New Baseball Head Coach David Pierce

[tpstulane]

Of course our current admin has made big mistakes over the last 15-16 years but I'm moving forward and feel those points have been beaten to death at this stage. If that were the case let's go back to 1949-1950 where it all began. Tulane made a good hire here, so I'm thankful for that. Doesn't matter who, what, where or why it got done just that it did get done. Bottom line it was a home run. Going forward I see a bright future ahead with a new president in charge. A culture change does not occur over night. But I see things that Tulane is doing that lead me to believe that we going in the right direction towards that goal.

[Fred Dowler]

Of course our current admin has made big mistakes over the last 15-16 years but I'm moving forward and feel those points have been beaten to death at this stage. If that were the case let's go back to 1949-1950 where it all began. Tulane made a good hire here, so I'm thankful for that. Doesn't matter who, what, where or why it got done just that it did get done. Bottom line it was a home run. Going forward I see a bright future ahead with a new president in charge. A culture change does not occur over night. But I see things that Tulane is doing that lead me to believe that we going in the right direction towards that goal.

There were plenty of people ten years ago running around saying exactly all of that.

"Ohhh stop judging TU by the past..." and "TU is making big changes that are about to pay off..." and "great things are right around the corner...." And several of those same exact people are still lately saying exactly the same thing.

Now, who's been proven to be right, those folks who were saying those things or those of us skeptics? I dare say that we know.

Now, if the new baseball coaching regime does work out to be a sterling success -- and I really don't like pronouncing anything as either a success or as a failure before there's been the actual on-field results and certainly not when the man has yet to coach a single game -- then definitely one take-away here is that there was a positive result of members of the external TU family reportedly becoming pretty actively involved and making totally sure that there was some kind of commitment to the on-field part.

The big lesson here should be that that's precisely what it's going to take, and a lot more of it, in order for there to be success in the main two sports that matter and for TU sports going forward to really start to be relevant.

[jonathanjoseph]

Of course our current admin has made big mistakes over the last 15-16 years but I'm moving forward and feel those points have been beaten to death at this stage. If that were the case let's go back to 1949-1950 where it all began. Tulane made a good hire here, so I'm thankful for that. Doesn't matter who, what, where or why it got done just that it did get done. Bottom line it was a home run. Going forward I see a bright future ahead with a new president in charge. A culture change does not occur over night. But I see things that Tulane is doing that lead me to believe that we going in the right direction towards that goal.

The problem is that even though the points have been beaten to death (and yet, 90% of Tulane alums remain unaware of the basic facts and many posters here remain in denial), the same administration and strategy remain in place. That Fitts will represent a bright future is a complete guess and all signs point to Fitts not having the latitude to change directions in athletics, given both recent investments in facilities and contracts offered to coaches and administrators. That's an administration and strategy being cemented into place in such a way that Fitts cannot change. There is no culture change coming that I can see.

I know you are trying to look at the bright side, but I'm here to remind everyone of the opposite. Hope is not a strategy, and the inmates continue to run the asylum.

[jonathanjoseph]

There were plenty of people ten years ago running around saying exactly all of that.

"Ohhh stop judging TU by the past..." and "TU is making big changes that are about to pay off..." and "great things are right around the corner...." And several of those same exact people are still lately saying exactly the same thing.

Now, who's been proven to be right, those folks who were saying those things or those of us skeptics? I dare say that we know.

This is an important point for those of you who are optimistic about the current situation. I was calling bull$hit 10 years ago and I'm calling bull$hit now and it's very clear.

[tpstulane]

Of course our current admin has made big mistakes over the last 15-16 years but I'm moving forward and feel those points have been beaten to death at this stage. If that were the case let's go back to 1949-1950 where it all began. Tulane made a good hire here, so I'm thankful for that. Doesn't matter who, what, where or why it got done just that it did get done. Bottom line it was a home run. Going forward I see a bright future ahead with a new president in charge. A culture change does not occur over night. But I see things that Tulane is doing that lead me to believe that we going in the right direction towards that goal.

There were plenty of people ten years ago running around saying exactly all of that.

"Ohhh stop judging TU by the past..." and "TU is making big changes that are about to pay off..." and "great things are right around the corner...." And several of those same exact people are still lately saying exactly the same thing.

Now, who's been proven to be right, those folks who were saying those things or those of us skeptics? I dare say that we know.

Now, if the new baseball coaching regime does work out to be a sterling success -- and I really don't like pronouncing anything as either a success or as a failure before there's been the actual on-field results and certainly not when the man has yet to coach a single game -- then definitely one take-away here is that there was a positive result of members of the external TU family reportedly becoming pretty actively involved and making totally sure that there was some kind of commitment to the on-field part.

The big lesson here should be that that's precisely what it's going to take, and a lot more of it, in order for there to be success in the main two sports that matter and for TU sports going forward to really start to be relevant.

In the past it was only talk, but here are some tangible "positive" things that have changed that I know about:

Personnel:
New President hired, new COO for the athletic dept hired, new baseball coach hired, new golf coach hired (continued winning), additional support staff in all areas hired including football, basketball, marketing and communications....

Conference:
Huge upgrade from CUSA to the AAC for the two major sports.

Football:
CJ extended now making over $1.2 million a year all assistants got raises.
New on campus stadium $70 plus million
Bigger recruiting budget
University College brought back
Better OOC schedule

Men's and Women's Basketball:
New $13 million state of the art practice facility
$5-6 million in Devlin renovations
Better OOC schedule expected
Bigger recruiting budget

Baseball:
Great hire in Pierce (best candidate available delivered)
Appears Tulane made changes to allow for this hire to take place

These are just some of the things we should benefit from in the future in regards to a culture change. Now let's see if this translates into more wins.
Look what hiring good coaches has done for women's golf.
The same thing can happen in the other sports.

[winwave]

To add to that list is the four new athletic friendly degree programs offered.

[Jonathan]

I am really upbeat about all the positive items on your list for Tulane athletics. On my wish list for the future I would like to see in no particular order:

A new men's basketball coach with the statute of SMU's Larry Brown but much younger paying him over a million dollars a year salary plus bonuses. With this caliber of coach I would expect to be in the NCAA tournament every year as with Coach Pierce.

Construct a state of the art indoor football training facility on campus, making it the best in state.

Build a new state of the art basketball arena on campus instead of the high school gym we play now in.

Build a Tulane village off campus for track and tennis.

Phase 2 upgrade to Turchin stadium. The original plans were cut back to bring it in on budget. Phase two to include canopy/cover over seats behind home plate, increase seating,upgrade restrooms,concessions,sound system,dugouts,field improvements and scoreboard.

Have plans drawn secretly to increase the size of Yulman to 50,000 with sky boxes when attendance warrants and no NIMBY issues.

When our current AD retires and we hire a dynamic new AD have him or her get us into the Big 12 Conference as TCU did.

Did I miss anything for our wish list.

[DrBox]

Last season our non-conf schedule RPI wise in basketball avg'd over 300. So for us to avg 200 that's a good improvement. Plus playing the AAC games will help our RPI quite a bit.

Not at aimed at you but that is Tulane low bar thinking at its worst. The 200 avg. is too low a bar too as it is totally unacceptable. Aresco will force Tulane to do much better than that.

But I think its a start. The problem is our RPI was 224 last year so many teams will not want to play us because of that. The main thing is that we are now being held accountable for our non-conf scheduling. This didn't happen in the past.

It's a start, but this isn't something that requires baby steps to change. They could fix it if they wanted to. And it doesn't require playing Kentucky and Kansas and the like. It simply requires avoiding the bottom 100 teams, and scheduling teams in the 80-180 range. we know why Conroy hasn't done that: we'd have won 8-12 games a year and he's be out of here.

[tpstulane]

It's a start, but this isn't something that requires baby steps to change. They could fix it if they wanted to. And it doesn't require playing Kentucky and Kansas and the like. It simply requires avoiding the bottom 100 teams, and scheduling teams in the 80-180 range. we know why Conroy hasn't done that: we'd have won 8-12 games a year and he's be out of here.

But now they are going to have to fix it.

[NOLABigSteve]

@GreenWaveBSB coach David Pierce is all suited up for a photo shoot...see why in a month or so! #ROLLWAVE

https://twitter.com/GreenWaveBSB/status ... 4602811392

[tpstulane]

Coach Pierce will be coming out to our GB meeting in August. I will ask him first hand what specific plans have been made to overcome our tuition burden.

[golfnut69]

Coach Pierce will be coming out to our GB meeting in August. I will ask him first hand what specific plans have been made to overcome our tuition burden.

TPS...where and when is the meeting ?

[JDTulane]

Yah I'll wanna swing by finally !! Thats a good one to make!

[tpstulane]

Coach Pierce will be coming out to our GB meeting in August. I will ask him first hand what specific plans have been made to overcome our tuition burden.

TPS...where and when is the meeting ?

Scheduled to come out:
Sports Beat in Metairie 8pm Thursday night August 14th. I would expect a full house for our new coach. Rick Jones was a great speaker last week. Told us his top 20 favorite stories since coming to Tulane. Longest GB meeting in history. I didn't get home until 2am.

[golfnut69]

Coach Pierce will be coming out to our GB meeting in August. I will ask him first hand what specific plans have been made to overcome our tuition burden.

TPS...where and when is the meeting ?

Scheduled to come out:
Sports Beat in Metairie 8pm Thursday night August 14th. I would expect a full house for our new coach. Rick Jones was a great speaker last week. Told us his top 20 favorite stories since coming to Tulane. Longest GB meeting in history. I didn't get home until 2am.

Damn... I googled the place..it must be close to the Caddy Shack, where the OTMAC members used to meet on Wednesday and Friday nites

[tpstulane]

Coach Pierce will be coming out to our GB meeting in August. I will ask him first hand what specific plans have been made to overcome our tuition burden.

TPS...where and when is the meeting ?

Scheduled to come out:
Sports Beat in Metairie 8pm Thursday night August 14th. I would expect a full house for our new coach. Rick Jones was a great speaker last week. Told us his top 20 favorite stories since coming to Tulane. Longest GB meeting in history. I didn't get home until 2am.

Damn... I googled the place..it must be close to the Caddy Shack, where the OTMAC members used to meet on Wednesday and Friday nites

Yep. a block or so away.