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

Yama Yak Yachtzi

By Yama Yak Yachtzi
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Beau Vine
Beau Vine

Mac Engel has a column that is getting texags' panties in a wad: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/offered-one-reason-why-jim-162910055.html      

BrazilHorn
BrazilHorn

The DP apologists and hand wringers here have to be some kind of paid for bot service. You all are acting like the dude is in year 3. He is in year 8! No way you can argue this is a program on th

RGBIII
RGBIII

CDC asked Pierce to turn in paperwork for mutual separation the week of the 13th. Obviously that didnt happen and now CDC let him go. They were using the incident with Hurley to help force the resigna

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Had Enough

Had Enough 2085

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Posted
26 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

I get what you are saying, and almost all college rosters have holes, but the overall construction of the team has been way off for years. 

In the last 3 recruiting classes, including the portal, the only two pitchers heading into next year who have contributed meaningful innings are Max Grubbs and Ace Whitehead. That is a horrendous hit rate.

More alarming is the poor feel Pierce seems to have for what is at his disposal. We've had to replace our closer midseason 3 freaking years in a row. We opened 2023 with Chris Stuart as our closer and 2024 with David Shaw as our closer. What did he see during the fall and spring to make those decisions? What did he see to make him feel Kimble Schuessler needed to split time with Galvan behind the plate? Why were we playing guys like Jayden Duplantier and Cam Constantine over Peyton Powell to start 2023? He had Mitchell Daly batting cleanup to start the 2022 season and forced that experiment down our throats for a month.

As has been discussed on here at length, he always did a good job of playing the hand he was dealt, but he was also dealing his own hand and continually giving himself 2/7 off-suit. 

Those are good questions.

Daly has batted 5th for Kentucky fyi.  Huston Street.  He started playing some 3rd base.  Why did we bother with that when we have a MLB closer?  How does Charley Carter go from nothing to player of the year upon transfer?

As for catcher, it’s smart to develop depth there.  Now and forever.  In my view DP does a poor job of providing his depth players opportunities.

I thought Mercer was in line to be closer was he not?  Gages numbers were better than his prior two years at a lower level so it’s reasonable to be uncertain what you have there until you see it.  And if his response to early season usage is that he wants to see how guys react, I’m ok with that.  Remember we only dogpile in Omaha.

He does odd stuff that I’m curious about and can’t explain.  But you know I saw UNC in game 3 versus LSU, down 1 top of the 9th.  Leadoff double.  The next hitter bunts with two strikes.  Foul ball.  It was about two inches from brilliant. Instead it was the dumbest thing ever.  It happens.

 

You can take it in defense of DP, but it’s my annoyance with generalizations of an insular view of this team without regard to the current environment and really historical perspectives.  Kinda like “our pitching sucks.”  It doesn’t.  That doesn’t mean it’s where we want it to be.  

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hobbes2702

hobbes2702 13054

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1 hour ago, Had Enough said:

We’ve competed for Omaha in all but 1 year.   Even this year, it took the Aggies with their best two pitchers for 11 innings to beat us.  And they likely don’t beat us if a top 100 MLB draft pick doesn’t make two errors in one inning.  An Aggie team that has pretty much been top 5 all year using their best pitchers.

I’ll ask you what are the glaring holes?  

In the starting lineup, there is not a glaring hole.  You’ve got adequate defense, speed, power, hitting ability at every spot.  If you want to act as though that Brown, an all conference player a year ago, is a glaring hole then more power to you.  Or go with Jack O a former top 100 player, former player at another top 10 program that hit .300 last post season is a glaring hole, go ahead.  Poor production yes.  But there were valid reasons to think they’d produce.

Do you remember how shitty to mediocre some of Augies teams were at hitting with limited power?  Clay van Hook, Robbie Hudson, David Maroul were on the 05 team. That’s one of his very best teams.  The pitching staff was about 6 deep then guys you hope filled a role.  

Do you know the status of other rosters?  Pitching staffs don’t go 10 deep.  And most rosters don’t go 9 deep with .300 hitters.  It’s college baseball with limited scholarships.  So limited you can’t even fill out a weekend of starters on full scholarship.

Incidentally the Aggies #2 and #3 in terms of starts had ERAs that were not good - 5.73 and 6.33.  A top 5 team.  Why did they start 25 combined games.  Kentuckys 2 and 3 have ERAs of 4.93 and 6.24.  32 combined starts.  Not a single starter has a K/IP ratio of 1 or better.  Their 2nd best starter walked 51 in 88 innings.  In terms of ABs, they have 3 of their top 9 at .250, .248 and .228.  None of those 3 with more than 6 HRs.

My point is that what you refer to as glaring deficiencies are really more so normal.  And really always have been.

Lol wut? Going 1-2 in a regional is not competing for anything. That’s insane. 
There were massive holes in the lineup going into this season and the backend of the lineup was atrocious. What are you talking about? There is a reason we were so boom or bust throughout the season and it’s because we were extremely reliant on essentially 3 guys to produce all our offense. Augies teams never mashed the ball. That wasn’t how he constructed a roster or managed the game. It’s irrelevant.

This is also the worst defensive team in like a decade at least. We were at Texas standard in maybe 3 positions in the field (1st, 3rd, ?). Thats the most glaring deficiency on this whole team. And it is glaring.

Crazy stuff

41 minutes ago, BERT said:

O’Sullivan won it in ‘17 and played for it just last year. I’d say that’s better than Schloss but that’s just like, my opinion 

He’s not an option I don’t think.

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Had Enough

Had Enough 2085

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1 hour ago, UncleBuck said:

….then lost 2-10 to the powerhouse Rajun Cajuns!

64 teams make the tournament, and Texas was in the group of those who IMO didn’t have a realistic shot. 

I’d say the chances the Aggies beat us twice is likely but very slightly.  If get out of that regional, we are likely beating Oregon.

As the Aggies are one of the best and most balanced teams, they were one of the top 2-3 most difficult outs in the tourney.

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hobbes2702

hobbes2702 13054

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1 hour ago, Dennis Taylor said:

It's only acceptable to list a score that way if you're 8 years old or a woman. 

Actually if you’re a journalist covering a specific team you are supposed to list your teams score first.

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Cairn Horn88

Cairn Horn88 8280

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5 hours ago, CycleTex87 said:

The University is not petty and cheap.  If there was sufficient reason to fire him for cause it would already be in the public eye.  They can't be petty and cheap and attract the next guy (in baseball, track, basketball, etc).  There are always legal hoops to jump through for paying out a lump sum and that stuff takes time to get everyone on board with.

Just dotting our I’s and crossing out T’s.  It’s just that simple…takes time.  

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46094

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4 minutes ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

Just dotting our I’s and crossing out T’s.  It’s just that simple…takes time.  

We fired Herman and hired Sark less than 4 days after an ass-whipping of Colorado in the Alamo Bowl.  I'm not saying they're equivalent situations, but this feels like a very long process.

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Balcones

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Posted
1 hour ago, BillyGoatHill said:

Even worse is half or more of starters this year will be gone next year. And with the in limbo going on right now, we aren't getting anyone from the portal either.

 

 

 

Go take a look at the 2022 team and 2023 team. Losing more than half the team and the replacing them isn’t a problem.

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Dennis Taylor

Dennis Taylor 18853

Posted
Posted (edited)
39 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

Actually if you’re a journalist covering a specific team you are supposed to list your teams score first.

Right, if you're an 8 year old or woman journalist you can still do that...

Does the DMN say Mavs are down 0-3 or lost 99-106? 

No they don't

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Balcones

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6 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

 

We're firing a coach whose program trajectory is not that of the standard that is Texas baseball. Be thankful for his appearances but also realize that the program isn't trending up after 8 years.

Can someone PM this guy and let him know what’s going on behind the scenes? He still thinks Pierce is being let go for winning 3 Big 12 championships, and too many 3rd place finishes at the CWS. I don’t think the university HR department gives a shit about getting Melendez to transfer here. 

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TrashMaster G

TrashMaster G 17588

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21 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

We fired Herman and hired Sark less than 4 days after an ass-whipping of Colorado in the Alamo Bowl.  I'm not saying they're equivalent situations, but this feels like a very long process.

I'm about convinced CDC has his man and that man is currently in Omaha. You're going to have to wait a bit longer.

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jimmyjazz

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4 minutes ago, TrashMaster G said:

I'm about convinced CDC has his man and that man is currently in Omaha. You're going to have to wait a bit longer.

Oh, I'm on board with that line of thought.  Nothing else makes sense, other than perhaps some sort of really bad shit (Chris Beard level) making it difficult to dump Pierce right away.

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Js1

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1 minute ago, TrashMaster G said:

I'm about convinced CDC has his man and that man is currently in Omaha. You're going to have to wait a bit longer.

Yep.

For reference, Aston was fired April 3, the season ended March 12 (COVID cancelled tournament) and Schaefer was announced 3 days later.

CDC's two longest searches were softball (Clark resigned/retired May 23, White hired June 25 after Oregon's season ended June 2) and T&F (4 month search; Sategna was fired February 15 and then CDC didn't make a hire until after T&F season, announcing Floreal on June 14) 

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Wishbone

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5 minutes ago, TrashMaster G said:

I'm about convinced CDC has his man and that man is currently in Omaha. You're going to have to wait a bit longer.

This seems more likely as time goes by. Hopefully Ketch doesn’t get wind of it and fuck every thing up.

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Js1

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1 minute ago, Wishbone said:

This seems more likely as time goes by. Hopefully Ketch doesn’t get wind of it and fuck every thing up.

Someone distract that fat ass with a honey baked ham

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Had Enough

Had Enough 2085

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1 hour ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Defense?? Did you watch many games this season? We were no where near adequate on defense, which made our pitching seem that much worse. I can't find historical YOY fielding stats, but we were 90th in the NCAA in fielding percentage this year. And that doesn't include the mental errors on the field and on the base paths. 

Yes.  A few.

Interestingly enough, we were ranked better in runs allowed per game than ERA.  What does that tell you?

I never said we were great.  Top third would fall under the adequate category.  There’s typically a trade off.  Get you a Faltine who strikes out 40% of the time but is well above average defensively.  Or maybe a Flores who’s potentially great offensively but not quite the defender.  That goes for every position.  Even MLB All Star teams have mediocre defenders.

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Valmy77

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1 hour ago, Balcones said:

Can someone PM this guy and let him know what’s going on behind the scenes? He still thinks Pierce is being let go for winning 3 Big 12 championships, and too many 3rd place finishes at the CWS. I don’t think the university HR department gives a shit about getting Melendez to transfer here. 

I would presume he isn't being let go for what he did or did not achieve in the past but the current state of the program and what its trajectory looks like. Waiting around for a total collapse before firing somebody is not a good strategy.

Besides with NIL the whole landscape has changed since Pierce took over. He just may not be the right guy in this environment.

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MontereyMX

MontereyMX 869

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27 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

I would presume he isn't being let go for what he did or did not achieve in the past but the current state of the program and what its trajectory looks like. Waiting around for a total collapse before firing somebody is not a good strategy.

Besides with NIL the whole landscape has changed since Pierce took over. He just may not be the right guy in this environment.

great fucking post! 

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hobbes2702

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3 hours ago, Had Enough said:

The Ole Miss that’s had a losing record the past two seasons?  3 losing conference seasons in a row.

Miss State.  In 2022 was 4 games under .500.  Was 1 game over .500 in 2022.  Then this year they were good but couldn’t get out of a regional.

 

LSU hadn’t been to the CWS since 2017.  They bought a championship.  Didn’t even develop the dude that brought them one.  Almost got out of the regional this year.  They didn’t get out of a regional in 2022.  In 2021, losing conference record, 13 games over .500.  Got swept in a super.

The Aggies in 2023 had a losing record in conference, didn’t get out of their regional and had a worse overall record than us in 2024.  They were 9-21 in conference in 2021.

North Carolina had .500 in conference records in 21, 22 and 23.

The rest of the ACC is all over the board.  Notre Dame was up there but cratered this year.  Miami same.

Virginia is probably the best because they went to the CWS when they were 18-18 and 36-27 overall. Killed that ODU/Dallas Baptist gauntlet.  3 CWS and were competitive in conference.

If you are talking CWS appearances, regional/super regionals, regular season conference efforts then we are absolutely in discussion for top 5.  If you’re talking strictly CWS then obviously not.

Our poor season of 20-10 in conference, regional appearance is better than others worst season.

Over that 4 year period, we won 65% of our conference games (not including tourneys).  Participated in 2 CWS, 3 Super Regionals and 4 regionals.  I haven’t done all the math, but there are not 5 teams that can say that.

MSU, Ole Miss and LSU won the titles, but they’ve done little otherwise.

Since when is discussion of the top 5 not about the CWS? They’ve done little else other than end the season with a win. Thats kinda a big deal. Do I want to win and then suck the next year? No. But winning one means way more than celebrating consistently almost.

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troph

troph 24905

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2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I was not in that camp whatsoever.  I was in the camp of "let's not keep changing the standard to suit the desired outcome".  I am a data driven person.  If you set a standard (as many posters did here) and then fudge the standard to meet their desires, I'm going to push back.

I don't really care about David Pierce all that much, one way or another.  He's not Augie or Gus.  In that regard, he doesn't meet our "standard".

A few posts up you said you wanted to change the standard?

You pushed back when we explained the standard. I spoke in generalities then you tried to say I changed it. I didn’t, I explained it. There’s nothing on the 40 acres more clear than the standard for Texas baseball. Get to Omaha, compete for championships when there.

fact is Texas leads in nearly every post season statistic except titles and maybe CWS winning percentage, every other category … #1.

holding that position is the standard and if you make it to Omaha 2/5 years and compete for the last weekend instead of getting bounced 0-2 3 out of 4 trips then the stats rack up and the trophies will come.

DP was close but that’s not good enough. 

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Cairn Horn88

Cairn Horn88 8280

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1 hour ago, Valmy77 said:

Besides with NIL the whole landscape has changed since Pierce took over. He just may not be the right guy in this environment.

You are right that NIL changed the landscape, but it has changed for every coach….and you are totally right on your last sentence.

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Nigel Tufnel

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1 hour ago, Valmy77 said:

I would presume he isn't being let go for what he did or did not achieve in the past but the current state of the program and what its trajectory looks like. Waiting around for a total collapse before firing somebody is not a good strategy.

Besides with NIL the whole landscape has changed since Pierce took over. He just may not be the right guy in this environment.

Again, the current "state of the program" is correct, but the focus here is way too much on the on-field performance. 

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