By Intheknow72
For a myriad of reasons, I have not been able to make it to Tuscaloosa to an Alabama baseball game in a couple of years. However, if you haven’t ever had the pleasure, it’s a great experience on a warm spring afternoon. When I was in school it was a great reason to cut class on those rare weekday games. And the view isn’t bad either with several co-ed cleat chasers taking in the game as well. But atmosphere aside, I ask you, is Alabama baseball keeping up with the rest of the athletic department?
I remember when the coaches of the big three sports on campus were Gene Stallings, David Hobbs and Jim Wells.
I remember when those coaches were Mike Dubose, Mark Gottfried and Jim Wells.
And when it was Dennis Franchione, Mark Gottfried and Jim Wells.
And Mike Shula, Mark Gottfried and Jim Wells.
Then Nick Saban, Mark Gottfried and Jim Wells.
And now Nick Saban, Anthony Grant and, well…Jim Wells.
My point is this, if you watch the evolution of Bama’s football program, we’ve gone from the mountain top with Gene Stallings, d-e-e-p into the valley with Dubose through Shula, and now find ourselves perched nicely with Nick Saban. Basketball’s progression has been a slow climb, but all would agree we’re moving in the right direction since the departure of Wimp Sanderson. So what is baseball doing at the Capstone? Dropping a series the final weekend against the barn that would’ve won the regular season championship and then bowing out in two at the Met. Is that the kind of excellence we should expect?
One could argue Wells is the winningest coach in Tide history, but coaching a sport that logs at least 70 games a season, stay in the same spot long enough and you will bag enough wins to have the same distinction, almost by default.
What role should baseball play at the University? Afterall, football is and will always be the bell cow, right? That is true, but shouldn’t other sports carry their weight amid their respective fields of competition? Our softball team is a force. Tennis and golf are respectable. And let’s face it; swimming and diving doesn’t matter, though Sheldon Haygood will lead with an Auburn swimming story on his sportscast every opportunity he gets. But, I digress. Women’s basketball is subpar, and you don’t hear much about track and field unless the words “textbook scandal” is mentioned. But those aren’t in the big three that garner the most attention from a national perspective while generating the most revenue.
So what do you think? Is Alabama’s baseball program moving forward?
5 thoughts on “Is Bama Baseball Keeping Up?”
Comments are closed.
Moving forward? Well lets just say that Wells has a knack of getting his team to over-perform during the regionals. But with the suprising exception of the close loss to eventual national runner-up North Carolina a couple of years ago, his teams have generally folded in the CWS. You reference Wells through a span of many other coaches like he’s an icon or something. Well I can remember when Alabama baseball struck fear into the hearts of the rest of the SEC at tournament time. Now days you hardly even hear the other schools bitching to move it out of Hoover. That’s a pretty good indicator in itself of the direction Bama baseball has taken. Several times over the past 10 years Bama had hitting to die for, only to have the team sabotaged by the pitching staff and or in game pitching decisions by Wells. Throughout Wells tenure here he has pretty much given LSU all they wanted head-to-head. But we’ve not even come close to matching their accomplishments at the national level. And it always falls back on lack of pitching. Wells has his MO well in place at Bama. We can keep him and average 35 or so wins a year which will keep us the 2nd best overall program in the league behind LSU, and every so often have to play 2nd fiddle to Florida or South Carolina. Or we can get some fresh blood and actually win a championship again, maybe even a CWS. RTR!
Let me set this table. Wells flirtation with LSU and the sham resignation indicated to me at the time that Wells “heart” is not in the Bama Nation.
I have argued for years that all Sports must be competitive and challenging for either the SEC or the NCAA titles. Florida and Jeremy Foley have set the gold standard .
I think that also the divide between the Lottery and Non- Lottery schools are growing. The Hope money keeps flowing into their coffers while the Taliban that run this State rail against the evils of the Lottery. Of course – blind eyes must be turned toward Bingo and Electronic Poker – hell – that provides too much grease for the Taliban’s Hands – under the table.
Wells is second rate…Alabama could and should replace him immediately. There are scores of Baseball coaches better than Coach Wells. I say he should be fired! Look at how he lost the Auburn vs Alabama series at the end of the year.
Pluto — LMAO — well said — until the University of Alabama decides to funnel cash flow into its’ baseball program and follow the Jeremy Foley model of “let’s dominate in EVERYTHING” mode — this program will be below gymnastics — ’nuff said.