UNCG Coach Mike Gaski Fired

Is that former MLB guy originally from Asheville and currently lives in Asheville?

 

Nope, not the one. In reading all of the post, hoping Mr. G finds a job out west............

 

You mean like in Alaska...that might be far enough west for most of those that have dealt with him.

 

Good story about Gaski this year...not sure who masterminded the plot but their were some rumors of previous players involved...their names are now legends! The big draw as far as games go is the UNCG vs Tarheels game at Greensboro. Scene is 2500-3000 fans in attendance. I go in the mens bathroom and use the wall urinal. When I look down, someone had placed urinal disinfectant mint in the toilet and the holder had Gaski's picture on it. Two or three of the urinals had them in it. It was fabulous. Everyone got a chance to p*** on Gaski. The AD over baseball heard about it and went in and came out laughing his head off. They stayed in the whole game and the Asst. Coaches took them out the next day. Don't know if Gaski ever knew but everyone else did! Wonder if the Tarheel fans thought it was a recruiting ploy?! You should have seen all the men taking pics of the urinals!

 

How insane was he...after a game they lost...meaning the players (he told them he had never lost a game only they had)...he always picked out people to blame for a loss. One game he blamed all his players that had come from Maryland! And none of them even played that game. So he spent the next 10 minutes eating them out.

Heck my son missed one game to rest a shoulder impingement. Got blamed for the loss because he wasn't in the game. Let the team down.

 

Accountablility and Ownership

I'm not going to speak to the opinions on Gaski. I am going to comment on the numerous, ridiculous reasons why they have not been competitive in the past 10 years. The quality of players and skill level have gone down drastically, period. Great players win and play well regardless of a coach's personality and social skills. The 94 and 97,98 teams didn't seem to care about these issues while they were winning and going to the NCAA's. Too many parents these days can't understand why their kid isn't playing or why they should be playing more. It's simple...you hit well, pitch well, you play. Any sane coach would put the best talent the team has to offer on the field

Most of these kids over the past 10 years are D3 players. There is nothing wrong with that, but if you don't have enough talented players then you don't play well and win. Players that can't hack it or just aren't good enough whine to their parents, whine to the AD, whine to other players, etc. If they have issues with the coach and they are good, then they should transfer to another school. Parents and players need to take ownership and have accountability in their own roles and everything else usually takes care of itself.

Uncg Baseball will have a great future ahead with the facilities, education, etc that it has to offer.

 

Correct!

except for the major point you missed. Recruiting. If UNCG did not have the top tier talent it is as simple as recruiting. Since most players will decide on a program based on the coaches that would suggest that the reason a program does not have the requisite talent is the coach. If, as you say, most of the players were of D3 caliber playing at the D1 level was it because the players got worse or that the top talent wouldn't come there? (rhetorical question) Only one guy to blame in the locker room for that especially given the education, facilities etc that there is to offer.

I don't know one current player, so my comments in NO WAY agree with the fact that they are not D1 caliber players. It is just commentary on that piece of the puzzle, if what UNCG Fan says above is true.

 

I agree that it does boil down to recruiting which is on the Head Coach. The explanations of the program not winning have been surrounded with other issues not relevant to winning. I'm simply pointing out that the players haven't had the talent and hence have come up with many excuses as to why they aren't good. They are going to get a top, talented head coach and will get back to being a top SoCon contender based on the candidates.

 

As a former player, I completely disagree with uncg fan. How long have you been a fan? In 94 and 97, they played in the Big South Conference, not a big powerhouse conference in baseball, and in 98, first year in the SoCon, they didn't make it to a NCAA regional.

During my career, I played with 9 guys that got drafted and played with statistically one of the best if not the best player in UNCG history in Ryan Gordon, how is that D3 talent? So to say the talent wasn't there is a misconception, what teams since haven't had that the 94 and 97 teams had was a sense of team before self. Talent can only get you so far in a team game.

The program started to go down hill when Gaski decided not to renew assistant coach Neil Avent's contract coming off a 39-21 season the third best season in UNCG history nine years ago. Avent was the recruiting coordinator since the start of the program in 1991 and he recruited all those players on the 94 and 97 teams.

The program is a very attractive program because its low tuition and premium facilities. The pay has to increase for it to attract the caliber of coaches that would love to have that job.

I would love to hear heels_25 comment on the D3 talent the last four years as his son has been on the team

 

First of all. You didn't play with 9 players that got drafted. IF so, please list them. Second, the Big South conference at the time was very competitive as Winthrop, Coastal Carolina, and Liberty were all ranked in the top 50. The SoCon has never been a powerhouse so your argument is weak. This is confirmed by the fact that the 98 team won the league and 40 wins and still didn't get a bid.

Gordon doesn't make up for the rest of the lack of talent. If every other player was so good then why didn't you win? Because, you had a bunch of players not playing well together because they were struggling, whining, and carrying negative energy around.

There's no need to take the D3 personal. You either can play or can't and it doesn't matter about the other useless excuses. Look at the team batting averages and ERA as a confirmation of this. You can either hit or not and you either have good stuff or not. Look at the records and then match those players up to the years they were good. It's quite easy.

I do agree with your comment on Avent and the recruiting which acknowledges the lack of recruiting after he left.