Rumored Coaching Candidates for Michigan Baseball

Submitted by Raoul on

I stumbled across what looks to be a pretty good source for college baseball coaching rumors—a Twitter account called Skippers Dugout. Whoever is behind this account has tweeted a number of times about the Michigan job, with some interesting rumors that I haven't seen posted here before. On June 12, there was this one:

Hearing #Michigan has possible interest in former legend Chris Sabo. Been told AD Brandon wants "Michigan Man".

— Skippers Dugout (@SkippersDugout) June 12, 2012

Also on June 12:

Also heard from sources one current head skipper at an #ACC school has interviewed at #Michigan.

— Skippers Dugout (@SkippersDugout) June 12, 2012

This is likely a reference to Erik Bakich, current head coach at Maryland, given this tweet two days later:

Sources tell us #Maryland HC has been talking w #Michigan.Still hearing former Red and UM alum Chris Sabo as well. Will Sabo wear the specs?

— Skippers Dugout (@SkippersDugout) June 14, 2012

Bakich looks like a pretty good option. His Maryland profile says this about him:

Bakich, who is the youngest head coach at any BCS school, has a remarkable record of recruiting and developing elite talent. In the last 10 years he has coached 73 players that have been selected in the MLB draft, including 25 in the first five rounds and nine first-round picks. 

I've seen many people advocating for Kent State head coach Scott Stricklin to get the Michigan job, but Skippers Dugout posted this on June 14:

Hearing Scott Stricklin has told #Michigan he is not interested.#collegebaseball

— Skippers Dugout (@SkippersDugout) June 14, 2012

One other name mentioned recently is current Michigan pitching coach Steve Merriman:

Hearing Steve Merriman is still in the hunt at #Michigan#collegebaseball

— Skippers Dugout (@SkippersDugout) June 18, 2012

UPDATE: Perhaps Stricklin is still a possibility. Skippers Dugout just posted this:

#Michigan not moving yet tells me someone still in the #CWS is gonna have to turn down some serious cash. Heard Strick is top target.

— Skippers Dugout (@SkippersDugout) June 21, 2012

A couple of side notes:

  • Someone asked in a previous thread what other openings there are in college baseball. From BaseballAmerica's 2012 College Coaching Carousel, it appears that Michigan has the only current opening among BCS schools.
  • Skippers Dugout has tweeted a number of times about Rich Maloney, indicating that he may be headed back to Ball State:

Source tells us Rich Maloney and wife were on campus last week at #BallState. Look 4 him 2 end up @ #BallState. Hearing $$ is only hurdle.

— Skippers Dugout (@SkippersDugout) June 14, 2012

UPDATE2: Rich Maloney's return to Ball State is now official, and he'll be (re)introduced at a press conference tomorrow morning. See Rich Maloney Named Ball State's Head Baseball Coach.

Also, Kent State was eliminated from the College World Series earlier today, so if Stricklin is in fact interested in the Michigan job, he's now free to pursue it.

gbdub

June 21st, 2012 at 9:14 AM ^

Well I don't think it's a stretch to take that meaning, given DB's strong preference for a coach with previous Michigan ties for football. That worked out well, but I'm not sure the available candidates in baseball really warrant that limitation - and it sounds like some coaches outside the "family" are getting serious consideration.

Raoul

June 21st, 2012 at 9:42 AM ^

Almost every coach Brandon has hired for one of the "nonrevenue" sports had no previous ties to Michigan. These include Kim Barnes Arico, Chaka Daley, KZ Li, and Alex Gibby. The only exception appears to be golf coach Chris Whitten, who was promoted from an assistant coaching spot. So, if Brandon has an overall preference for hiring, it would be to hire people without Michigan ties.

gbdub

June 21st, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^

Were strong "Michigan" candidates available for any of those positions? I do think that shows DB is flexible, but all else being equal he does seem to emphasize Michigan heritage. Then again, football seems to have more developed coaching trees due to the large number of assistants, so it may be the only sport that lends itself to a "Michigan Men first" policy.

Raoul

June 21st, 2012 at 7:26 PM ^

I don't know about the other jobs, but there were a couple of legitimate candidates for the women's basketball job who had Michigan connections--namely, two of the assistants who had served under the previous coach.

TheTruth41

June 21st, 2012 at 8:49 AM ^

Just ask Rich Rod. Hot coach, some may debate his character, but definitely wasn't a Michigan Man. If you're hiring from the outside, no one with any previously ties it helps that the new coach embraces Michigan and doesn't go too far outside the lines. May differ a bit for baseball as they do not have the overall winning tradition that football does so there may be room for new approaches to get the program to that level.

gbdub

June 21st, 2012 at 9:19 AM ^

I think you take the best man for the job. Michigan ties are a strong plus for several reasons, but a great coach with no Michigan ties is better than a poor coach with Michigan ties. I mean, would you like to trade Al Borges for Mike deBord?

trueblueintexas

June 21st, 2012 at 12:12 AM ^

I tried checking his coaching background. Couldn't find much other than being hired in 2003 as the Reds rookie league hitting coach. Anyone have any idea what kind of coaching background he has beyond that?

Raoul

June 21st, 2012 at 12:36 AM ^

I couldn't find much on Sabo either. His bio at baseball-reference.com says he "was a hitting instructor for the Dayton Dragons, the Reds' single-A affiliate in 2005." More recently, he apparently—if Wikipedia can be believed—attended the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University.

I'm skeptical about Brandon being interested in hiring Sabo given his lack of coaching and college recruiting experience.

Side note: In case anyone's wondering why this is a diary—I don't know, because I posted this on the board.

MaizeMN

June 21st, 2012 at 12:43 AM ^

I liked him as a player; probably a good developmental coach at present.

I don't know anything about Merriman.

Stricklin is probably the "hot" choice.

But my money is on Backich,

Brandon seems to favor coaches who recruit and devekop talent.  His resume seems to fit that MO best.

goblueritzy92

June 21st, 2012 at 12:49 AM ^

RE: Merriman, he has spent a fair amount of time in the MLB as a developmental scout so he would definitely have a good eye for talent. His expertise is in pitching as you can see. He has had many stop as a pitching coach and has a little head coaching experience. He would probably need to surround himself with a great hitting coach and other assistants. As far as him becoming the next head coach, at this point I doubt it, but you never know.

I Blue Myself

June 21st, 2012 at 3:03 AM ^

Do we have a realistic shot at the Maryland coach?  The Big Ten is at a severe disadvantage in baseball due to weather, while the ACC is a power conference.  If I were a young coach with ambitions to win at a national level, I think I'd prefer to stay at Maryland.

Is Brandon just going to throw a pile of money at him and hope he wants to be a big fish in a small pond, or is there more to it than that?

Raoul

June 21st, 2012 at 7:50 AM ^

Brandon was able to do something similar with the women's basketball hire--landing an up-and-coming coach (Kim Barnes Arico) from a power conference (the Big East), even though the Michigan women's team has historically been one of the worst teams in a weak conference.

The analogy isn't perfect given how weather puts Big Ten baseball teams at a disadvantage, but Bakich has considered leaving Maryland before, according to this tweet:

FYI: PG is the website Perfect Game, and Kendall Rogers seems to be their main college baseball blogger.

From what they've tweeted recently, both Skippers Dugout and Kendall Rogers seem to believe that Stricklin is still Brandon's top target, citing how "long" it's taking Michigan to hire someone, and using this as evidence that Brandon is waiting for someone currently coaching in the College World Series (Stricklin). That could be the case, but it's been less than a month since Maloney was let go, and I think Brandon has shown previously that he takes a deliberate approach to hiring coaches, so maybe he's just still doing his due diligence on someone other than Stricklin.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

June 21st, 2012 at 8:45 AM ^

Maryland is not a place you can win at baseball.  The athletic department is drowning in red ink.  They chopped about eight programs recently (almost one third of the total!) and it was rumored that baseball was going to be one of them.  It survived, but who knows about the future?

I dunno how I'd feel about Bakich - on one hand, he's improved Maryland's fortunes somewhat since he was hired.  On the other hand, a three-legged gerbil could've improved Maryland's fortunes as they were regularly one of the worst teams in the country (single-digit conference wins, regular weekday losses and regular 15-run beatings on the weekends), and the truth is they still stink.  He's brought in well-regarded recruiting classes but they've underachieved, given those.  The top-25 recruiting classes he's brought in the last two years should've resulted in making the ACC tourney this year, and they didn't even come close.