Mik Aoki new head coach of Spider Baseball. Former head coach of Morehead State, Notre Dame and Boston Colkge..
Tracy Woodson Out as UR Baseball Coach - Mik Aoki Hired
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Richmond Hires OVC Coach of the Year Mik Aoki to Head Spider Baseball - University of Richmond Athletics
RICHMOND, Va. — Mik Aoki has been named the new head coach of Spider Baseball, Richmond Athletics announced Thursday.
richmondspiders.com
Welcome aboard Mik, you have a hotbed of local HS talent, own it and you will succeed!
Curious career path from BC and Notre Dame to Morehead State. Hope he is the guy who can right the ship here.
Looks the part. Lot of experience. Cool name. Coming off good season at Morehead. But also just 2 ncaa trips in 22 years. Not easy in Northeast but feels like more should be there from ND. He must know that gets u a lifetime contract at UR.
Hope he can really turn baseball around & got some support commitments from the admin.
Hope he can really turn baseball around & got some support commitments from the admin.
Sounds good. I hope the part about the university's commitment to a winning program is true. I don't expect us to buy players like LSU, but at least give him a full complement of scholarships.
I really backed off on my contribution to baseball this year. Might be time to re-think that.
I really backed off on my contribution to baseball this year. Might be time to re-think that.
Agree, although the president seems to be a big supporter of baseball. Maybe this is the sport Hardt feels he needs to impress with to get HIS contract renewed.
Caught most of the interview and he said all the right things. He likes to connect the dots between strong academics and strong athletics, he sees Richmond as a sleeping giant, he was very familiar with our history and said he recruited against Atkins and other CAA/A10 guys regularly. Said he aspires to get us to the regionals, Super Regionals and beyond. He wants to build the core of the team through HS recruits but recognizes that transfers will play a key role, too.
My point is that we’re not likely to fire a coach with a contract as long as he shows up. It’s just not in our financial interest.
I remember watching games under the big tree. And we were winners then. But, we didn’t make any money then.
Then we should be giving out two-year contacts at most or change our philosophy and be willing to fire coaches early when they underperform. Pick one. We can’t keep operating the way we have. It’s absurd.
Any ideas on how the administration would handle an underperforming professor or employee that was holding back academic performance or jeopardizing academic reputation of the school?
Ha, well those with tenure basically are safe. Of course, those who haven’t gotten there yet would be at risk of being terminated. We seem to award tenure status to all of our coaches right off the bat, unfortunately.
& stop extending contracts for mediocrity. Woodson wasn’t given a 10 year deal he was extended multiple times.
Right, it’s like the determining factors for whether we extend a coach are:
• has he broken a law?
• has he slept with a student?
• did his team fail to show up for any scheduled games?
• is he dead?
If the answer to every question is “no,” automatic extension!
• has he broken a law?
• has he slept with a student?
• did his team fail to show up for any scheduled games?
• is he dead?
If the answer to every question is “no,” automatic extension!
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I expect we'd have a very, very tough time attracting any quality coach with nothing more than a two-year contract at the start of his/her tenure.
Lacrosses coaches are good; field hockey is good. Tennis, track & CC and women's hoops have done well. Golf teams have advanced to NCAA regionals. Football made the 2nd round of the playoffs. Swimming program overachieves with small resources. We've done more than OK on the whole.
I was referring to the big three, but… do you really think we’re handing out five and six year contracts for the CC and golf coaches? I was mostly tongue in cheek with my two-year comment, but I wouldn’t be shocked at all if some of those lesser sport coaches were on much shorter deals. And I like Roussell I guess, but he hasn’t sniffed anything here in four years, so not sure that I’d say he’s done “well.”
I don't know what the smaller sport coaches start out at, but 5-year deals as part of extensions for the established ones is common at UR I believe. If the coaches are performing, you have to give them a sense of job security or you're going to lose them, even in smaller sports.
Hard to give somebody less than four even at the initial hire, especially if they're coming into an underperforming situation. Have to give them time to get the recruits and system in place before you can evaluate.
Could argue that you might be able to get away with shorter if they're stepping into a winning program, but if you're trying to maintain a winning program you're probably aiming pretty high with your hire and still need to offer that security to entice them to come.
Hard to give somebody less than four even at the initial hire, especially if they're coming into an underperforming situation. Have to give them time to get the recruits and system in place before you can evaluate.
Could argue that you might be able to get away with shorter if they're stepping into a winning program, but if you're trying to maintain a winning program you're probably aiming pretty high with your hire and still need to offer that security to entice them to come.
Roussell took over a 9-21 program and has gone 15-17, 13-9, 16-14 and this past year was 21-11, with two games in the WNIT. Under any standard of evaluation that is real progress.
This is a really tough loss. Kluska played a solid SS and was a good bat in the bottom of the lineup. JSL can slide back to SS, but I believe he's much better as a 2B.
Have to hope that we can keep the other starters out of the portal. Aoki mentioned on Friday that he was planning to meet most of the returning players this weekend, so we'll probably find out if we have any more transfers out pretty soon.
Has anyone read where Mik AokI has been praised by his his competitor? That’s usually a good sign
if they do.
if they do.
There’s a difference between him making progress and the program doing well during his tenure. Last year, the team did well. The other years, not so much. I agree that he inherited a mess, so hopefully he’s righted the ship and will now start making NCAA tournaments.
Then give them all five year deals but make the last two years contingent upon some standard of success/progress, or be prepared to show them the door if they aren’t getting it done. We just play things out all the time and give extensions at the first sign of competency, which is ludicrous.
Found a spreadsheet from an account on twitter that is tracking the baseball transfer portal. In addition to Mathes, Kluska, and the Neff twins, Jimmy Starnes is also listed as currently being in the portal. No other names for now, but I'll continue to check periodically.
Morehead State has five players listed, two of which have committed to new schools (Luke Lyman to WVU and Andrew Crumbley to Butler). The other three are LF Logan Castleman and Pitchers Alex Kafka and Nick Karls. Wonder if Aoki will try to bring in any of them to UR if he's able.
Morehead State has five players listed, two of which have committed to new schools (Luke Lyman to WVU and Andrew Crumbley to Butler). The other three are LF Logan Castleman and Pitchers Alex Kafka and Nick Karls. Wonder if Aoki will try to bring in any of them to UR if he's able.
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Not sure how Kafka has eligibility left. He played two years at JUCO and then three at Morehead. Not a huge contributor. Pitched about 115 innings over his 5 five seasons of college ball including just 11.1 last year.
Karls was a frosh this year who redshirted.
Castleman played a year at Wright State and two at Morehead with only 134 plate appearances total.
Karls was a frosh this year who redshirted.
Castleman played a year at Wright State and two at Morehead with only 134 plate appearances total.
Yep - Cecere, Corona, Costello, Cueto, etc. all in there so far. Wake has $$$, so I'm sure they'll be okay in the long run, but surprised to see that many contributors leave.
Morehead had a few really good players last year, majority of them still having eligibility remaining. Will keep an eye out of any of them hit the portal. Feltner, Kuntz, and Preece were all first-team OVC, and Becker, Helton, and Gooden were second team. Preece was the OVC POY and had a 20 HR / 20 SB season.
Morehead did promote an assistant into their Interim HC role, so I assume that will help to keep some players out of the portal.
I thought you baseball lovers might find this interesting.
The Univ. Of MD baseball coach, who won the last two Big Ten
Championships . His salary $450,000 per year
Alabama, bought him away- $900,000 per year.
Do any of you think Richmond can pay our baseball coach
what MD was paying theirs?
The Univ. Of MD baseball coach, who won the last two Big Ten
Championships . His salary $450,000 per year
Alabama, bought him away- $900,000 per year.
Do any of you think Richmond can pay our baseball coach
what MD was paying theirs?
