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


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Posted (edited)
26 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

I’m not sure I would fire him yet, and I worry about the options for replacing him. That said, you’re exactly right. There are issues, mainly roster mgmt imo. He’s had some bad luck with injuries as well but we seem to have holes in the roster almost every year. Thats a problem. He also apparently is not liked by big donors which in the NIL era is a huge problem

If CDC pulls any of the coaches in the CWS (although, really there are two names circulating as rumors from that pool of eight), it's an improvement. I can also make a strong argument for Bakich > Pierce in terms of future dividends.

If I'm betting, it's likely Bakich, with Vitello as an outside shot.

Edited by MuellerHorn
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6 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

I don’t see anyway you can say we’ve been a top 5 program since 2020.

LSU, Florida, Aggy, both Mississippis and that’s before we even start talking about the ACC schools.

The fuck are you even talking about 

*2021

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Just now, MuellerHorn said:

If CDC pulls any of the coaches in the CWS (although, really there are two names circulating as rumors from that pool of eight), it's an improvement. I can also make a strong argument for Bakich > Pierce in terms of future dividends.

I tend to agree, I just don’t think there’s any real slam dunks other than Schloss. But fuck that guy.

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1 minute ago, hobbes2702 said:

I tend to agree, I just don’t think there’s any real slam dunks other than Schloss. But fuck that guy.

Haha, I'd change my tune on Vitello and Schloss if either were hired. Both would be upgrades, for sure.

Regardless, I trust CDC to improve the head coaching spot when he makes a change. It's just his modus operandi.

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2 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

Haha, I'd change my tune on Vitello and Schloss if either were hired. Both would be upgrades, for sure.

Regardless, I trust CDC to improve the head coaching spot when he makes a change. It's just his modus operandi.

I’ve already changed my tune on Vitello. I’m hoping he’s the guy and this job can help him understand that keeping things level headed makes your team better sometimes.

Schloss… fuck that guy.

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2 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

I’ve already changed my tune on Vitello. I’m hoping he’s the guy and this job can help him understand that keeping things level headed makes your team better sometimes.

Schloss… fuck that guy.

So are we reaching Vitello or bust territory? haha

IMO a reason Vitello could come to Texas is he could feel like he's peaked at what Tennessee can do baseball wise and wants to take the next step?

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1 minute ago, BurntOrange&White said:

So are we reaching Vitello or bust territory? haha

IMO a reason Vitello could come to Texas is he could feel like he's peaked at what Tennessee can do baseball wise and wants to take the next step?

I’m on Vitello or bust right now. I like Bakich also but I would say I’m not 100% sold on him and feel like we could be getting similar results.

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3 hours ago, Balcones said:

That’s not why he would be fired. His record, recruiting, transfers, player development have all been great. If he is let go, it’s for other reasons.

It’s simple.  Win NC or get the fuck out.

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49 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

I don’t see anyway you can say we’ve been a top 5 program since 2020.

LSU, Florida, Aggy, both Mississippis and that’s before we even start talking about the ACC schools.

The fuck are you even talking about 

The reality is that 12 different schools have won it all since 2005, half of those are in the SEC.  At this moment, Texas baseball is a middle of the pack SEC program and the man in charge has shown nothing to make one believe that will get any better once actually in the conference. Texas is a Top 3 program in college baseball history. But history is all there is right now.

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29 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

So are we reaching Vitello or bust territory? haha

IMO a reason Vitello could come to Texas is he could feel like he's peaked at what Tennessee can do baseball wise and wants to take the next step?

i think this line of reasoning only holds if tenn doesn't win the title this year. if they do, the better question is whether he wants to keep that rolling or start a re-build at another program.

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43 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

The program should always be in a healthy enough state to make the postseason and compete for a trip to Omaha. Texas should never have glaring roster deficiencies like it does right now. The organic recruiting and development pitching trajectory on this roster over the past couple of years (and leading into next) has been atrocious compared to historical standards. Additionally, the head coach at Texas should not have questions surrounding the year-over-year health of his program in year 8.

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.

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5 minutes 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.

….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. 

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10 minutes 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. 

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

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Posted (edited)
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.

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 gave himself 2/7 off-suit. 

Edited by Hookem2147
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2 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. 

Plus one of our stud pitchers would always regress the next year. Ridgeway was awesome in 2018, sucked in 2019. Nixon was awesome in 2021, not so awesome in 2022. Stevens was an animal in 2021. He was pretty mediocre in 2022. LBJ was supposed to be our ace this year and we know how that turned out. Also pretty concerning he thought Witt and Harrison were going to be legit this year. It was obvious after about an inning from each of them this year that they didn’t have their mojo. So Pierce saw those 2 daily in practice and thought “yeah we got something here.” Which is kind of a huge problem 

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I've railed against the moving goalposts of our "standard", but honestly, I think our standard needs to be higher heading into the SEC, and Pierce is clearly not the guy to get us there.

It's the premier baseball conference, no question.  We routinely lose to their (better) teams.  We don't have any reason to feel confident strolling in there.  Something has to change.  Is it possible we've been hamstrung by the Big 12?  Eh, maybe.  Then again, it's an easier conference to win.

For fuck's sake, A&M is clearly better than us now.

Our "standard" should be that the University of By God Texas is the best baseball program in the country, on average, decade after decade.  That's what history teaches us it is.  I see no reason to lower the bar other than we've already done it.  Now we have to recover, and that is going to take clear thinking in this new environment.  Roster, facilities, coaching.  All of it.  I think Pierce has done a decent job, and to some degree it's consistent with our history, but in some ways it isn't, and shit's about to get harder.  Twisting statistics -- one of my favorite hobbies -- to show he has earned more time is a fool's errand.  While there is no home run hire, there are guys who are better than even odds will do better, and that's when you make the change.

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Also, I've been wrong before but this Vitello noise seems to be coming from people just hoping it will happen more than him being a serious candidate being mentioned behind the scenes.

Jimmy Sexton is his agent so I'm sure he's loving this potential Texas opening.

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1 hour ago, hobbes2702 said:

I tend to agree, I just don’t think there’s any real slam dunks other than Schloss. But fuck that guy.

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 

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18 minutes ago, BrazilHorn said:

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 the way up and ready for SEC.

Contrast him to Sark. Who rebuilt team from damn near ground up to compete in the SEC, took lumps year 1, improved year 2, final four year 3. Poised to do some damage to SEC in year 4.

DP is finishing a season where he lost to UTRGV, lost series to TXSTate, shit bed in pre season tournaments (again), shit bed in Big 12 tournament, lost series to aggy (counting regular season and post) and then was a 3 seed in a bracket with ULaLa and then got run out the stadium in the loser's bracket. This is not a fucking program on the rise/readying itself for a much tougher baseball conference in SEC.

His last appearance in Omaha was a 2 and BBQ and since then team has been sliding downwards.

If you are feeling positive about this team under Pierce heading into the SEC you are fucking delusional.

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.

 

 

 

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43 minutes 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.

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. 

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1 hour ago, hobbes2702 said:

I don’t see anyway you can say we’ve been a top 5 program since 2020.

LSU, Florida, Aggy, both Mississippis and that’s before we even start talking about the ACC schools.

The fuck are you even talking about 

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.

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Posted (edited)
5 minutes 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.

So we should give Pierce an extension this offseason? Because if you don't give him an extension then we let him coach next year and try to recruit while both of his legs are chopped off because that's exactly how it will be without an extension and his contract ends spring 2026. It's over for him regardless. But hey lets let him coach 1 more year, right? 

Edited by BurntOrange&White
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3 minutes 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. 

It’s all the bad hops on astroturf …

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5 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

So we should give Pierce an extension this offseason? Or do we let him coach next year and try to recruit while both of his legs are chopped off without an extension and his contract ends spring 2026?

6V43.gif.043bc0e3c98954ae18b975ca984934ab.gif

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The fact that DP got really close to meeting the standard doesn’t mean you lower the standard it means you make the tough decision to let him go. 
 

fact is he made it to Omaha at the right clip, fact is his teams usually embarrassed Texas when there (thrice bounced without a win). 
 

the standard is get to Omaha on the regular and be competitive for the championship when there.  
 

he’s not met the standard. He’s had enough time. Program is not on the rise, he’s reached his ceiling. It’s close not not good enough. So bye. 

 

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24 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I've railed against the moving goalposts of our "standard", but honestly, I think our standard needs to be higher heading into the SEC, and Pierce is clearly not the guy to get us there.

It's the premier baseball conference, no question.  We routinely lose to their (better) teams.  We don't have any reason to feel confident strolling in there.  Something has to change.  Is it possible we've been hamstrung by the Big 12?  Eh, maybe.  Then again, it's an easier conference to win.

For fuck's sake, A&M is clearly better than us now.

Our "standard" should be that the University of By God Texas is the best baseball program in the country, on average, decade after decade.  That's what history teaches us it is.  I see no reason to lower the bar other than we've already done it.  Now we have to recover, and that is going to take clear thinking in this new environment.  Roster, facilities, coaching.  All of it.  I think Pierce has done a decent job, and to some degree it's consistent with our history, but in some ways it isn't, and shit's about to get harder.  Twisting statistics -- one of my favorite hobbies -- to show he has earned more time is a fool's errand.  While there is no home run hire, there are guys who are better than even odds will do better, and that's when you make the change.

Late in the season you were firmly in the camp of saying he should be kept. What changed for you and can you please share that view with the delusional Balcones because his posts have become even more idiotic. 

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2 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

Late in the season you were firmly in the camp of saying he should be kept. What changed for you and can you please share that view with the delusional Balcones because his posts have become even more idiotic. 

I think he didn't want to be of the same opinion of Pierce's wife @Balcones

1 minute ago, closetohumping said:

Wright hates Mexican food

cross him off the list then. Probably thinks tortillas are spicy. 

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6 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

Late in the season you were firmly in the camp of saying he should be kept. What changed for you and can you please share that view with the delusional Balcones because his posts have become even more idiotic. 

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".

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13 minutes ago, troph said:

fact is he made it to Omaha at the right clip, fact is his teams usually embarrassed Texas when there (thrice bounced without a win). 

This is the kind of thing that bugs me -- we have won 3 games in Omaha with Pierce (2021).  We are not winless there.  Don't make the argument weaker by putting forth falsehoods.

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  • immamac changed the title to [Surly Official Firing Squad] David Pierce Has Left The Building - FIRED
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