Seems like a big waste of money to send 4 teams to Hoover for only one game.

If you are one of the low seeds and playing on Tues, I can see some teams holding out their weekend starters in the last conference series to increase their odds of going deeper into the tournament.

One more day of SEC baseball is never a bad idea. It's actually a "mini" CWS. It the big scheme of things, however, it basically doesn't mean much. However, I like how Corbs always go there to win, no matter what; Ray Tanner never took it seriously, even in the days when they weren't as good as they were the last 3 years. I, for one, am glad he's gone.

Can't argue the fact that 2010-12 was an incredible run for Coach Tanner and us fans. 22 Consecutive postseason wins, 12 consecutive wins in the CWS are NCAA records. Our 30-4 (.882 WP) record in the postseason is the fifth best in the NCAA, so there is room for improvement.

Coach was the skipper for 16 years; to discount what he did prior to 2010 would be a tad short-sighted. He currently owns the longest streak of NCAA regional appearances in the SEC (since 2000, 13 straight trips), 12 Super Regional trips (2000-'04, '06, '07, '10, '11, '12). 6 trips to Omaha with a finish no lower than fourth... 2x National Champions ('10, '11), 2x National Champion runners-up ('02, '12), 1x 3rd place ('03), 1x 4th ('04). Post season has been and was his specialty since 2000. 

His thirteen year winning percentage record (from 2000) of .713 (626-251) is the second best in D1 college baseball. His overall record at Carolina (16 seasons) was a winning percentage of .700 (738-316) which is the second highest W.P. among SEC coaches of all time. He was rewarded for his efforts in '08 when Carolina Stadium was built per his specifications. Carolina Stadium holds 8,242 (incl. SRO) and has been sold out 15 times since '08; last year's average attendance was 7,574 and attendance figures have increased every year since '08. 

Pertaining to the subject matter of the SEC Championship. The rationale is simple. If you've done your job during the regular season and won in the high +50's/low 60's (W.P.) in conference play, are in the 1,2,3 mix of your division and have won no less than 69% of your OOC games, then the rest will take care of itself.

You've played most of the in-conference teams for the past 10 weeks, so if you've taken care of business in the regular season, you are fine. Best to focus on post season play and focus on team goals set at the beginning of the season. The time spent doing two-a-day drills as a team (while the tournament is going on) has been more beneficial for our team and less taxing on the players. 

The only time we needed to win the tournament was in '04 and we had to win it for home field advantage in post-season play (we came in at #6 out of 8 teams). It worked out well for us. I have no problem with this philosophy as long as business is taken care of in the two-a-day drills (during a down time on campus) and during regular season play. Coach Tanner has done well utilizing this philosophy (as his records above may indicate).

Now, we start anew with Coach Holbrook. He was handpicked by Coach Tanner some 16 years ago, when Holbrook attended his press conference (to announce C. Tanner as skipper of USC). They stayed close during the years, knew a lot of the same people concerning ACC baseball. Coach Tanner approached Coach Holbrook in '08 but he declined the offer. He offered C. Holbrook again in the summer of '09 and he accepted. Holbrook is one of the most respected recruiters in college baseball and has developed some talented line-ups/offensive strategies for both of the flagship Carolina schools.

Coach Holbrook and Coach Tanner share very similar philosophies about how the game is played and are very similar in their approach with the in-game (defensive) strategies. Since Coach Holbrook's arrival, we have kept Coach Esposito/ moved him up in rank and brought in Brian Buscher ('03) as our new Volunteer Assistant, replacing Coach Espo. Coach Jerry Meyers is rock solid as our pitching coach and numbers man. 

We also brought in one of our own working as a G.A.; Drew Meyer ('02) returned to finish his degree and pursue a career in college baseball coaching. Drew was a '02 All-American and drafted 10th overall by the Texas Rangers where he spent nine years with the organization. He will be our bench coach and will work with the infielders. Good to have him home.

Coach Tanner's new office is roughly a quarter mile from the Stadium, so I am pretty sure he will be a frequent visitor and he is always there for Coach Holbrook to talk a little "shop"... but only if input is needed. Our transition from Tanner to Holbrook was well thought out and planned way in advance to ensure a smooth transition.

I am sure there may be some kinks early on in our season this year as we bring in some talented Freshmen to fill some voids. I am as sure that they will be addressed and ironed out. We've retained a very good staff for our players. Good luck to you guys; which Coach was it that recently left your staff (for OSU) and how will that affect your team overall?

Go Gamecocks!!!

gacock

Umm GaCock, not that we don't appreciate a good synopsis of Tanner's career, USC's position in college baseball and Holbrook's chances for success but what in the world does any of this have to do with the SECT expanding to 12 teams? Seems like you wrote a manifesto and decided to post it on our (and probably other) boards, original topic be damn€d. Funny.

Hitting Coach Josh Holliday left for OK State and pitching Coach Derek Johnson left for the Cubs but we'll be fine. In Corbin we trust. If we're trading state of the program posts, I'll let someone closer to the program than me write it.

Good luck to y'all as well.

Anchor Down!

oakparkdore wrote: Umm GaCock, not that we don't appreciate a good synopsis of Tanner's career, USC's position in college baseball and Holbrook's chances for success but what in the world does any of this have to do with the SECT expanding to 12 teams? Seems like you wrote a manifesto and decided to post it on our (and probably other) boards, original topic be damn€d. Funny.

Hitting Coach Josh Holliday left for OK State and pitching Coach Derek Johnson left for the Cubs but we'll be fine. In Corbin we trust. If we're trading state of the program posts, I'll let someone closer to the program than me write it.

Good luck to y'all as well.

Anchor Down!

Gotta love the Cock fans.  They apparently scour every message board in the US looking for even the tiniest of references to USCjr, particularly anything that could even be remotely considered "negative" toward any aspect of their program, and then assign responders to flood said message board with stuff that nobody on that message board even remotely cares about.  

I used to post on the rivals baseball message board until I was threathened with death (by at least 3 Cock fans -- one of whom told me he was going to find out where I lived and come shoot me) for daring to suggest that Vanderbilt was even remotely capable of beating them (this was 2011, when we were 2-2 against them).  They are the thinnest-skinned fans I've ever encountered.  They are also foul-mouthed, arrogant, condescending, obnoxious, rude, and seriously take all this stuff way too serious.

Did someone ring the bell in the barn yard?

carolina is crazy over their baseball team,that place is like a mad house when their playing.i personally don't think they will fall too far,they still have some serious talent left on that team.as far as the tourney goes,they expanded so tn could finally get in.ha!ha!