UNCG Coach Mike Gaski Fired

...at Carolina, they once hung Dean Smith in effigy. Probably an 8 year old or two saw that, also. The act was largely held over wins and losses on the basketball court. His career and good works serve strong notice that those who would hang his likeness, were misguided. In fact, the story is often told to illustrate the greatness of Smith and his humble beginnings in Chapel Hill.

At Greensboro, the day after the UNC game, when the ENTIRE UNCG team left their spectacular new locker rooms to relieve themselves in the public restrooms at the stadium, more relief than you might imagine was brought about for those who suffered at Gaski's hand every day. One player was heard to say it was the inspiration for beating the Heels at their place for the first time EVER.

The reminder that someone cared enough about them to show respect for what the players there had quietly endured -- particularly the four year guys! Get back to me when your 8 year old has the gift of the love of baseball that you help foster within him for a decade or more nearly stripped for all of the wrong reasons.

If those things were sold on campus and to baseball alums as part of a baseball fundraiser, they'd be able to add a second deck to the stadium!

 

USA baseball

Is he still the President at Large?

 

Yes he is still President at-large.

Cat Coach---to answer your question...if I read a post about someone urinating on someone's effigy, from the outside I would probably look at it just as you have done. People should be above this, what message is it sending, etc. I give you that. But based on the strong feelings that MANY people have that played for Gaski, it was probably therapeutic in nature. Again, I'm sure that many of the UNC fans that were there thought it was some odd recruiting tool, but those within the system know it was the last straw and ultimately the time to do something.

If I sat down across from you and told you some of the things he did to crush kids, you would cringe. They had nothing to do with coaching techniques or somehow inspiring a kid thru negative reinforce, they were just evil. The option a kid had...quit and stay on campus or quit and try to transfer. Not one kid that I remember ever quit during the season which was a testament to their courage and character. I feel pretty certain that if your son was playing on a team and the coach went out of his way to humiliate your son, you would have very strong feelings about the person as a coach and a person. Now take into consideration all the time, money, travel and other energy expended to see your child playing in college ball. A continuation of a dream to excel in a sport they truly love and must love to get to this point, and you have a coach of Gaski's nature. When you are 8, you can maybe miss the rest of a season with a coach you disagree with or go to a travel team and play the remainder of a season or heck...my choice...go to the pool and have fun. But when you are 18-22, those choices are not available any more and you have to take all the denigrating remarks from the coach, get pulled from games just for the sake of mind games, etc. or quit a sport they are not ready to give up.

Unfortunately, all those nasty little evils start to pop up and a toilet mint is seen as a way to truly express how you feel about a situation. Yep, from the outside it's probably tacky and classless, from the inside it was therapeutic and enjoyable. And I'm sure that some people who read this probably wonder why not go and address this behavior with the coach, because the kids would tell us not to. Some may have been because they don't want mom or dad interfering, but most of it came from the retaliation they would get in practice if someone said something to him or the AD's office. One of the parent's called the AD's office reference some financial aid questions...nothing bad just questions. When it filtered down to Gaski, he jumped all over the kid about Mommy and Daddy having to take care over their inept son. Can you see why some people may have felt some anger?

I appreciate your posts and truly hope that whatever your son does academically or athletically, that you are able to help him make the the right moves thru his college career. That was my hope for my oldest and certainly my 11-year old. Unfortunately there is a part of me that sees my oldest and watched the unneeded struggles and just pray that I didn't fail him. You say you have talked with Gaski twice in your life, probably the same amount of time I have. The shame is that is twice too many for me. So that being said, the urinal cake issue is probably classless, but myself and many others appreciated the heck out of it and it would make a great Fathers Day gift for those of us under Gaski's regime.

 

UNCG fan---I guess the only way to address the winning so you can appreciate it would be to say Gaski is over the program, he chose to offer kids from all over the country scholarships based on what his assistants thought. When they got to campus, he looked at a young male across from him and signed him. He is responsible for the success/failure of the program.

But lets just take the human element completely out of the equation as you seem to want to do. Coaches are motivators, and athletes run on emotion. Gaski "de or un" motivated the kids and the kids ran on negative emotion. I guess simplistically, a marriage is just a union of two disinterested parties and therefore should not ever be based on emotional encouragement or need to succeed. If it fails, it's because one party chose a sub standard partner and it's perfectly within the right of the better partner to mentally berate the other. My bad...I misunderstood how this should have worked.

UNCG fan, you are right...the kids sucked, Gaski was great and the failure was a by-product of a bunch of loose cannons running around the ballfield making sandcastles around 2nd base and watching the hawks fly in the outfield. He had to be unfairly singled out and is a shocking loss for a program that was on the cusp of greatness. You have no more of an idea what that program was really all about the last 4 years or the desire of kids to play at an exceptional level. The year they had no pitching, the kids tried as hard as they could but were just worn out. This year, the pitching was young and will get better (if they stay) but the team was always fighting uphill after the 1st or 2nd inning. The players that were recruited were ALL top of their field in whatever state they were from. Either high JC product or all-state. Did you watch any of these kids over the last 4 years?

To discount Gaski's actions with these kids personally and separate them from the way they played on the field is ridiculous. You quote a few stats that halfway support your theory and BOOM, it is solved. I'm not taking the time here to go back over the last years to show a side that I don't think you'll accept. One of the posters already did that and you just blew him off. You state the comments from Gaski are present from day 1 so they are as much of the equation as any other issue. Some teams were more successful than others which makes me think they just blew him off and his rantings better than some other teams. But I guess I digress and to finalize this point, I suggest you visit the players that played for him and suggest the reason that they didn't perform well is that they lacked the talent, initiative, will to succeed, didn't perform to prepare and are less than D-1 talent. I would be interested to see their reaction to your baseball 101 overview.

 

For the purposes of future discussion regarding the former UNCG coach, I have made the decision to refrain from smearing his great name and legend by using his name. His future moniker will be Satan or Beelzebub. Any use of these names in addressing this great man which may reflect on any past or present figures, real or imaginary, is purely coincidental.

 

It doesn't really matter, but I am a former 4 year starter that played on the successful teams. Ask any of us at the next alumni game and we will be happy to give you way more positive experiences than negative.

 

Now, that's funny.

 

There has to be more information about opening. Too good a situation , to not be highly coveted. Got to think you can make UNCG into a perennial contender for SoCo championship. Someone give us the news!!

 

update

As reported by Kendall Rogers at PG:

Hearing #UNCG has its guy in tow …. if it's who I'm told it is, would be a very nice mid-major hire to say the least. More tomorrow.


Also heard that UNCG raise the HC salary significantly and have given the Assistant a significant bump too. Should help the draw.

 

Any more news today on the next UNCG coach?