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State of the program

FWIW, I applaud the team and staff for ending the skid this week and positioning the team in a far better position going into the postseason than it appeared ten days ago.

As many have mentioned here, the pitching staff is set up better than any Erstad has had for postseason success, so I would hope to see at least a split in the first two games of the conference and regional tourneys. Anything beyond that will be a great step for Erstad and this program and begin to erase some of the postseason flops.
 
I guess if that is the ceiling for this program, you can’t ask for a better coach. I’m not being sarcastic, at all—your arguments here make much more sense if you think qualifying for the postseason is all that this program can achieve.

As someone that enjoys the baseball program probably more than any of the other sports, it is ******* depressing, but that is why we were talking past one-another, nonetheless.
No one said it’s the ceiling. I’m saying 3 regionals in 5 years (4 regionals in 6 years if we make it this year) puts Erstad in a class by himself with current B1G coaches. Super Regionals would be great, but there’s only two current coaches in the B1G that have actually done that and it’s only happened once each by guys with over 15 years at their school.

What I am telling you is anyone saying “The Erstad experiment is over” or saying we need to fire him when the Dodgers has him as a finalist, an SEC team tried courting him, he then won a conference title, then won coach of the year, and in 2019 has national experts saying we locked up our 4th regional in 6 years, anyone saying fire him is a moron. You don’t blow up results like that. You don’t move on from someone getting those results. You help them get over the hump. To put it another way, we were playing for a share of the conference title on the last game of our season and we had people saying he needed to be fired in April. What a joke.

“Through these gates...”
 
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Nebraska baseball fan is Kansas basketball fan, but we have less tradition and success. Guy won 15 straight conference titles or something like that, but the fans are mad about the postseason.

 
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No one said it’s the ceiling. I’m saying 3 regionals in 5 years (4 regionals in 6 years if we make it this year) puts Erstad in a class by himself with current B1G coaches. Super Regionals would be great, but there’s only two current coaches in the B1G that have actually done that and it’s only happened once each by guys with over 15 years at their school.

What I am telling you is anyone saying “The Erstad experiment is over” or saying we need to fire him when the Dodgers has him as a finalist, an SEC team tried courting him, he then won a conference title, then won coach of the year, and in 2019 has national experts saying we locked up our 4th regional in 6 years, anyone saying fire him is a moron. You don’t blow up results like that. You don’t move on from someone getting those results. You help them get over the hump. To put it another way, we were playing for a share of the conference title on the last game of our season and we had people saying he needed to be fired in April. What a joke.

“Through these gates...”
Why do you keep raising the SEC/Dodger conversations as some sort of validity exercise? Bad coaches get courted/hired all of the time. Erstad wasn’t even a finalist for the Dodger job, supposedly because he removed his name from consideration. For all we know, it was a PR assist to Darrin from a friend in MLB, which is also somewhat common.

In any case, it is completely reasonable to postulate about whether Erstad is getting the job done, based on actual results (particularly in the postseason), statistical declines, and stretches of horrid baseball (losing series to Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Creighton, and Northwestern had even you on the fence about Erstad’s ability to remain HC). The only “achievement” you can cite is the program’s relative competitiveness within the big ten, while you simultaneously observe how bad the conference is in one of the ultimate have-it-both-ways arguments. You also keep talking about how B1G programs can’t keep good coaches, but Erstad, in year 8, finished three slots behind Indiana and their third coach (?) if four years.

Moronic, indeed.
 
I guess if that is the ceiling for this program, you can’t ask for a better coach. I’m not being sarcastic, at all—your arguments here make much more sense if you think qualifying for the postseason is all that this program can achieve.

As someone that enjoys the baseball program probably more than any of the other sports, it is ******* depressing, but that is why we were talking past one-another, nonetheless.

You're post captures my position. I think that is the ceiling for the baseball program, unfortunately. So, I just ride the wave and enjoy what success there is.

There are a few things I'd do differently, but meh...(trailing off and shrugging shoulders)....
 
Why do you keep raising the SEC/Dodger conversations as some sort of validity exercise? Bad coaches get courted/hired all of the time. Erstad wasn’t even a finalist for the Dodger job, supposedly because he removed his name from consideration. For all we know, it was a PR assist to Darrin from a friend in MLB, which is also somewhat common.
Here is what we are dealing with with people who are saying Erstad isn’t good enough for Nebraska at this point. They are claiming Fox Sports and ESPN are giving PR assists to DE. Further capturing the cluelessness in a small vocal minority of this fan base when it comes to baseball. This is an unprecedented stance at this point. “ESPN and other national media are just trying to throw a bone to a B1G coach, he’s not that good.”

 
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Still LOL’ing at the previous “probably wasn’t even a finalist” post. I mean... did Iowa fans hack our board or something? Are these really Husker fans? They can’t be. That is such an awful take I’m shocked someone typed it and hit “post reply”.

I was at a function where Moos was attending right when our first baseball season was starting under him. While i did my introduction to him I thought it would be a brief “hello”, another fan stepped in and asked what his thoughts were on the baseball program and if he had candidate names for it like football. “Didn’t the baseball team just win conference” he asked the fan. As the fan left he looked at me and goes “wow”. Told him “good luck with everything” while I smiled and walked away.

I’m glad Moos is on board, and his reaction along with national media opinion is where I base my opinions. I suppose Moos and national media could just be throwing Erstad a bone like was previously stated tho.
 
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Wow... I apologize for being wrong on this guys. I googled to fact check myself and have to unfortunately admit being incorrect.

"In an unprecedented PR move by Nebraska Baseball coach Darin Erstad, he has successfully convinced all other B1G coaches to let him win the conference title for 2017 due to 'fans not believing he was a finalist for the Dodgers job, and that it could have been just a PR stunt.' This comes on the heels of doing so well an SEC team tried luring him to the south. Shortly after winning conference in a 21-3 route of Penn State where he thanked all other B1G coaches for letting him win to make him look better, some fans were still skeptical and stated 'we are in the B1G we should be doing that regularly anyway', so Erstad once again with a masterful PR manipulation convinces the league to award him coach of the year."

 
Wow... I apologize for being wrong on this guys. I googled to fact check myself and have to unfortunately admit being incorrect.

"In an unprecedented PR move by Nebraska Baseball coach Darin Erstad, he has successfully convinced all other B1G coaches to let him win the conference title for 2017 due to 'fans not believing he was a finalist for the Dodgers job, and that it could have been just a PR stunt.' This comes on the heels of doing so well an SEC team tried luring him to the south. Shortly after winning conference in a 21-3 route of Penn State where he thanked all other B1G coaches for letting him win to make him look better, some fans were still skeptical and stated 'we are in the B1G we should be doing that regularly anyway', so Erstad once again with a masterful PR manipulation convinces the league to award him coach of the year."

Is the big ten a crap conference or not, ***?
 
Is the big ten a crap conference or not, ***?

Does it make sense to you for a MAC school to want to fire a football coach who is at or near the top of the conference annually but unable to compete with P5 schools in the postseason? It's a crap conference so we need to win that every year and then go on and ignore the handcuffs being put on the program by the conference and beat the equivalent of P5 schools in the postseason. How does every coach in the country not want that job at $200K?
 
This reminds me a lot of the arguments when people were scared that Pelini would be hired away from Nebraska. Years later, no P5 offers that we’re aware of and his seat is warm at Youngstown State.
 



Does it make sense to you for a MAC school to want to fire a football coach who is at or near the top of the conference annually but unable to compete with P5 schools in the postseason? It's a crap conference so we need to win that every year and then go on and ignore the handcuffs being put on the program by the conference and beat the equivalent of P5 schools in the postseason. How does every coach in the country not want that job at $200K?
We missed the conference tournament last year and are fourth/fifth this year.
 

This reminds me a lot of the arguments when people were scared that Pelini would be hired away from Nebraska. Years later, no P5 offers that we’re aware of and his seat is warm at Youngstown State.
And that resulted in Mike Riley, no? Only the availability of a once-in-forever legacy player-cum-coach, and his willingness to come home to take over the crown jewel of the athletic program, has delivered the fan base to a relatively optimistic and contented state. And thus far a 4-8 win-loss record.

Regarding “...stretches of horrid baseball...Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Creighton and Northwestern”, what I don’t get is why there is an assumption that we should dominate those teams without fail. (And also, how close losses constitute “horrid”.) Sure, I get frustrated and would hope for better game outcomes, but to expect that? If that’s the take and there’s only “winning and misery” (to quote Pat Riley), why bother? Do people really think that we’re naturally gonna fill a sport on fractional scholarships (and I’m in no way referring to ***’s B10 limitations) and build rosters that will be superior to Minnesota’s, Illinois’ or even Creighton’s at all positions and that those teams won’t even bother to compete with us? Just for a moment, put yourself in the shoes of a Minnesota or Illinois fan. Bigger population bases, more history (in the case of Minnesota, 1973, Dave Winfield), maybe today they’re wondering how they’re even sharing third place with us. I hear references to what we spend, but I have no idea if that’s (1) true, (2) the relative figures, and (3) how it’s supposed to translate unless you’re actually paying players, I.e., if it even matters (surely Cal State Fullerton spends less).

The best MLB teams lose 60 or 70 games a season and the worst win 55 to 60 (shockingly with sweeps against far better-performing teams, see Royals-Indians, April 2019). To view baseball through the prism of football losses as “catastrophic” (or “horrid”) means you’ll likely be disappointed more than not. Sharing frustrations is fair, lamenting offensive execution, pitching toughness (without calling out 18 and 19 year-olds) and recruiting misses, but hyperbole won’t win you many converts from what appears to me to be an avid and committed fan base here. And not one content with meh results, just a bit more circumspect about the nature of competition in the D1 landscape. Stay with us, though.
 
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