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Patrick murphy

H

heathco9

BamaNation Citizen
Mar 25, 2010
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I really think coach Pat Murphy could give our baseball coaches some valuable lessons in telling your players that you believe in them, will stick with them , and actually do it and be successful in the end , as he has with several of the girls such as Amanda Locke and Courtney Conley.
 
Funny thing about Murphy is that he usually signs a Tuscaloosa County girl every year, though most of them aren't very good (see Sarah Patterson's daughter, also the Gibson girl). Lunceford being the exception. The good thing is he doesn't give the Tuscaloosa girls 150 extra unnecessary at-bats.
 
I think he just does it to get more local fans out, and they provide for good practice players. Which is what Tullidge and Gregory would have been for any other Division I, Division II or NAIA team this year.
 
Zona said:
I think he just does it to get more local fans out, and they provide for good practice players. Which is what Tullidge and Gregory would have been for any other Division I, Division II or NAIA team this year.
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Let me pose a question here. There has been a lot of criticism of our coaching staff for recruiting so many local players the past few years. Recently, a Birmingham News article exposed the fact that we can't waive out of state tuition. We all know that we don't have a lottery and only have 11.7 scholarships available. So, are we recruiting mostly in state players because without being able to waive out of state tuition and with only 11.7 scholarships, we have no choice?
 
I don't think we recruited these locals, they just walked on and somehow found their way to everyday spots for some reason.

How does Samford do it? Regardless of our success vs. them in a couple of Tuesday games, one of which they flat out gave to us, they were far and away the best team in the state this year. Dugas is about the only one that would stick in their lineup, though they would easily develop a guy like Ben Moore better.

We don't have a clue what we're doing and it showed.
 
Zona said:
I don't think we recruited these locals, they just walked on and somehow found their way to everyday spots for some reason.

How does Samford do it? Regardless of our success vs. them in a couple of Tuesday games, one of which they flat out gave to us, they were far and away the best team in the state this year. Dugas is about the only one that would stick in their lineup, though they would easily develop a guy like Ben Moore better.

We don't have a clue what we're doing and it showed.
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Even if they were recruited, honestly, I think most of the time they are recruited solely because we lost a signee in the draft and the coaches scramble to fill the spot.

As far as Samford, let's look at top 9 hitters (going by games started) and top 5 pitchers (by starts and appearances):

Hitters:
1. Saxon Butler -- SR
2. CK Irby -- SO
3. Phillip Ervin -- SO
4. Zeth Stone -- JR
5. Brad Moss -- SR
6. Brandon Miller -- SR
7. Austin Allison -- RS JR
8. Christiaan Durdaller -- RS JR
9. Tommy Corbin -- JR

Pitching:
1. Josh Martin -- SR
2. Charles Basford -- SR
3. Kyle Putkonen -- SR
4. Irby -- SO
5. Burns -- SR
5. Vanderheiden -- SR (tied for 5th most appearances)

There's 10 guys in that list who have been in the program for four years were quality contributors on the team (admittedly, some were JUCO transfers so two years for some).

I had nothing to prove though, just that Samford had an experienced team this year, and those generally perform better.
 
What would everyone think of Casey Dunn as our next coach? I think he played at the Barn, but he seems to be a good coach and he has good coaching genes (although that didn't help with Mike Shula).
 
TideHead said:
Recently, a Birmingham News article exposed the fact that we can't waive out of state tuition.
Click to expand...

That's just it - we can waive out of state tuition, we just don't do it. Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Auburn do it, but we're obviously too lazy or just don't care enough to even bother trying. That's clearly the most damning evidence of the University's indifference to the baseball program.
 
Some interesting points in the last few posts. I, too, would like to see the University waive out of state tuition for baseball players to try to get a couple more quality players in. It may or may not help. At least it would show some interest from the powers that be. One thing to remember is that we were faced with the same problems when we were at our most successful so I don't think we can just look at Hope scholarships and lack of waivers as the only reason we are struggling.

I also disagree with saying that we were young and inexperienced. Our pitching staff was young and inexperienced. No doubt about it. However, that young and inexperienced staff pitched its collective guts out and kept us in most games. It was our lack of offensive production that killed us. On the offense, going by games started, our top 9 hitters were:

1. Brett Booth -- Sr.
2. Taylor Dugas -- Sr.
3. Jared Reeves -- Sr.
4. Ben Moore -- Fr.
5. Hunter Gregory -- Sr.
6. Kenny Roberts -- Jr.
7. Austen Smith -- So.
8. Jon Kelton -- Sr.
9. James Tulledge -- Sr.

This was hardly an inexperienced team offensively. Unless we have some of the guys who didn't play or some of the new guys coming in next year (who will be inexperienced) step it up, I don't see our offense improving next year.

Don't get me wrong, I will go to every home game that I can possibly go to and I will support the team as vocally as possible. I just don't expect much at all.
 
bamajake said:
Some interesting points in the last few posts. I, too, would like to see the University waive out of state tuition for baseball players to try to get a couple more quality players in. It may or may not help. At least it would show some interest from the powers that be. One thing to remember is that we were faced with the same problems when we were at our most successful so I don't think we can just look at Hope scholarships and lack of waivers as the only reason we are struggling.

I also disagree with saying that we were young and inexperienced. Our pitching staff was young and inexperienced. No doubt about it. However, that young and inexperienced staff pitched its collective guts out and kept us in most games. It was our lack of offensive production that killed us. On the offense, going by games started, our top 9 hitters were:

1. Brett Booth -- Sr.
2. Taylor Dugas -- Sr.
3. Jared Reeves -- Sr.
4. Ben Moore -- Fr.
5. Hunter Gregory -- Sr.
6. Kenny Roberts -- Jr.
7. Austen Smith -- So.
8. Jon Kelton -- Sr.
9. James Tulledge -- Sr.

This was hardly an inexperienced team offensively. Unless we have some of the guys who didn't play or some of the new guys coming in next year (who will be inexperienced) step it up, I don't see our offense improving next year.

Don't get me wrong, I will go to every home game that I can possibly go to and I will support the team as vocally as possible. I just don't expect much at all.
Click to expand...

You misunderstood my post if you think I was saying we were young and inexperienced. That's not what I was saying at all. I was saying that much of Samford's success this year could be attributed to having a wealth of experience everywhere.

We had a lot of youth in the pitching staff, but we were not a "young" team in the field. Moore was the only freshman position player to get a lot of time out there, so the rest of the guys had plenty of experience.
 
Crimson1967 said:
What would everyone think of Casey Dunn as our next coach? I think he played at the Barn, but he seems to be a good coach and he has good coaching genes (although that didn't help with Mike Shula).
Click to expand...

I think he would be good, but I don't want to see us go in that direction right off the bat. Not without contacting some "bigger fish" in the nation.
 
Got you fanatic. I have just been hearing a number of people saying that we were young and inexperienced everywhere and that, of course, is not the case. I agree that our pitchers were young and inexperienced. The question is whether we will be able to develop their potential and whether we will be able to find some offense to support them.
 
I personally think Casey Dunn is a very good coach. He has certainly gotten the most out of his players at Samford. That being said, I agree that we should test the waters with more established coaches before we look at those from smaller schools. No, actually I am hoping that things will turn around beginning with next year and that we will go on another highly successful run. I wouldn't bet on it, but I can at least hope.
 
From the January 28th edition of The Tuscaloosa News: “Position-wise we are a Top 25 team, no question in my mind,” Gaspard said at a preseason press conference. “I think that if the young pitching develops and we get good pitching in the back end of the game, we can be a team that will be a postseason team and can compete to be in a super regional and obviously Omaha.” Taylor Dugas, the Crimson Tide’s All-American center fielder, will lead an offense that can be “much more physical,” in Gaspard’s view, than the “scrappy” offensive unit that went 35-28 last season.


So much for that projection.

The 2011 team posted an overall line of .276/.362/.378, which was pretty doggone weak. This year's team "hit" an embarrassing .259/.336/.347. That's across-the-board regression for a lineup of experienced hitters, the lone exception being the freshman Moore, who was actually the second-most productive hitter on the team. It's hard to find optimism when there has been absolutely zero improvement under this coaching staff.
 
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