College World Series- UNC

That's why they call it old school, my friend. It's a nice way of saying outdated, obsolete,selfish or less complimentary adjectives.

 

Hahaha...kinda hard to argue that, but the guy has been successful with his Casey Stengal approach

 

Yea, there's alot to like about Wayne Graham, he played for Casey, looks like Casey, had the relative talent of Casey in the 1950's but he ain't Casey. The fact is, he's had the most talented team in the CWS two years in a row and imploded two years in a row.

 

"old school idiot" ? Surely you're not serious are you? Do you think Fox is not a good coach because he didn't win it last year? My son plays for a high school coach that easily fits the "old school" mold, and he loves him, as do all of his teammates. I think these coaches care deeply for their kids, while also having high expectations.

 

If "old school" permits a coach to publicly humiliate a player because he made a bad pitch, in front of his teamates and a national TV audience,I'm not for it.
Idiot may be too harsh, but it ain't too smart.

 

can we agree?

on that particular 2-strike pitch, I think we can all agree that it was way-way-way outside at least a foot off the plate. the old baseball adage that you can't take anything close w/ 2 strikes does not apply here. it wasn't close. that ump had a very wide strike zone.

 

Let's approach this outlook a little differently

Alright, chiming in to protect coaches in general here. No one knows what he even said to that kid. He may may have been telling him he was the greatest pitcher on the planet, and there was no reason that anyone should ever hit him (emphatically).

Wayne Graham is the farthest thing from an idiot or not too smart that I may have ever heard in my whole life. I was fortunate enough to hear him speak at the coaches convention in 2004 after their 2003 national championship. He was almost in tears talking about how much he cared about his players and how proud he was of them the previous year and their performance through a year where they were so scrutinized because of their talent. He is not an idiot, he is a master of his profession.

I'll say this... If a player knows that you care about him, and you have respect from him in return, then you can get him to perform at a higher level by raising your voice from time to time.

Speaking of Rice's situation... since we are going to say that they "IMPLODED" for the second year in a row. I disagree. One of Rice's best pitchers was unable to pitch in Omaha because of an arm injury. Ryne Tacker was a senior and was 9-1 with 70 + innings and a 3 ERA. I'm sure he would have got the ball yesterday if he was healthy. Rice lost to the eventual national champion last year. Can we really say that they imploded if they lost in the equivalent to the Final Four to the eventual national champion. It may happen again this year too. Does anyone realize that Rice is one of the toughest schools in the country to get into academically? Their standards are equivalent to Stanford's. Another thing that most people don't realize... it's not just getting them into school. It's keeping them there. If you bring in a borderline kid to a ridiculous "academic" school. They are going to be tested day in and day out. It's got to be tough to recruit there. Take that back, it's got to be close to impossible to recruit the high level of student athletes that they have there.

I enjoy watching Wayne Graham work he is a teacher. I hate using that term because it so overused and cliche in the coaching world, because most coaches are teachers. So, I'll say it in a new way. He has his P.h.D in coaching. He moves by his own set of rules and is a beacon.

I am saddened by anyone that calls him an idiot or not too smart.

He answered this to a question about them "imploding the last two years" in the after game press conference. I'm going to paraphrase here because I read the article and I don't remember it exactly.

"We only dreamed of having this year back to back years when I took this job 16 years ago. This has become a reality for us. I'm proud of what we've accomplished."

Rice was under .500 almost every year before he took over the program

 

My take

They were in the dugout. Just because you have cameras and a TV audience you can not change how you coach your team. He was obviously trying to get the kid to understand you can not throw fb's down the heart to good hitters. The coach didnt lose the game Rice lost the game and UNC won it. When UNC got a pitch over the plate they hammered it like your supposed to do. UNC threw less pitches over the heart than Rice did. Rice made a couple of errors. UNC made one but it didnt hurt them. Is Coach Fox and idiot because they lost last year? No. Every coach has a different coaching style. Like it or not that is just a fact. This same coaching style has won him 5 National Championships at the JUCO level and a National Title in 2003 at Rice. The coach did not lose the game. UNC won the game with clutch hitting and great pitching and some very good defense. This is the same team than beat down UNC in the first meeting at the CWS. They are very good and very well coached.

As far as that called strike on the POY for Rice. It was not even close. It was a horrible call in a critical situation against the best hitter on their team and one of the best hitters in college baseball. Heck the ball was in the other batters box. Calling a strike on a ball a couple of inches off the plate there I can see. But calling a strike in that situation that far off the plate is ridiculous. As a coach I would be upset if a kid swung at that pitch regardless of the count.

I was pulling hard for the Heels and I am glad they won. They deserved to win the game they outplayed Rice. But it was not because of coaching it was because their players did more than Rice's players.

 

Andro is right on the money....

I think you need to decide if you are being an obnoxious Carolina fan gloating about a victory before you have really one the big one, or are you guys on this thread real fans of the game who love college baseball and what it brings to people and represents to millions.

Anyone who thinks Wayne Graham is an idiot or stupid or wants to discuss what you think he told his players in the dugout, braves should kick you off this board and you guys can go hang out by yourselves in your own idiot box.

Who are any of you to sit around and discuss Wayne Graham. He is one of the best people and coaches in college sports and all of baseball. Most of the people use this board to talk and discuss about different points of the greatest game in the world. Then there are others who need to quit because you don't know JACK about baseball or have any respect for the game.

congrats to the players and coaches and parents involved with the UNC program! Now go win one instead of "imploding" again like you did last year.

 

nice call by the home plate ump punching out the rice player with two on and two outs in the seventh. one of the most ridiculously bad calls I've ever seen. the ball had to have been a half foot off the plate.