Comments on: Tuesday Coaching Roundup: Catching Up With Aoki http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/college/2010/07/tuesday-coaching-roundup-catching-up-with-aoki/ Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:39:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: fredj http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/college/2010/07/tuesday-coaching-roundup-catching-up-with-aoki/comment-page-1/#comment-44437 fredj Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:03:40 +0000 http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/college/?p=3881#comment-44437 If Notre Dame were serious about being nationally competitive, they'd do two things: (1).  BUILD COMPETITIVE FACILITIES --  Their ballpark is OK for a program that plays in the Big East or MAC.  But it's so far below the facilities of programs which are consistent contenders for a CWS spot.  Just go online and look at their park, then compare it to marginal programs like Missouri State -- or even Cincinnati.  Kentucky's stadium is superior, and they're planning to tear it down.  As to indoor facilities, Aoki apparently feels 2 crowded tunnel cages in a metal building are great.  Why is it that Nebraska's facilities are so superior to ND's, given that the Irish are the greatest name in college sports?  We won't even get into the facilities at South Carolina, LSU, ASU, North Carolina, even MS State.  (2) PLAY A COMPETITIVE SCHEDULE --  The Big East and the Big 10 have the weakest baseball schedules of any major collegiate conferences.  Every spring, they travel 1,000 miles to Florida....to play each other!  If they were serious about being nationally competitive, there are a couple dozen quality teams for them to play in Florida, or in Georgia and the Carolinas on the way to and back from Florida.  Notre Dame and the other Big East teams whine about cold weather restrictions but, when they go to warm weather, they only want to play other non-competitive northern teams. Despite the spin Aoki puts on it, he moved to Notre Dame because Boston College hasn't a prayer of consistently competing for an ACC title.  He had 1 or 2 good years and got out when the gettin' was good.  Because he knew he couldn't sustain a competitive program in the ACC.  In the Big East, all he has to do is wait for Louisville to have a down year -- or hope he can p.r. his way into a regional every 3-5 years.  The Irish will be happy with that because, truth be told, they aren't serious about baseball. If Notre Dame were serious about being nationally competitive, they'd do two things:
(1).  BUILD COMPETITIVE FACILITIES –  Their ballpark is OK for a program that plays in the Big East or MAC.  But it's so far below the facilities of programs which are consistent contenders for a CWS spot.  Just go online and look at their park, then compare it to marginal programs like Missouri State — or even Cincinnati.  Kentucky's stadium is superior, and they're planning to tear it down.  As to indoor facilities, Aoki apparently feels 2 crowded tunnel cages in a metal building are great.  Why is it that Nebraska's facilities are so superior to ND's, given that the Irish are the greatest name in college sports?  We won't even get into the facilities at South Carolina, LSU, ASU, North Carolina, even MS State. 
(2) PLAY A COMPETITIVE SCHEDULE –  The Big East and the Big 10 have the weakest baseball schedules of any major collegiate conferences.  Every spring, they travel 1,000 miles to Florida….to play each other!  If they were serious about being nationally competitive, there are a couple dozen quality teams for them to play in Florida, or in Georgia and the Carolinas on the way to and back from Florida.  Notre Dame and the other Big East teams whine about cold weather restrictions but, when they go to warm weather, they only want to play other non-competitive northern teams.
Despite the spin Aoki puts on it, he moved to Notre Dame because Boston College hasn't a prayer of consistently competing for an ACC title.  He had 1 or 2 good years and got out when the gettin' was good.  Because he knew he couldn't sustain a competitive program in the ACC.  In the Big East, all he has to do is wait for Louisville to have a down year — or hope he can p.r. his way into a regional every 3-5 years.  The Irish will be happy with that because, truth be told, they aren't serious about baseball.

]]>