UL vs USM Game 1

[JMV JustMyView]

_ Just like we couldn't seal the deal at the LSU regional, the A&M regional was the same thing. We got tight and played not to lose instead of to win.

Fun if that were to happen often this decade I would not be complaining or questioning what has happened. But the facts state that we are on a decline since the CWS team. _

Do you know that only 8 teams make it to the world series every year out of 271...It is not easy to make it to Omaha...Expecting us to go there every year is not a realistic goal.

[cajunnexile]

_ I call bullschit on this one. Name one major school that Tony interviewed for, what year and was offered a big contract. You say "many" and I am unaware of any official job interview or official job offer he ever received from anyone. Saying that you know a major college job was offered in private or offered in a private phone conversation is a lie. _

I agree with your assessment here. Mr. Fun seems to claim a lot things which he cant seem to back up.

I have never read a single published report of Robe interviewing at any other school.

Also, everyone knows that the Ole Miss coach was first approached about the LSU job after Laval got the boot, not Robe.

[cajunnexile]

_ OHNO OHNO OHNO.

OH PLEASE MR. GENIUS SONNNYSSISSYMIAMEMEMEMEMEME, PLEASE, DON'T EXPOSE ME FOR THE COMPLETE FRAUD I AM!!!!

OH, WOE IS ME! I MADE TWO MINISCULE ERRORS, AND MR. COMIC BOOK HERO HAS POINTED OUT THAT EVERYTHING EVERYTHING-- ipso facto, of course-- IS A COMPLETE LIE!!!

OH, OH, OH, WHAT SHALL I DOOOOO????!!!

Hmmm. Maybe I'll go over to Zeebart's for some pot roast.

Yeah. That oughta do it. _

He did find SEVERAL errors in your factual claims. Claims you used to illustrate that Robe was a superior coach b/c of his early record when compared against Bertman. Facts which were not true. One could call those lies.

[cajun4life]

_ Do you know that only 8 teams make it to the world series every year out of 271...It is not easy to make it to Omaha...Expecting us to go there every year is not a realistic goal. _

I do not expect us to go to Omaha every year, that would be ridiculous. I do expect us to be in a regional 4 out of 5 years though and that is legitimate expectations.

1994-2000 we have been to how many regionals?
2001-present we have been to how many regionals?

[CajunFun]

_ I agree with your assessment here. Mr. Fun seems to claim a lot things which he cant seem to back up.

I have never read a single published report of Robe interviewing at any other school.

Also, everyone knows that the Ole Miss coach was first approached about the LSU job after Laval got the boot, not Robe. _

Go back and read what I said. He has been contacted repeatedly. He tells them he's not interested. So no, there are no interviews.

But that's because Robe is loyal. He has turned down big bucks to stay here.

"Everyone knows"... ?? I said LSU called him.

And someone with LSU did.

[CajunFun]

_ He did find SEVERAL errors in your factual claims. Claims you used to illustrate that Robe was a superior coach b/c of his early record when compared against Bertman. Facts which were not true. One could call those lies. _

The post was about what Robe has accomplished. It wasn't about LSU nor USC, and the errors concerning both were completely inconsequential to the points I was making: what Robe has accomplished is far, far more than any of us have any reason to expect.

Are you aware that for Tony's first few years here, his budget was so small that at least one of his assistant coaches (and maybe more) was on Food Stamps? What Tony has done with tiny resources is amazing.

And he has turned down enquiries from major programs, repeatedly. He is loyal.

He is a class act, through and through, and a very successful coach. There are many, many schools with larger budgets who wish they had our success in baseball.

Tony deserves our respect.

He does not deserve the criticism and ugly comments so many people have heaped upon him here.

[CajunFun]

I do expect us to be in a regional 4 out of 5 years though and that is legitimate expectations.

1994-2000 we have been to how many regionals?
2001-present we have been to how many regionals? _

From 2001-present, a period of 8 years, we've been to three regionals. For a school in our position, that's excellent. I wonder how many schools in the 'Belt have done so well.

So go back to your first comment. What do you base that on?

Only 64 teams out of under 300 go to Regionals, about 1 in 4. Regional berths go to the conference champions-- and there are a LOT of conferences-- and the 25-30 or so programs that didn't win their conferences, but are obviously strong.

So if 1 in 4 get invites, how do you expect UL to go to 4 out 5 times? We're in a tough conference. Do you really expect us to win the tournament 4 out of 5 years? (Remember, we didn't win the conference tournament when we went to the CWS.)

Do you think it's because of our budget? Except for ULM, we not only have the lowest budget in the 'Belt, it's the lowest among the 110+ 1-A schools. It's even lower than many 1-AA programs. So you can't say that because of our budget.

So why do say that? Just because it's what you want?

If you think we should go to the Regionals 4 out of 5 years, please back it up. Please give evidence-- any evidence at all-- that supports your opinion.

[LifeTimeCajun]

I would be curious on what coach Robes baseball budget is(what he gets from the athletic dept) as opposed to what he has to raise. Ill be honest with you guys, I rescently did some inquiring from local HS baseball coaches and programs on what they spend for just baseball and what kind of money they in there respective programs can spend.....i was shocked! Maybe I have been under a rock or something, but I cant understand a High School program spending those amounts of money. I would also like to compare baseball budgets to others in our conference.

[rhineaux]

_ From 2001-present, a period of 8 years, we've been to three regionals. For a school in our position, that's excellent. I wonder how many schools in the 'Belt have done so well.

*
*
If you think we should go to the Regionals 4 out of 5 years, please back it up. Please give evidence-- any evidence at all-- that supports your opinion. _

First, I’ll say again that I don’t think anyone has suggested that Robe be fired, although there are a lot of posts insinuating that someone said that. I think that all anyone suggested, including cajun4life, is that folks are afraid to judge Robe equally because of past successes. I think he’s right because as soon as anyone says anything close to questioning Robe, everyone has a fit about it and insinuates that someone said he should be fired.

Secondly, I would agree with your first point, except that the team participated in more regionals in the 4 seasons preceding 2001. I think that if, instead of looking at the team over the past 8-10 seasons, you look at two groups of seasons...the first from 1997 (first Postseason trip under Robe) through 2002 and the second being from 2003 to 2008, you'll see C4L's point. Both groups consist of 6 seasons. You'll see that in overall record, conference performance, etc, there isn't much difference between the two era's. But, if you look at Postseason Appearances, and success in the Postseason, you'll see that the team went to the postseason 5 times in that first 6 year span, for a postseason record of 11-9, whereas in the second 6-year span, they have only made 2 Postseason appearances with a 3-4 record.

I don't think the argument has anything to do with whether or not he is a good coach. I think the argument is that this baseball program had a GREAT stretch of years, and made it to a CWS, and had something to build off of. And, since then, instead of building, the program has taken a step back, or not continued to progress, or however one may choose to put it.

As I said last week, there was a big change in the program following that 2002 season. I'm not saying that did or didn't have anything to do with the team's performances, but I think that argument could be made. It was also at that time, I think, that they quit playing LSU and Tulane annually, so maybe the lack of those 3-5 RPI games per year hurt them, although I think 2006 is the only year it might have come into play. I'm sure there are some other things that someone could come up with as to why the program's progression has stalled. But, I think that for anyone to state that the progression HAS NOT stalled means that they're choosing to ignore some important points. The thing to remember is that Robe doesn't make excuses for himself or his team, and is always very candid when speaking about his team. So, I think that if Robe has questions about his team and program, it is perfectly OK for fans to ask the same questions.

[cajun4life]

_ First, I’ll say again that I don’t think anyone has suggested that Robe be fired, although there are a lot of posts insinuating that someone said that. I think that all anyone suggested, including cajun4life, is that folks are afraid to judge Robe equally because of past successes. I think he’s right because as soon as anyone says anything close to questioning Robe, everyone has a fit about it and insinuates that someone said he should be fired.

Secondly, I would agree with your first point, except that the team participated in more regionals in the 4 seasons preceding 2001. I think that if, instead of looking at the team over the past 8-10 seasons, you look at two groups of seasons...the first from 1997 (first Postseason trip under Robe) through 2002 and the second being from 2003 to 2008, you'll see C4L's point. Both groups consist of 6 seasons. You'll see that in overall record, conference performance, etc, there isn't much difference between the two era's. But, if you look at Postseason Appearances, and success in the Postseason, you'll see that the team went to the postseason 5 times in that first 6 year span, for a postseason record of 11-9, whereas in the second 6-year span, they have only made 2 Postseason appearances with a 3-4 record.

I don't think the argument has anything to do with whether or not he is a good coach. I think the argument is that this baseball program had a GREAT stretch of years, and made it to a CWS, and had something to build off of. And, since then, instead of building, the program has taken a step back, or not continued to progress, or however one may choose to put it.

As I said last week, there was a big change in the program following that 2002 season. I'm not saying that did or didn't have anything to do with the team's performances, but I think that argument could be made. It was also at that time, I think, that they quit playing LSU and Tulane annually, so maybe the lack of those 3-5 RPI games per year hurt them, although I think 2006 is the only year it might have come into play. I'm sure there are some other things that someone could come up with as to why the program's progression has stalled. But, I think that for anyone to state that the progression HAS NOT stalled means that they're choosing to ignore some important points. The thing to remember is that Robe doesn't make excuses for himself or his team, and is always very candid when speaking about his team. So, I think that if Robe has questions about his team and program, it is perfectly OK for fans to ask the same questions. _

That is exactly what I was trying to say. Thank you.

[Just1More]

_ First, I’ll say again that I don’t think anyone has suggested that Robe be fired, although there are a lot of posts insinuating that someone said that. I think that all anyone suggested, including cajun4life, is that folks are afraid to judge Robe equally because of past successes. I think he’s right because as soon as anyone says anything close to questioning Robe, everyone has a fit about it and insinuates that someone said he should be fired.

Rhineaux, the initial discussion was raised on the backside of the two basketball coaches being "questioned". "Why aren't we questioning Robe?" was the big entry point. Most simply came to the defense of a defensable Robe. I find that they who support Robe get attacked as well on here for what they say. The question was asked "what do you do with Robe... fire him?". Answer: "No. But he needs to be held accountable." How so? Saying things like "I want to see sustained success...". How do you hold a coach "accountable" for "sustained success"? Contract terms! Front office business. I do not mind talking about trends and whatever in our programs, but to suggest that UL can go find and grab a better baseball coach than Robe right now is ludicrous.

We have enough coaching questions that warrant decisions... right now or in the very near future. Some people just seem to love to jump on the belly-aching bandwagon. It ruins addressing the acute problems we have to deal with... right now.

When our admin thinks we are simply a bunch of chronic complainers about every single thing we can think of... you know what they do... they don't listen to anything. The key to selling management on their requirement for action is to keep the list to a focused discussion of undeniable problems with undeniably attainable solutions.

Tony Robicheaux is NOT on that list.