 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

Who should he bring in?

If it were to happen....prior to being named the head coach there, he was the recruiting coordinator and pitching coach at TCU during the last 4 years (4 straight CWS and one of the best staffs in college baseball) of Del Conte's tenure at TCU... Kirk Saarloos

[MuellerHorn 4228]

1 minute ago, BillyGoatHill said:

If it were to happen....prior to being named the head coach there, he was the recruiting coordinator and pitching coach at TCU during the last 4 years (4 straight CWS and one of the best staffs in college baseball) of Del Conte's tenure at TCU... Kirk Saarloos

I’d make that trade any day. 

[Levi 2585]

58 minutes ago, Bevo20 said:

Things don't get any easier going to Lubbock this weekend with Tech. The way this team is playing, Texas will be fortunate to go 1-2 there. The heat is on Pierce. The SEC's most dominate sport is definitely baseball. In the last several years, Texas has not fared well against SEC teams in baseball. As has been mentioned, Pierce is not CDC's guy, which could influence his decision. Texas needs to fortify the baseball program going into the SEC. This could get even more embarrassing than it already is as this season progresses.

CDC isn’t going to fire him this year. It’s reasonable to think that firing Pierce this year, after making a super last year and then making the CWS in ‘21-‘22, would turn off any coach worth a damn. The only way it happens is he continues to shit the bed and a) Pierce does something off the field a la beard or b) a top 5-10 coach in the country isn’t happy and has made it known to CDC he wants to leave by seasons end. That’s it. Option B seems like it could happen with what Schloss did to Tcu but that’s rare and shouldn’t be counted on. The quickest and most logical route to Pierce being fired is continuing the downward trajectory this year and carrying it over into next year. 

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

8 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

I’d make that trade any day. 

No arguing with his resume and done in a very short time. His recruiting of that staff and their ERA, plus still now once becoming Frogs main guy. Picked 1st in the conference this year for a reason. 

 

 

 

[Had Enough 2078]

No program has failed to win the CWS once getting there more than Texas. The biggest failure for Pierce to date is not winning the CWS. He’s been reasonably on target getting to the CWS.

The biggest negative in my opinion is the staff volatility. And early returns this year are not a positive. This is certainly the worst start for the staff in recent memory. I don’t think it’s a talent issue. That’s not to say we have overwhelming talent.

But the bulk of the season is in front of us including the most important stretches. We can hit, but the big question is whether we can do it timely. We have capable high-end arms that allow you to compete in any series. Then we have guys that have contributed good innings and some other new arms so it’s about performing to their ability.

It’s baseball with many inherent ups and downs. Pierces teams have responded reasonably well in prior years. This is a low low on the brink of conference play so it’s a bit different than other years. This team goes as LBJ, Witt and Hurley go.

[TejasPedro 1857]

11 minutes ago, Levi said:

firing Pierce this year, after making a super last year and then making the CWS in ‘21-‘22, would turn off any coach worth a damn. 

That mentality is going to keep RT and DP comfortable for another three years isn’t it?

No swinging dick coach gives two shits about what happened to the last loser ass hat. They are tossing the nameplate on the door in the trash or saving it as a souvenir. 

[Levi 2585]

5 minutes ago, TejasPedro said:

That mentality is going to keep RT and DP comfortable for another three years isn’t it?

No swinging dick coach gives two shits about what happened to the last loser ass hat. They are tossing the nameplate on the door in the trash or saving it as a souvenir. 

Not necessarily. I don’t follow basketball much but keeping Terry on after he’s shown no ability to be an elite coach at previous stops other than doing it for half a season with another coaches players is entirely different. 3 CWS, a super and regional is only something Terry could dream of accomplishing in basketball terms. Why there is even a comparison of situations between Terry and Pierce is absolutely laughable. And I didn’t say 3 years of comfortably for Pierce and if the team continues playing like shit then next year his seat will be hot, not comfortable. 

[hobbes2702 13029]

38 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

I don’t know who he should bring in (or even who’s realistic), but I bet Kirk Saarloos would be near the top of his list. 

 

38 minutes ago, BillyGoatHill said:

If it were to happen....prior to being named the head coach there, he was the recruiting coordinator and pitching coach at TCU during the last 4 years (4 straight CWS and one of the best staffs in college baseball) of Del Conte's tenure at TCU... Kirk Saarloos

Thats about the only candidate that is in anyway reasonable. Obviously there’s not much time in his tenure but he is certainly promising. 
@BillyGoatHill I think you and I are mostly on the same page here. Not huge fans of DP but his performance has been pretty good. I just don’t see much reason to move on at all.

[tx 3 putt 76874]

Too much sloppy / poor fielding. That really lands on pierce and the staff 

[Revolution512 1487]

1 minute ago, tx 3 putt said:

Too much sloppy / poor fielding. That really lands on pierce and the staff 

lol that’s on players unless we are blaming the recruiting, then I’d agree.

[tx 3 putt 76874]

3 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

lol that’s on players unless we are blaming the recruiting, then I’d agree.

Coaching and practice 

[BERT 4358]

13 hours ago, MirrOlure said:

Here’s to never experiencing a David Pierce vs the SEC regular conference season

Are we going to have to read this shit for the next 2-3 years after every damn loss? He's not going anywhere anytime soon. You know it, i know it, the whole damn board knows it rather anybody likes it or not. 

[Hookem2147 21200]

If you are going to get rid of a coach who has won 3 conference titles and been to Omaha 3 times in a span of 7 seasons, the next guy better be a slam dunk.

Kirk Saarloos, who I think is a good coach, is not a slam dunk. The sample size is extremely small. Good for him for taking TCU to Omaha last season, but they were picked to win the league and then finished 4th and were on the tournament bubble heading into the season's final weeks.

[hobbes2702 13029]

17 minutes ago, BERT said:

Are we going to have to read this shit for the next 2-3 years after every damn loss? He's not going anywhere anytime soon. You know it, i know it, the whole damn board knows it rather anybody likes it or not. 

Yes. Been hearing it after every loss since he started.

[petscii 1189]

11 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

Yes. Been hearing it after every loss since he started.

This has been a specialty forever.  I am also guilty of it.  I wanted Augie fired in 1997.  I was clearly wrong to want this.  Y'all need to chill. 

It's not peak terrible yet, we won't be at complete despair until we have Cajun Horn commenting on each loss.  

Edited March 6 by petscii

[MuellerHorn 4228]

18 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

If you are going to get rid of a coach who has won 3 conference titles and been to Omaha 3 times in a span of 7 seasons, the next guy better be a slam dunk.

Kirk Saarloos, who I think is a good coach, is not a slam dunk. The sample size is extremely small. Good for him for taking TCU to Omaha last season, but they were picked to win the league and then finished 4th and were on the tournament bubble heading into the season's final weeks.

I don’t think Pierce should be fired after this season, even if Texas misses the tournament. 
 

Just throwing out a realistic name. Although, Saarloos would be a better hire than Pierce was (in terms of résumé) at the time of his hiring. 

Edited March 6 by MuellerHorn

[petscii 1189]

21 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

If you are going to get rid of a coach who has won 3 conference titles and been to Omaha 3 times in a span of 7 seasons, the next guy better be a slam dunk.

Kirk Saarloos, who I think is a good coach, is not a slam dunk. The sample size is extremely small. Good for him for taking TCU to Omaha last season, but they were picked to win the league and then finished 4th and were on the tournament bubble heading into the season's final weeks.

Saarloos went out of his way to ink a big contract with TCU and post it on twitter before we even hired Peirce.   I guess he was giving half of it to his wife anyways.. 

I like DP and would hire him for the position now if I had to do it from available candidates.   At the time of his hiring I wanted  Savage from UCLA.   He'd won it all, and he would have continued the Texas/California trips.  

On a side note, if we are in Lubbock on a pre-conference weekend in the next ten years, I'll want that coach fired reguardless of how many National Championships they have won.  

Edited March 6 by petscii

[Revolution512 1487]

35 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Coaching and practice 

If you need to teach fielding at this level you fucked up in recruiting. There’s nothing about coaching making Porter drop a pretty routine play.

[petscii 1189]

4 hours ago, D3zii said:

I say we let CDC bring in a coach. Hes been pretty good in doing that so far 

 

Chris Beard (BBall) 🤬 but the basketball team was definitely on its way up 📈

Vic Shaffer (W.BBall) 📈

Sark (Football) 📈

Mike White (W.Softball) 📈

Coach Flo (Track)  📈

CDC also gave us Rodney Terry.

[Dbeasy 15042]

13 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

If you need to teach fielding at this level you fucked up in recruiting. There’s nothing about coaching making Porter drop a pretty routine play.

Setting aside the Porter drop, it’s ridiculous to just declare that coaching has nothing to do with fielding. 

[LCHorn 2615]

1 minute ago, petscii said:

CDC also gave us Rodney Terry.

He was backed into that one.  He didn’t want to fire Beard in the first place.

I don’t want to hunt for the quote but I don’t think the next coach is going to give two shits if Pierce got fired despite some relatively recent good performance.  It’s too storied a program, too much money, too much potential-someone great will happily take that on.  

[Hookem2147 21200]

7 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

I don’t want to hunt for the quote but I don’t think the next coach is going to give two shits if Pierce got fired despite some relatively recent good performance.  It’s too storied a program, too much money, too much potential-someone great will happily take that on.  

These guys are human. They absolutely will raise an eyebrow if a successful coach is pushed out the door with an overall resume that would make 98% of schools throw a parade. And if the coach himself doesn't raise an eyebrow, his agent certainly will. 

When any school, not just Texas, shitcans a bunch of coaches in a short amount of time or shitcans one that has been pretty successful overall, candidates are going to wonder. 

The only counter-argument I'll allow is the 'you don't want to be the guy who follows the legend, you want to be the guy who follows the guy who followed the legend'.

Edited March 6 by Hookem2147

[ClubWhatever 12120]

Counterpoint:  everyone has a price

[LCHorn 2615]

2 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

And if the coach himself doesn't raise an eyebrow, his agent certainly will.

That’s what a five year contract is for and we’d want that anyway.  
 

Frankly, I’d agree with you if we are talking about Rodney Terry but racial dynamics play a part in that one, too (also the fact he’s known more for his recruiting rather than his coaching acumen-it’s just a bad look if he’s not given the opportunity to fail).  
 

Pierce is different-he’s in year 7, he’s notoriously prickly and he’s got regional rivals that appear to have greater institutional support-it might just be wrong man, wrong time.  Either way, if CDC can’t sell that version of the story to some agent then he should get fired, too.  

[Hookem2147 21200]

Just now, LCHorn said:

That’s what a five year contract is for and we’d want that anyway.  
 

Frankly, I’d agree with you if we are talking about Rodney Terry but racial dynamics play a part in that one, too (also the fact he’s known more for his recruiting rather than his coaching acumen-it’s just a bad look if he’s not given the opportunity to fail).  
 

Pierce is different-he’s in year 7, he’s notoriously prickly and he’s got regional rivals that appear to have greater institutional support-it might just be wrong man, wrong time.  Either way, if CDC can’t sell that version of the story to some agent then he should get fired, too.  

Fair enough

[tx 3 putt 76874]

32 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

If you need to teach fielding at this level you fucked up in recruiting. There’s nothing about coaching making Porter drop a pretty routine play.

You have no idea what you’re talking about. Repetition and practice never ends for mlb players 

this drill is great for little leaguer’s to mlb players. 
 

 

[petscii 1189]

18 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

That’s what a five year contract is for and we’d want that anyway.  
 

Frankly, I’d agree with you if we are talking about Rodney Terry but racial dynamics play a part in that one, too (also the fact he’s known more for his recruiting rather than his coaching acumen-it’s just a bad look if he’s not given the opportunity to fail).  
 

Pierce is different-he’s in year 7, he’s notoriously prickly and he’s got regional rivals that appear to have greater institutional support-it might just be wrong man, wrong time.  Either way, if CDC can’t sell that version of the story to some agent then he should get fired, too.  

Backing the race component out, would we fire the generic men's basketball coach after two Elite Eights and one Final Four in 7 years?

I know we ran off Barnes and Smart decided he'd rather coach anywhere but here.

[Levi 2585]

Whether we like it or not, results matter even if you find it has been done in a “ugly” way. @ClubWhatever is correct with every coach having a price. But on the flip side is the current situation they find themselves in. A coach is going to up and leave for a program that just fired their coach that had a 50% success rate of making it to the CWS? I’m not saying that it can’t be done because it has in the past. It is just incredibly difficult to pull off and the right things need to happen outside of Texas’ control in order to get the desired upgrade. Schloss is more notorious for being a dick than Pierce, and it’s a big reason why he was open to leaving. The stars happened to align just right for Aggie to come in and give him the right price and a new admin to work for. I don’t think they get Schloss if things were on better standing between him and tcu administration. 

24 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

That’s what a five year contract is for and we’d want that anyway.  
 

Frankly, I’d agree with you if we are talking about Rodney Terry but racial dynamics play a part in that one, too (also the fact he’s known more for his recruiting rather than his coaching acumen-it’s just a bad look if he’s not given the opportunity to fail).  
 

Pierce is different-he’s in year 7, he’s notoriously prickly and he’s got regional rivals that appear to have greater institutional support-it might just be wrong man, wrong time.  Either way, if CDC can’t sell that version of the story to some agent then he should get fired, too.  

The non-institutional support would change how things are looked at. Most can get by with a coach being hard to work for with Schloss, Tadlock etc being good examples. But if he’s the same way with the admin and that is trickling down to NIL, then that’s a problem.

Edited March 6 by Levi

[Newdoc 3439]

Nothing is happening to Pierce in the next three months anyway so this is all an exercise in expressing frustration at some really crappy play vs expectations. If the current performance holds as the barometer for the rest of year then serious discussions should be made. Baseball is a streaky fickle sport.

[LCHorn 2615]

8 minutes ago, petscii said:

Backing the race component out, would we fire the generic men's basketball coach after two Elite Eights and one Final Four in 7 years?

I think that’s a good point but the context is different.  If that coach (the one we’re potentially firing) had taken over from a two time national championship winning coach and the program had lost momentum but it wasn’t a total rebuild, then yes, I think we would entertain it.  Particularly if we could see that we, regardless of the performance overall, appeared to be 4th or worse amongst regional rivals.  

[petscii 1189]

1 minute ago, LCHorn said:

I think that’s a good point but the context is different.  If that coach (the one we’re potentially firing) had taken over from a two time national championship winning coach and the program had lost momentum but it wasn’t a total rebuild, then yes, I think we would entertain it.  Particularly if we could see that we, regardless of the performance overall, appeared to be 4th or worse amongst regional rivals.  

Mississippi State baseball let Gary Henderson go after he ran well into the playoffs after taking over for an imploding coach.  They then won it all with the new guy. So I hear you on this.

[closetohumping 17435]

1 hour ago, LCHorn said:

He was backed into that one.  He didn’t want to fire Beard in the first place.

I don’t want to hunt for the quote but I don’t think the next coach is going to give two shits if Pierce got fired despite some relatively recent good performance.  It’s too storied a program, too much money, too much potential-someone great will happily take that on.  

Pushed into Rodney yes but you sure he didn’t want to can beard

[LCHorn 2615]

14 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Pushed into Rodney yes but you sure he didn’t want to can beard

I know via secondhand that he needed to rally basketball stakeholders around the firing and it was far from a consensus.  I also think that part of it was because he was personally reluctant and hoped that Beard could somehow exonerate himself or that some alternative option (to firing) might present itself.  
 

That said, I think there was pressure from other donors and from the Presidents office and his attorney acting like a giant asshole didn’t help.  
 

Anyway, to bring it back to Pierce, I don’t think the investment is there (both because he’s not a CDC hire and because a Mack Brown like cultivation of donors is unusual).  He’s clearly a good coach and the team usually improves as the season goes on but he may be a relatively inferior program manager to other options. 

[D3zii 3676]

Shid we fired Tom Herman and he was actually winning!! 
 

I wouldn’t put anything pass CDC, he wants to win and I love it!!! 

[Hookem2147 21200]

11 minutes ago, D3zii said:

Shid we fired Tom Herman and he was actually winning!! 
 

I wouldn’t put anything pass CDC, he wants to win and I love it!!! 

The decision to fire Herman included strong input well above the head of CDC.

I don’t doubt he wants to win. He’s been very good at leveraging our resources to get championship level coaches money in non-revenue sports (softball, women’s bball). Beard was his hire in basketball and the stars aligned pretty well on that considering Beard was an alum, but CDC also thought Sonny Dykes leading our football program was potentially a good idea.

He ain’t perfect.

Edited March 7 by Hookem2147

[TwiceHorn 31440]

Just now, Hookem2147 said:

The decision to fire Herman included strong input well above the head of CDC.

I don’t doubt he wants to win. He’s been very good at leveraging our resources to get championship level coaches money in non-revenue sports. He also thought Sonny Dykes leading our football program was potentially a good idea.

He ain’t perfect.

Love me some CDC, but that is pretty yikes, yeah.

The Gustafson/Garrido types are rare birds, you wonder how easy it is to find another.  And even they had their slumps.

[Hookem2147 21200]

1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

Love me some CDC, but that is pretty yikes, yeah.

The Gustafson/Garrido types are rare birds, you wonder how easy it is to find another.  And even they had their slumps.

The explosion of twitter and message boards and all that has increased expectations across the board at almost every major school. Everyone has an opinion or thought or stat and the honeymoon periods for coaches has never been shorter. Schools also care more about sports than ever before and it’s harder to just straight up money whip guys like it might have been 10 or 20 years ago.

[D3zii 3676]

46 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

The decision to fire Herman included strong input well above the head of CDC.

I don’t doubt he wants to win. He’s been very good at leveraging our resources to get championship level coaches money in non-revenue sports (softball, women’s bball). Beard was his hire in basketball and the stars aligned pretty well on that considering Beard was an alum, but CDC also thought Sonny Dykes leading our football program was potentially a good idea.

He ain’t perfect.

[Fletch 5800]

4 hours ago, LCHorn said:

I know via secondhand that he needed to rally basketball stakeholders around the firing and it was far from a consensus.  I also think that part of it was because he was personally reluctant and hoped that Beard could somehow exonerate himself or that some alternative option (to firing) might present itself.  
 

That said, I think there was pressure from other donors and from the Presidents office and his attorney acting like a giant asshole didn’t help.  
 

Anyway, to bring it back to Pierce, I don’t think the investment is there (both because he’s not a CDC hire and because a Mack Brown like cultivation of donors is unusual).  He’s clearly a good coach and the team usually improves as the season goes on but he may be a relatively inferior program manager to other options. 

That last paragraph there, yeah there aren’t really any Augie’s or Coach Gus types out there anymore. Jay Johnson I guess? But he’s no where near those guys. Kind of like in college football right now without Saban. There’s no clear cut best in the country right now. 
 

Is Pierce the best coach in the country? No. At the moment do I feel like he’s the right fit? Yes. Let’s get the next 2 recruiting classes on campus and see what he’s really got

[LCHorn 2615]

30 minutes ago, Fletch said:

At the moment do I feel like he’s the right fit? Yes

Admittedly I follow Texas baseball less closely than I do football and basketball, but I think some of his lack of support is an acknowledgment that he’s not a good fit.  Good coach, bad fit.  It’s a little like a marriage where it works but everyone is exhausted from trying so hard.  
 

I think the jury is still out on Sark but he at least knows (and/or has help) to fully utilize all the advantages that UT can provide to  build a program.  I think the programs (regardless of sport) that will be most successful in the next decade will need to have more than a good coach-they are going to have to be able speak to today’s athlete, be able to provide a robust suite of training tools (nutrition, mental health, facilities), promote the program state-wide to help midwife NIL support, help provide promotional opportunities, etc.  

Ironically I think Mack Brown would be particularly well suited to it if he were 30 years younger.  

[Revolution512 1487]

10 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

You have no idea what you’re talking about. Repetition and practice never ends for mlb players 

this drill is great for little leaguer’s to mlb players. 
 

 

No shit. Of course people drill and work on all aspects. I’m saying if you can’t make the plays at this level, coaching isn’t the problem. Players have to put the work in to perfect their craft.