Jump to content

story on local baseball coach who wants SLU job


Guest BillikenReport

Recommended Posts

i would hope we didnt fire our baseball coach to hire a high school coach. if the guy wants to be an assistant for the next coach and learn the ropes of college recruiting and such that would be fine. but what does that say for our program's vision if the next baseball coach is a high school coach?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The SLU softball coach had four years of DIII coaching experience and coached club ball for years. He just finished with the most wins in school history for softball. I'm sure not that many were too excited about the hire at the time. So I don't think I would discount a high school coach. If you know the area, you can win in St. Louis. There is plenty of talent here to produce a good baseball and softball team for SLU.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I completely disagree. I'm not any college baseball expert, but IMO, we don't need some high dollar guy. He is obviously a good coach by his high school resume. He knows the area really well. He's got a load of pro experience. He holds SLU as his TOP job. What more could you really ask for. Your number 1 complaint over the past 5 years has been our coach doesn't recruit locally. This guy wants to focus on that. He seems really pumped about the job...practically saying it's his dream job. I say hire the guy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

division III COLLEGE COACH is not a high school coach.

plus, if you know anything about coach conway, he has been an extremely active area select softball figure. thereby staying extremely close to the summer scene and interacting with players from many programs.

does this vianny high school baseball coach have division III experience? does he participate in any summer baseball aside from vianny baseball?

the comparison isnt even close of conway and this vianny coach.

the better comparison would be to talk about the summer coach for that select pirates team that travels all over the midwest all summer long with an area all-star team. that too would be a stretch, however that guy would at least have the experience of dealing with kids from various programs and recruiting the best kids every year to play on his traveling all-star team.

hopefully we hire a quality experienced college coach or an assistant from a successful division one program.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

he knows the area well? i bet he has never seen the east side kids play. he might know the suburbs because his teams face each other, but that doesnt cover the entire metro area.

second, baseball is a little tricky because of the limited scholarships. that desire to move up doesnt cover having to sell kids on why they take a 1/2 scholarship plus student loans and grants to go to an expensive slu over say missouri state who has gotten to the college world series multiple times and is a lot less expensive.

hey maybe the guy is the next great college coach. but doesnt it make more sense he lobbies for an assistant coach job first and learn the nuances of college baseball from the inside first before throwing him to the top spot?

to go from high school baseball coach to college coach is probably harder to do than basketball because of the financing issues and the sheer number of players needed to complete a roster. the last thing we should be considering is to try to find that needle in the haystack candidate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest BillikenReport

The St. Louis area is loaded with baseball talent.

If you don't believe me, please look at the pitcher who was drafted in the first round last spring (Max Scherzer), the two pitchers picked in the first round yesterday (Ross Detwiler and Nick Schmidt) and look up the two pitchers who will be first-round picks next year (Wichita State's Aaron Shafer from Troy HS and Holt's Tim Melville).

That's five first-round MLB draft picks in three years, not to mention the high number of Division I players the area produces annually.

If you just look at the players Steve Bieser has helped develop in the last few years, like Schmidt, Jason Hagerty (University of Miami), Jim Klocke (Southeast Missouri State), Josh Syberg (SEMO) and Dave Stewart (Nebraska), you have more talent there than the SLU program has had in recent seasons.

The guy can coach. He was a catcher in professional baseball for 13 years. When he retired he moved back home. He wanted to be in the St. Louis area. He took a job at a strong high school program, worked his way up to head coach, won two state titles in a three-year period and produced several Division I players as well as a first-round draft pick.

Yeah, that guy certainly doesn't deserve a look for a college coaching job.

It wasn't that long ago that some of the best coaches in the pro and college ranks got their starts coaching high school sports. It's not as common today, especially in football and basketball, but discounting a guy because he's a high school coach is a mistake.

Bieser will be a successful college coach, whether it's at SLU or SEMO or wherever.

All the guy wants right now is a chance to interview for the position. If he can sell his vision for the program, give the guy a chance. If he can't sell himself to whoever is making the decision, there's nothing lost in bringing him in for an interview.

- Nate

Link to comment
Share on other sites

he'd make a great assistant coach for the next head coach.

why not pick neil fiala the head coach over at swic? there is a man who has indeed experienced recruiting, he has taken swic teams deep in the national tourney, he also has played at the major league level and he has produced players that have went on to pro careers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest BillikenReport

>why not pick neil fiala the head coach over at swic? there

>is a man who has indeed experienced recruiting, he has taken

>swic teams deep in the national tourney, he also has played

>at the major league level and he has produced players that

>have went on to pro careers.

Fiala might not be a bad choice either.

I don't know how long he's been coaching or how old he is.

I know Bieser still has a lot of years of coaching left and wants to finish his career at somewhere like SLU.

- Nate

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn't your daughter a fairly successful high school softball player? What are the chances she decides to suit up for Coach Conway in the future?

Conway was a tremendous hire for the softball program. This may have been his first Division I coaching job, but the guy has an extremely impressive resume and he was a huge step up from Malloy(?).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Fiala would be a great hire. There is a guy with major league playing experience, a ton of coaching experience, and he has had a lot of success at SWIC over the past ten or so years. I am under the impression that Fiala played in the late 70s and early 80s and I think he would be able to give SLU some quality years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

conway has sent her a couple of e-mails, but i suspect that most of the pitchers on the rosters of the college exposure tourney she played in might have gotten such an e-mail. so not sure if he really has seen her or not. she is too young to have been contacted directly yet as she just completed her sophomore year.

she will go to a college that has bio-medical engineering. coincidentally, slu has that major. she isnt as concerned about the softball program as she is about the academics. she has told us that if wash u offers her a full academic ride she would break family tradition and head there instead of slu. that said, i think she would like to continue pitching in college if the opportunity presents itself. washington u just finished second in the d-3 national softball tourney.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fiala would be awful hire, just ask anyone who has played for him. I would have to boycott SLU baseball even as an alumni. He would not be a good fit for the program or the university.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if not fiala, then another long time successful juco coach would be a better hire than a high school coach.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DIII is a totally different ball game than DI. I don't think that type of experience is much better than high school - that is all I'm saying. I know it is about recruiting and getting players, but I'm sure the Vianney coach has plenty of connections to the area. I just wouldn't discount a coach because he has no college coaching experience.

As for Conway, he was a good hire for SLU but I know he applied for the Webster U. job before the SLU one and didn't get that. So don't think these jobs at SLU (baseball and softball) are that coveted by area coaches. He couldn't get a DIII job at the same school in his conference.

I think SLU should get the best, young candidate they can get. Don't expect a huge splash with this hire.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...