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

[Horny Bull 2766]

20 minutes ago, Capn81 said:

So, what does our recruiting look like? There is clearly little to no talent on the team right now, so is potential help on the way?

The potential help is supposed to be here already. This year's class was our best in quite some time. 

[GreenspointTexas 9972]

Last in conference in baseball is equivalent to the football team not winning a game the entire season

 

has longhorn baseball ever finished last in conference before?

[bschoolprof 6343]

1 hour ago, Capn81 said:

So, what does our recruiting look like? There is clearly little to no talent on the team right now, so is potential help on the way?

Even if it looked fan-fucking-tastic, I wouldn't trust this crew to develop it worth a shit.  What a fucking miserable season.  

[TwiceHorn 32079]

7 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Last in conference in baseball is equivalent to the football team not winning a game the entire season

 

has longhorn baseball ever finished last in conference before?

I don't remember where we ended up in 2013, but we lost every single conference series. 7-17 in conference.  That had to be good for last.

[Js1 87186]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

I don't remember where we ended up in 2013, but we lost every single conference series. 7-17 in conference.  That had to be good for last.

It was 

[Valmy77 13626]

1 hour ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Last in conference in baseball is equivalent to the football team not winning a game the entire season

 

has longhorn baseball ever finished last in conference before?

Yes. We have had some bad teams over the past decade. 

[petscii 1195]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

I don't remember where we ended up in 2013, but we lost every single conference series. 7-17 in conference.  That had to be good for last.

Not only was it enough,  It was  705 days without a conference series win.  April 22nd 2012 (Last win Kansas)   through March 28th 2014 (until Texas Tech).

We lost conference series games to the usual suspects of ridicule and Texas aTm and Missouri.   

SUCKED.

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2019 by petscii

[TwiceHorn 32079]

18 minutes ago, petscii said:

Not only was it enough,  It was  705 days without a conference series win.  April 22nd 2012 (Last win Kansas)   through March 28th 2014 (until Texas Tech).

We lost conference series games to the usual suspects of ridicule and Texas aTm and Missouri.   

SUCKED.

 

 

 

I member.  Texas Baseball done been brung low.

[bschoolprof 6343]

4 hours ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Last in conference in baseball is equivalent to the football team not winning a game the entire season

 

has longhorn baseball ever finished last in conference before?

I think it’s happened only twice: 1956 (6th out of 6) and 2013. So, yes, this is historically pretty bad. 

[Cairn Horn88 8502]

So Horns are 3-11 over their last 14 games.
K-State won 2 out of 3 in Austin
Okie Lite Sweep (3-0)
WVa won 2 out of 3 in Austin
KU is 2-0 vs Horns....until manana.

[phdhorn 6225]

8 hours ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

So Horns are 3-11 over their last 14 games.
K-State won 2 out of 3 in Austin
Okie Lite Sweep (3-0)
WVa won 2 out of 3 in Austin
KU is 2-0 vs Horns....until manana.

[dcar00 14974]

unreal.  this dude needs to head back to Tulane.  he won't be able to fix this.

[Rockethorn1978 6205]

Radford 

[Guest Lobo]

Wrong, we are one game up on Radford in the overall standings.  

[Shaggy3.0 1695]

We ranked 61st or some shit.

[Valmy77 13626]

6 hours ago, dcar00 said:

unreal.  this dude needs to head back to Tulane.  he won't be able to fix this.

Every single one of his Sam Houston State and Tulane teams would have crushed this group as they are now. This is unprecendented in his own career. Very odd.

Edited May 7, 2019 by Valmy77

[dcar00 14974]

10 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Every single one of his Sam Houston State and Tulane teams would have crushed this group as they are now. This is unprecendented in his own career. Very odd.

I don't doubt they would have crushed this group.

[LTtxfan 50006]

26 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Every single one of his Sam Houston State and Tulane teams would have crushed this group. This is unprecendented in his own career. Very odd.

Guys that play at Sam Houston St and Tulane usually are scrappy and love the game -- not typically entitled kids.  Some of the players currently on this Texas team don't seem to be bothered by losing.... and that's BULLSHIT !!

it seems like this current Texas baseball team is void of player leadership.   Kody ran the show last year, and none of this year's Juniors or Seniors have picked up the torch and said follow me and we will win.

The current Juniors and Seniors seem like a bunch of JAGs.  Pierce needs to add more talent and leaders to next year's roster.... plus develop and improve the folks that return for next season.  Figure out who really gives a shit and will work hard to help this team win in 2020..... run off the ones who aren't committed to getting better and winning.

I think Pierce severely misjudged the character of his 2019 roster..... probably not something he had to face at Sam Houston State or Tulane.  Pierce gets one do-over at Texas to fixed his team and that's it.

Edited May 7, 2019 by LTtxfan

[HtownHorn 15235]

11 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Guys that play at Sam Houston St and Tulane usually are scrappy and love the game -- not typically entitled kids.  Some of the players currently on this Texas team don't seem to be bothered by losing.... and that's BULLSHIT !!

it seems like this current Texas baseball team is void of player leadership.   Kody ran the show last year, and none of this year's Juniors or Seniors have picked up the torch and said follow me and we will win.

The current Juniors and Seniors seem like a bunch of JAGs.  Pierce needs to add more talent and leaders to next year's roster.... plus develop and improve the folks that return for next season.  Figure out who really gives a shit and will work hard to help this team win in 2020..... run off the ones who aren't committed to getting better and winning.

I think Pierce severely misjudged the character of his 2019 roster..... probably not something he had to face at Sam Houston State or Tulane.  Pierce gets one do-over at Texas to fixed his team and that's it.

Or Pierce, like Smart, needs to fuck off to some other little school, because Big Boy baseball is not something he can consistently coach.

[Llano Estacado 1257]

Can some of y’all that follow college baseball with fervor post some info on his teams at Sam and Tulane? Or before and after his stays?

I know Mark Johnson had SHSU pretty much rolling when he took over, and new guy had them in a super regional last year, or year before.

This will be by far be his worst year as a HC. His 7 years as a head coach he’s always made a regional, and his first post Augie year was the only sub-500 conf record.

Is this a Strong scenario where we expect past limited sample size results to predict future performance? But the hype was all from Teddy Bridgewater in a single SugarBowl? Not that there was Pierce hype, but “always made a regional” sounded great on his resume.

[MAROON 446]

Sam Houston had not made the NCAA's the two years before Pierce arrived in Huntsville. Tulane had not been to the regional in six season and had just suffered a 23-29 season the year before Pierce arrived. You guys had a losing season the year before he arrived.

Pierce is a good coach with a good resume. 

 

Head coaching record[edit]

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Sam Houston State Bearkats (Southland Conference) (2012–2014)
2012	Sam Houston State	40–22	24–9	1st	NCAA Regional
2013	Sam Houston State	38–22	20–7	1st	NCAA Regional
2014	Sam Houston State	43–19	22–8	1st	NCAA Regional
Sam Houston State:		121–63	66–24
Tulane Green Wave (American Athletic Conference) (2015–2016)
2015	Tulane	35–25	13–11	T-3rd	NCAA Regional
2016	Tulane	41–21	15–7	1st	NCAA Regional
Tulane:		76–46	28–18
Texas Longhorns (Big 12 Conference) (2016–Present)
2017	Texas	39–24	11–12	6th	NCAA Regional
2018	Texas	42–23	17–7	1st	College World Series
Texas:		81–47 (.633)	28–19 (.596)
Total:		278–156 (.641)

 

 

[Valmy77 13626]

Yeah and Tulane has been pretty bad ever since he left.

He is...or was...a pretty good coach. I was one of his biggest fans until that K-State series. I mean I never thought he was the next Augie or anything but I thought he would do a pretty good job and make us a consistent challenger. For first place, not last place, just for clarification.

He will have another chance here but this cannot happen again.

Edited May 7, 2019 by Valmy77

[LTtxfan 50006]

33 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Yeah and Tulane has been pretty bad ever since he left. He is...or was...a pretty good coach. I was one of his biggest fans until that K-State series. I mean I never thought he was the next Augie or anything but I thought he would do a pretty good job and make us a consistent challenger. He will have another chance here but this cannot happen again.

Right there with yah.  Pierce is a grinder, and has worked his butt off to get this Texas job.  But when you go through his current roster, Pierce has mismanaged his personnel this season.  The lack of left-handed pitching, no closer, limited power, limited speed, and no one to play great defense at 1B and left field is poor roster construction.

Not sure wtf is going on regarding the development of pitching and hitting because NOBODY is getting better except for maybe Elder and the young guys Ford & Kennedy.  So many players have regressed this year (Kam, Bocchi, Shaw, Ellis, Reynolds; and maybe even Todd, McCann and Hibbeler too).  Big 12 baseball will expose poorly prepared teams so Pierce has to own the horrible results of this 2019 Season.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

But Pierce does have background to fix things:

Hitting:  University of Houston

"Having coached at Rice in 1991 and then in the high school ranks, Pierce rejoined the collegiate coaching ranks at his alma mater, the University of Houston. As the Cougars hitting coach, he helped the team to two postseason tournaments. In 2002 – his second year as an assistant coach – Pierce helped UH reach a Super Regional. His hitters finished with almost 700 hits and a .310 team batting average, good for 5th in Cougar history."

Hitting & Pitching:  Rice University

"Pierce joined the Rice staff as a hitting coach in 2003 and was part of the school's first national championship. After the departure of Zane Curry, Pierce became the team's pitching coach and oversaw one of the most consistent pitching staffs in the nation. From 2007 to 2010, his pitchers ranked in the top 20 nationally in ERA each year. In 2007, the Owls were fourth in the country with a 3.04 ERA.  His pitching staff ranked in the top 30 in staff ERA for five years as pitching coach for the Owls."

So for me after 3yrs, Pierce gets a one-time, get out of jail free card for this piss poor 2019 season.  He better consult with other coaching friends (Wayne Graham) and CDC.... make necessary changes, recruit like hell, run a great fall camp, and then at a minimum qualify for a NCAA regional in 2020!!! 🤘

[torre 1298]

Did not intend to post in this thread,   but when our respected friend MAROON opines...

 

-  Pierce does have a good resume.     Note that last year's Regional Championship was his first.

-  SHSU did not make a Regional but their record was 35-24 in 2011 before Pierce.   "The cake was baked"

-  Tulane's losing season 23-29 before Pierce can be attributed to the head coach Rick Jones retiring immediately before the season due to health issues and a roster of 21 freshmen/sophomores.     His age and health may have affected previous seasons.

-  Note that after those 21 and Pierce left Tulane was 25-33 in '17 and 27-31 in '18.  "The cake was not baked"  Doing fairly well this year at 28-19 with 19 freshmen/sophomores and RPI of 87. 

-  Difficult for non-Power 5 teams to make the Regionals due to strength of schedule/RPI.    Almost have to win the conference championship/tournament unless from a strong league.

-  All college baseball teams are subject to down seasons.   Florida and Florida St are on the bubble to make the tournament this year.    But as discussed ad nauseam,  the regression/development of Texas this year is concerning.

-  Pierce has received outstanding support since his arrival from attendance,  being allowed to change the dimensions of a historic field designed by a Hall of Fame coach, and facility improvements including the new training area.    He needs continued support to see if this year was only an anomaly. 

 

[ClubWhatever 12310]

4 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

NOBODY is getting better except for maybe Elder and the young guys Ford & Kennedy.  So many players have regressed this year (Kam, Bocchi, Shaw, Ellis, Reynolds; and maybe even Todd, McCann and Hibbeler too).  

Both Bocchi and Reynolds have significantly better numbers than last year.  Whelan does too. 

Todd hardly played last year due to injury, but he had terrible numbers.  He is more or less the same player he was in 2017.

McCann is not a good comp because he has been beaten to death this year but was a backup last year.

 

[LTtxfan 50006]

1 hour ago, ClubWhatever said:

Both Bocchi and Reynolds have significantly better numbers than last year.  Whelan does too. Todd hardly played last year due to injury, but he had terrible numbers.  He is more or less the same player he was in 2017.  McCann is not a good comp because he has been beaten to death this year but was a backup last year.

Thx for correcting my mistakes. 

My 2019 expectations for Bocchi were higher because of that great game that he pitched in the 2018 regional.  Also hoped to see Reynolds play much better -- his 28 RBI's and only 3HRs for 2019 so far are disappointing.  Also Todd should be a lot better this year than he was in 2017. Agree that McCann is beaten up, but his approach at the plate is much worse in 2019.

Glad you pointed out that Whelan has improved in 2019.... needed some good news.  😀

Edited May 8, 2019 by LTtxfan

[GreenspointTexas 9972]

Absolutely has to make the post season next year or he gets the axe

[bschoolprof 6343]

16 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

Both Bocchi and Reynolds have significantly better numbers than last year.  Whelan does too. 

Todd hardly played last year due to injury, but he had terrible numbers.  He is more or less the same player he was in 2017.

McCann is not a good comp because he has been beaten to death this year but was a backup last year.

 

Reynolds numbers have not improved that much from last year.  His slugging and OPS are still below average among Big 12 3B.  

The lack of pop from our corner infielders is one of many things that is killing this team.  

[zork 629]

At some point you need to have some consistency with the lineup.  Maybe the confluence of events has precluded that this year but holy shit there has been a new lineup almost every game this year which does not help with general consistency.  Maybe that could improve or at least setting better communication for the guys on how and why that changes as much as it has.  Sure injury has dictated it some.

This year has been the opposite of last year in terms of being snake bit since the LSU series and/or the TTech series.  The stanford rain game was bullshit.  The baylor rain game was bullshit.  But both those are just baseball.

The team has no late inning zen this year.  Pierce needs to own it.  He needs to figure out a way to get the players to relax and play while not always looking over their shoulder.  Whatever it is that is happening this year, the players aren't getting it done.  Too bad since after the TTech series things were looking really good.(assuming you can believe the team is full of fighters that find ways to close out tough games which was the case then clearly wasn't post TTech)

[dcar00 14974]

I don't give a shit if we have 8 fucking errors a game, find some damn hitters.

[petscii 1195]

Our troubles began when we lost the damn cannon.

[Sock Drawer 214]

1 hour ago, petscii said:

Our troubles began when we lost the damn cannon.

Freddy "Boom-Boom"?

[zlavydra 2142]

On 5/8/2019 at 11:30 AM, bschoolprof said:

Reynolds numbers have not improved that much from last year.  His slugging and OPS are still below average among Big 12 3B.  

The lack of pop from our corner infielders is one of many things that is killing this team.  

Free Son of Bertel. What was Pierce's explanation for PH'ing Geib instead of Bertelson last night?

[Horn80 6361]

6 hours ago, petscii said:

Our troubles began when we lost the damn cannon.

Or hired Pierce......

[bschoolprof 6343]

45 minutes ago, zlavydra said:

Free Son of Bertel. What was Pierce's explanation for PH'ing Geib instead of Bertelson last night?

I have no idea.  Bertelson has some pop, but hasn't done much in games this year.  

[zlavydra 2142]

1 hour ago, bschoolprof said:

I have no idea.  Bertelson has some pop, but hasn't done much in games this year.  

At least he's a left-handed batter.  I think he played pretty well considering his limited amount of time on the field.

[skeeter 455]

On 5/4/2019 at 6:52 PM, GreenspointTexas said:

Last in conference in baseball is equivalent to the football team not winning a game the entire season

 

has longhorn baseball ever finished last in conference before?

imgur

[bschoolprof 6343]

2 hours ago, skeeter said:

 

 

It also happened in 1956, as I posted above.  So, yeah, this is pretty bad - it's only happened 2 other times in over a hundred years of baseball.

Edited May 17, 2019 by bschoolprof

[GreenspointTexas 9972]

Hot seat next season for sure

[Capn81 397]

I am not on the fire Pierce bandwagon, but he needs to be held accountable for this collapse. I can understand that our talent is young, and maybe not worth anything, but you cannot just 180 a season like this.

[Enfield 109]

10 minutes ago, Capn81 said:

I am not on the fire Pierce bandwagon, but he needs to be held accountable for this collapse. I can understand that our talent is young, and maybe not worth anything, but you cannot just 180 a season like this.

Pierce will trot out the same 4 coaches next year.

What worries me about these 4 is they have never built a program. They just slide into SHSU, Tulane, Texas and have a decent season or so with someone elses program and then move on.  And people think they are successful.  

They haven’t shown they can recruit to a style (small ball, power, etc...) and make it work.  

[Fletch 5817]

14 minutes ago, Enfield said:

Pierce will trot out the same 4 coaches next year.

What worries me about these 4 is they have never built a program. They just slide into SHSU, Tulane, Texas and have a decent season or so with someone elses program and then move on.  And people think they are successful.  

They haven’t shown they can recruit to a style (small ball, power, etc...) and make it work.  

 

Tulane didn’t make the tournament in 6 years till Pierce got there. Then they made it both years he was there. Eh whatever. With hopefully Hamilton and DJ back, pretty much our whole pitching staff and another year for guys like Ford and Kennedy, hopefully we’re much improved. Now if next year is similiar to this one, then yeah he’s probably not the guy 

[Goodman 3283]

I'm not buying that Enfield, you can say that about Coach Herman. Pierce knows baseball but this team fooled him in the fall. They are mental midgets. 

My disappointment is the lack of confidence this team plays with in all phases. Too many problems to discuss in a post.

FYI, softball regional on LHN now. Almost like they know baseball would get RR.

Edited May 17, 2019 by Goodman

[Enfield 109]

9 minutes ago, Fletch said:

 

Tulane didn’t make the tournament in 6 years till Pierce got there. Then they made it both years he was there. Eh whatever. With hopefully Hamilton and DJ back, pretty much our whole pitching staff and another year for guys like Ford and Kennedy, hopefully we’re much improved. Now if next year is similiar to this one, then yeah he’s probably not the guy 

Rick Jones had a successful program at Tulane, including two trips to CWS.  In 2013, Rick Jones led Tulane to a better overall and conference record than in 2015 when Pierce took them to Regional.

But, whatever....

[LTtxfan 50006]

5 minutes ago, Enfield said:

Rick Jones had a successful program at Tulane, including two trips to CWS.  In 2013, Rick Jones led Tulane to a better overall and conference record than in 2015 when Pierce took them to Regional.  But, whatever....

 

WRONG...... Too bad you didn't check your work

Season	Head Coach	Overall			Conference			NCAA Tournament Result	Final Rank
		Wins	Losses	Ties	Wins	Losses	Ties		CB*	BA°

2013	Rick Jones	30	28	0	11	13	0
2014	Rick Jones	23	29	0	10	18	0
American Athletic Conference (2015–present)
2015	David Pierce	35	25	0	13	11	0	Baton Rouge RegionalThird Round
2016	David Pierce	41	21	0	15	7	0	Oxford RegionalFinals	25	19
Total:		2047	1387	19
*Rankings from final Collegiate Baseball poll. °Rankings from final Baseball America poll.[1]

[bschoolprof 6343]

We need significant improvement next year for Pierce to be the guy.  Simply being "not terrible" isn't going to cut it.  Dicking around in-conference and sneaking into the post-season as a lucky bubble team probably won't cut it either.  Hitting, pitching, fielding all need to improve tremendously, both from this year to next year and as the season goes on next year.   

Unlike basketball, we actually have standards for our baseball program.  This year wiped out  all goodwill from his first two.  

[TwiceHorn 32079]

30 minutes ago, Fletch said:

 

Tulane didn’t make the tournament in 6 years till Pierce got there. Then they made it both years he was there. Eh whatever. With hopefully Hamilton and DJ back, pretty much our whole pitching staff and another year for guys like Ford and Kennedy, hopefully we’re much improved. Now if next year is similiar to this one, then yeah he’s probably not the guy 

I think the point still stands.  He was only there two years.  He could conceivably be some kind of short term "triage" wizard with some weird blind spot about long-term building.

But you're right, he should be fairly well set up to succeed next season and if he doesn't do pretty decently (making if not hosting a regional) something is quite wrong.

Edited May 17, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[Enfield 109]

4 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

 

WRONG...... Too bad you didn't check your work

Season	Head Coach	Overall			Conference			NCAA Tournament Result	Final Rank
		Wins	Losses	Ties	Wins	Losses	Ties		CB*	BA°

2013	Rick Jones	30	28	0	11	13	0
2014	Rick Jones	23	29	0	10	18	0
American Athletic Conference (2015–present)
2015	David Pierce	35	25	0	13	11	0	Baton Rouge RegionalThird Round
2016	David Pierce	41	21	0	15	7	0	Oxford RegionalFinals	25	19
Total:		2047	1387	19
*Rankings from final Collegiate Baseball poll. °Rankings from final Baseball America poll.[1]

Well done. I’ll go hang myself now. Total ownage. Ugh.

In 2012 it looks like Tulane went 37-20 and 14-10 in conference. Can you verify that?

[Fletch 5817]

48 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think the point still stands.  He was only there two years.  He could conceivably be some kind of short term "triage" wizard with some weird blind spot about long-term building.

But you're right, he should be fairly well set up to succeed next season and if he doesn't do pretty decently (making if not hosting a regional) something is quite wrong.

Yeah if we’re not top 3-4 in conference with a shot at hosting/being a high 2 seed then he’s probably not the guy. In fairness, Augie didn’t make the tournament the first 3 years he was here so who knows. 

[troph 25227]

Yeah if we’re not top 3-4 in conference with a shot at hosting/being a high 2 seed then he’s probably not the guy. In fairness, Augie didn’t make the tournament the first 3 years he was here so who knows. 

Not sure which left the program worse him or Gus. Both were shitshows for the new guy. Probably Gus based on actual performance.