Rich Maloney and Michigan Part Ways
Saw a tweet from the Michigan baseball twitter and it is up on MGoBlue.com as well.
Rich Maloney and Michigan have apparently mutually decided not to extend his contract. I don't think anybody is surprised by this news. Many thanks to Rich for all he did to help bring us those three straight Big Ten Championships and those NCAA Tournament appearances. Obviously the last couple years were disappointing, but he did deliver some good times. Best of luck to him and I hope we get a good coach to replace him.
Anybody with more knowledge of the college baseball world know of any possible candidates?
Dave Brandon's Pimp Hand: Ridding the Athletic Department of underperforming Rich's since 2011.
Section1 blow up in 3...2...1...
If it happens, the good news is that he is invisible now (at least to those of us who have our filters blocking out anybody with a 0 karma rating).
Then there are those who are obsessed with Section 1.
And those obsessed over those obsessed over... ah never mind...lighten up.
I love the way people get their panties in a bunch whenever section1 posts, the irrational anger makes for great reading.
I heard that if you stand in front of a mirror with the lights off and whisper,
Rosenberg
Rosenberg
Rosenberg
that he appears and dictates a strongly worded letter to you.
Bring on Jim Abbott.
I've got to hand it to you, that's a great idea.
Too soon?
Can't put my finger on it though.
Can't decide if that post deserves a pat on the back or a backhand across the face...
There was no mutual agreement not to extend Kevin Borseth's contract. Borseth had another year remaining on his contract and was negotiating an extension with Brandon when his old job opened up, and he decided to head back there.
This might have been a mutual parting of the ways. He was apparently on the final year of his contract, and I think it's possible that Brandon had no intention of bringing him back--regardless of whether the team made the tournament or not. Or maybe their negotiations on an extension hit a snag, and Borseth jumped at the Green Bay opening once it appeared.
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/kevin-borseth-leaving-michigan-will-return-green-bay
That post of mine was based on bad information I had been given about Borseth being on the final year of his contract. Most of it was speculation that I no longer ascribe to. Soon after I wrote that, this article was published in which John Barnes, one of Borseth's assistant coaches, said this:
"The biggest shock to me was Michigan was working on a three-year (contract) extension on top of the year he had. To give that up is kind of surprising, but he's not in it for the money. He loves to coach."
The bottom line is that Borseth was unhappy at Michigan and quickly jumped at the chance to return to a job where he'll face less pressure and be closer to his family and to where he grew up. That isn't anything like Maloney's departure.
People say different things, more info comes out, things change, and when we connect the dots we get a giraffe instead of a crane. It's the nature of one part info, one part skuttlebutt, and one part speculation. No harm, no foul.
Mike Matheny
Is a promsing head coach for the 1st-place Cardinals?
What are you saying - he'll leave a job literally at the top of his profession (defending World Series champs) that he just got, for a school that's part of league that can't even decide how to compete with the southern schools with better weather?
Here's the thing. Matheny is in his first year in MLB, in an excellent position. He loves U of M, and I imagine if La Russa were still managing in St. Louis, he would take the Michigan job. However, he is actually well-respected in the dugout in St. Louis. I am a Cardinals fan (lifelong), and he's a guy that everyone respects. He's in the ultimate position to put in a 15 year stint (in his mind) in St. Louis and win a couple rings. Maybe Michigan after, but doubtful if his career goes the way he'd prefer and Michigan succeeds the way we all know it will.
Or he flames out, and he coaches U of M in 3 years.
Any prominent retired coaches from perenial powers such as ASU, Texas, LSU that could get in on?
Former ASU coach Pat Murphy is available and has been rumored to be considering a return to the college ranks...his Sun Devil teams finished in the top 12 nationally in eight of his final thirteen seasons. He parted ways from ASU under some fishy circumstances, but hes a great coach with a terrific track record. It will be interesting to see if DB is in contact with Murphy.
Not a clean program under Murphy's watch, at least that's what I gather from listening to the sportstalk guys here in the valley, especially Bob Kemp on 1060. Don't know any details or whether they are even valid, but there has to be some reason a guy was fired after that kind of success, right?
I agree completely, I was just tossing the name out there since he is available. There was obviously something not quite right with his program considering you usually don't let a guy who had a career record of 629-284 just walk away. I wouldn't expect DB to take the risk but figured he was worth mentioning.
I haven't kept up with baseball lately, but I'd like to see them land a big name replacement. - a Honus Wagner, a Cap Anson, a Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown...
Terrance Mann may be able to lead the search, he does have ties to the University.
#JamesEarlJones
He would have to take a paycut from ESPN perhaps, but I can't see how hiring a Hall of Fame inductee who's relatively young could conceivably not improve this team. Doesn't his presence immediately help recruiting?
Does Larkin have managerial experience? You don't hire someone based on how well they played the game. Remember Alan Trammel's tenure with the tigers?
Mike Matheny had no managerial experience before taking over for La Russa for the Cardinals this season. Certainly having managerial experience is a plus but I think a knowledge of college baseball and overall character are better indications of how a manager will perform.
Sparky Anderson couldn't have won with that Tigers team.
Not that Larkin is a candidate for the job (as far as I know) but this automatic listing of former Michigan stars makes me think of the unfortunate hiring of Bill Freehan after Bud Middaugh was fired. Freehan was a good man whom I suspect took the job more as a favor to Bo than in any actual interest in managing a major college baseball team. He was a caretaker, and nothing more. Michigan needs more than a caretaker.
It would be best if Michigan could get a young, up-and-coming coach who knows college baseball and has experience recruiting. My out-of-the-blue suggestion: Kent State head coach Scott Stricklin. I don't know if he would be interested, but he is a proven winner and a successful recruiter as both an assistant and as a head coach.
http://www.kentstatesports.com/sports/bsb/coaches/Scott_Stricklin
Baseball managers only recruit and develop talent, and good assistants can be used to do the latter. I think college baseball is the perfect place to take a stab with a big name alum, I don't think I need to dissect to everyone the general lack of impact a manager has on a teams won-loss record. There are a few minor exceptions, yes, but it does not exactly take a rocket scientist to put a lineup together and make pitching changes, particularly when you have the added ability of seeing the players play everyday in practice and at every game.
Yes, assistants are as important as, if not more important than, the head coach. However, I stand by my point: Michigan once hired a former superstar player who had no experience with college baseball coaching. It was unsuccessful, and might even be fairly called a disaster. There is no reason to expect that a Larkin or an Abbott would be any different than Freehan. Save the gimmick hires--they don't work, not in college and not in the majors.
A rule that has been proven over and over again in the majors, and I have seen it to be true in college as well: superstar players make bad managers. Call it the Ted Williams rule.
Having played for Freehan during my years at UM, it was worse than a disaster! Three ring circus that included three of the worst coaches (staff) in UM history.
Good luck to him. Always liked the guy from all the Christmas break baseball camps I went to. Maloney was a class act.
My nephew went to one of those. He enjoyed it, and they put together a nice DVD for him that my family is pretty sure helped him get a "non-athletic" scholarship to the DIII school he ended up at. His summer team in our small town sure didn't have anything like that (the DVD, I mean) for him.
blaming trammell for those tiger teams is ridiculous. check out the talent (or lack thereof) on his teams. the only difference between trammell's 2005 team and leyland's 2006 team was granderson, verlander and rogers. i think those guys were worth 20+ wins over the guys they replaced.
i would take trammell back in a heartbeat.
I've been a large critic of Rich. Michigan has lost 71 games in two seasons. Very disappointing.
Time to move on and into a new era of Michigan Baseball.
3 Big Ten Championships, 2 Big Ten Tournament Championships and an NCAA Regional Championship is nothing to scoff at.
Thanks for the memories Rich. Good luck in the future.
No active major league managers are going to coach for us.
I love Michigan and I love baseball. Biggest thing when I was a student was that they never promoted the baseball program to the students and today, they really don't promote the game to the baseball fans in SE Michigan (I don't know if they promote it to the students today.). Many of my friends will go down to Toledo to watch a AAA game but not to Ann Arbor to watch baseball. I am not a sports marketing guy but i think they need to have a bigger plan than just a new manager if you are going to create a baseball powerhouse in the midwest.
It's a tough sell considering the level of competition. It's unfortunate considering we have beautiful baseball facilities, but it's just tough to generate interest in MW college baseball unless you're a diehard.
Scott Stricklin is the guy Michigan fans should hope and expect to get. They guy knows how to recruit and develop stud pitchers. And he can recruit with the best of them. In a lot of ways he is kind of like Maloney. I'm not sure about Maloney's track record at BSU before he came over other than he had a #1 overall pick in the MLB draft... but Stricklin just finished winning his fourth straight MAC tournament.
The last time a coach won a MAC tournament other than him was Coach Boss, who then took the job at MSU. Stricklin can recruit and develop talent. He is the guy all Michigan fans should be cheering for to get the job! I was pleasantly surprised when he didn't get the OSU job a few years ago.