Steve, you know, even if you did play or coach, you still just have an opinion, right? It's not like you or anybody else here is coaching for A&M right now. So that's all it is.

And FTR, just because you played, doesn't necessarily mean you know more about baseball than the average fan. It means you were better (or more dedicated to it) at playing it than us, but it doesn't mean that you will know more about baseball than us. Jeff Luhnow never played baseball but now he's considered one of the top GMs in all of baseball. Like I said earlier, it's a little insulting to claim that you know more about baseball just because you played. All of us have an opinion, whether you've played or not.

And for the record, I'm talking general baseball knowledge. Not the specifics such as batting technique, pitching, throwing, etc. Y'all clearly have the advantage there as y'all played longer. But most of us played organized ball through high school, so it's not like we are completely clueless either.

Duck,

I can appreciate your comments, because you aren't attacking someone else's opinion, who has more experience and knowledge of the game, having not only played baseball, at any level, but coached baseball in the past.

As far as Luhnow goes, I would be careful what accolades you give him, until the Astros have at least a .500 season. My point is, there are probably good baseball front office people that never played baseball or pro baseball, but the list is NOT long. Point being, usually, the best managers, coaches and front office people do have baseball experience and backgrounds, and I didn't say "all" do.

As others have said, most of the people on this board want only what is best for Texas A&M and how we get there is not important...only that we get THERE! Why attack someone for their idea or recommendation that is based on their experience and knowledge of the subject, when the person attacking them has limited experience, if any, and only has an opinion. Positive discussion is more enjoyable and productive.

GIG 'EM!

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2011, the difference is you talk a lot, but you have no substance. Check back with me in 40 years and show me your support and commitment to Texas A&M athletics. Butch can back up his talk with actions and results.

All you've got is an opinion. How many years have you played collegiate baseball, coached high school or collegiate baseball players? As I said, all you have is an opinion, without it.

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I'm not the one who put Mike Taylor's name out there. I'm not the one who is telling other people I know more about the game then them, and really, I'm not talking that much.

I asked this earlier...If we're bragging, that's probably one of the most substantive posts, if not the most substantive, in the thread.

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Houston, like many of the Rice clubs he was with, seems to have been a much stronger pitching outfit than a run producing outfit. Just looking at stats, but .278 average, 17 home runs, 358 strikeouts...am I supposed to be impressed?

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You're right, I've not coached baseball, I've not played college baseball. The closest I've gotten to that is being a fan of the game, at all levels, and having a father who has been coaching it for 30+ years at the collegiate level. My personal experience is my dad has had bad assistant coaches on some of his better teams, he has had good assistant coaches on some of his worst teams.

I look at the stats, and I see Taylor being on a lot of defensive and pitching leaning teams, yet he's being pumped to lead our offense.

I know Rice couldn't have done what they did with a bad assistant, but they could do what they did without a great of an offensive minded assistant.

I look back at some of Rice's true glory days and I see offenses that still struck out a lot *(~400 times) and dropped a lot of sac bunts and produced outs on the basepaths and did a lot of the things we see people complain about with Texas A&M.

So, that's why I push back. Maybe Taylor is a masterful assistant and we should hire him, but if he is, my questions shouldn't be hard to answer and we shouldn't be resume dropping. We should be talking about what Mike Taylor's offenses have done.

You can keep telling me "He's great because he's great, and I'm right because I played baseball in college" or whatever. That's a)not actually a real answer to my questions, b)won't make me shut up, and c) makes me question Mike Taylor even more than I did before.

There, I talked a lot. Now, can you answer the question? Can you tell me the great things Mike Taylor's offenses have done? It should be easy to do if they're plentiful, shouldn't it?

p.s. You "only have an opinion", as well.

p.p.s. Chandlauch's son played at Rice for Mike Taylor when Taylor first moved to Rice. He transferred from Blinn in 2000. (Just for full disclosure)

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 7/25/2014 11:10a).]

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As far as Luhnow goes, I would be careful what accolades you give him, until the Astros have at least a .500 season. My point is, there are probably good baseball front office people that never played baseball or pro baseball, but the list is NOT long. Point being, usually, the best managers, coaches and front office people do have baseball experience and backgrounds, and I didn't say "all" do.

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The list is getting longer and longer, by the day.

John Mozeliak, the GM of the Cardinals since 2007, didn't play college baseball. He got into pro baseball when he was invited to be a BP pitcher.

Ben Cherington just won the World Series as the Red Sox GM. He didn't play college baseball.

His predecessor in Boston, Theo Epstein, did not play college baseball, either.

6 of the last 8 World Series teams were GMd by guys with high school playing experience at the most. Brian Sabean is the exception- he played at Division II Eckerd College in Tampa Bay, and did not play pro baseball.

11 major league managers hired between 2010 and 2013 did not play major league baseball.

Etc...

Etc...

Etc...

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 7/25/2014 11:35a).]

The old "I know baseball, you don't know baseball" TexAgs crappola

What's your point??? You're funny... that makes me more qualified to know how great a coach he is!!! One of my sons played for Jim Schlossnagle too... and they both played in the Cape Cod League for five summers before they played professional baseball. (and, I was a 4 - year varsity letterman at A&M, before being the recruiting coordinator in football for 3 Cotton Bowl teams at UH and an assistant baseball coach there, as well). I sure hope 2011 is not your graduating year, because if it is... well, let's put it this way, I own a company older than YOU. Bringing my family into this for the intent of damaging me is not Aggie like... the son you're referring to is an attorney now and if you asked him about Mike Taylor, he would tell you he is right there at the top of all the great baseball coaches he's ever had, including me. Taylor has 14 successful years of experience as a D1 assistant in the state of Texas and he is available and wants the job. I want Coach Childress and the A&M baseball program to be successful.

[This message has been edited by chandlauch (edited 7/28/2014 3:51p).]

For starters, you've brought a lot more about you and your family's lives into this than any of us have, and you've made a lot of assumptions about other's personal stories. So let's not start telling other people they're making this personal and your the stoic who just wants the objective best for Texas A&M.

People can whatever inferences they want about your personal connection to Mike Taylor. I actually didn't broach that subject- Lance did on the first page of this thread. And if you can tout whatever qualifications you think you have to judge Mike Taylor's ability, its only fair that I can point out a personal connection you have with Mike Taylor.

If your son does litigation work, he'll know all about circumstantial evidence and inferences, and full disclosure, too. He'll tell you he could never represent Mike Taylor in a lawsuit because his objectivity could have been compromised.

I'm still waiting for details on what Mike Taylor's offenses have done that make him "the one" for Texas A&M.

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 7/25/2014 12:14p).]

I didn't bring my family into anything on here before you did... I'll tell you what... why don't you go back and read my posts (only)... not the devil's advocate crap you and some others put on here... and, if you can't figure out why I thinkTaylor would be a good fit... then you post who you are, your choice, and what qualifications you have supporting him. I have done that, but I'm dealing with a ghost here, which is par for the course on internet posters. I challenge YOU to come out of the closet and give a positive response for once.

On the first page, I posted a link to a statistical comparison between offenses on Taylor's teams vs. Sawyers, and you got upset. You told me to go "argue with my wife" because I looked beyond the pertinent information you offered about his wife going to high school with the football strength coach. What happened to this?:

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Bringing my family into this for the intent of damaging me is not Aggie like

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Here are the numbers again.


In 2011, Rice/A&M

Avg: .286/.291
SLG: .377/.402
HR: 23/30
OPS: 764/766

2012:

AVG: .281/.288
SLG: .395/.385
HR: 35/23
OPS: 774/754

2014 (UH/A&M):

AVG: .278/.288
SLG: .352/.381
HR: 17/24
OPS: 725/742


People were throwing rose petals when Sawyers left town, but his most recent teams were on par or outperforming the ones that were being aided by Coach Taylor (and Taylor is not listed as working with the hitters on Rice's site for 2012).

Will Bolt will be getting the first phone call, and that isn't a bad thing. Bolt was part of A&M's staff and worked with hitters in 2007, when the offense was very effective. And since you like throwing around experience and titles, he would come recommended by their coach with 14 years of MLB experience and 2 all star appearances....Darin Erstad. Bolt and Erstad revived a floundering Nebraska program and put them back in the postseason. Bolt helps direct the offense (which is what Childress needs) and like Coach Taylor, has had great success working with their infield (results in the bio).

Bolt is young and a rising figure in the profession, and was considered for the Sam Houston HC position along with Deggs and Taylor. He also has head coaching experience, coaching Texarkana juco for 4 years and winning 2 titles in that time period, so he also has experience with recruiting in-state. The Nebraska offense has been outperforming any of the aforementioned offenses since Bolt's arrival before the 2012 season.

Like I said earlier, Coach Taylor has a great reputation, and he would be a good option for the team. But he's lucky his resume speaks for itself, because your blustering and arrogant way of talking down to people doesn't make you the best option for his spokesperson.

[This message has been edited by Lance Uppercut (edited 7/25/2014 1:46p).]

Thank you, Lance.

Lance you still havent posted your qualifications for supporting Will Bolt.

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Lance you still havent posted your qualifications

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Fat, short, nerd who makes dollhouse furniture to sell on Craigslist so I can pay my parents rent for living in their basement. Just thinking about playing baseball in this awful heat gives me the vapors.

One of my sons is a vegetarian performance artist under the tutelage of a guy with a thin mustache and pants you thought were for girls, the best in his profession. The other renounced his citizenship and became French.

Will Bolt is a fine young man. He was a teammate of my middle son and was/is a great competitor. I have watched him play since his sophomore year in HS (where he played for a very dear friend of mine)... I also watched play in college in Houston and Lincoln. Also, I'm aware that he coaches at Nebraska where coaches Childress, Sealy and Sawyers are from (and Bill Beirne)... Will has been a paid D1 assistant for 3 years at his almamater. I am curious to know how you know he will get the first phone call on this job, will there be no interviews??? According to you, if there are, they will be token in nature.

Lance, there's a little thing in college baseball called RPI, everybody doesn't play the same schedule... 'Wins' are what counts, statistics are for the other guys to make themselves feel better.

I support Will Bolt too. I remember him when he was at A&M as a first base coach and liked him. I could see him being a great fit at A&M with RC again. I'm really hoping he's our first choice too, Lance.

Qualifications: I led the Baltimore Orioles to 2 consecutive World Series titles as the 3rd baseman on the Show 2012. I was also AL MVP both years.

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I didn't bring my family into anything on here before you did... I'll tell you what... why don't you go back and read my posts (only)... not the devil's advocate crap you and some others put on here... and, if you can't figure out why I thinkTaylor would be a good fit... then you post who you are, your choice, and what qualifications you have supporting him. I have done that, but I'm dealing with a ghost here, which is par for the course on internet posters. I challenge YOU to come out of the closet and give a positive response for once.

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Asking what a offensive guy's offenses is doing--I don't really think that playing devil's advocate. The question shouldn't even need to be asked, in all honesty. That information should just come out, anyways.

If the questions had been answered on page 1, I certainly still wouldn't be playing devil's advocate.

If I'm playing devil's advocate, its because I think that's the attitude to take when hiring a baseball coach at A&M. I realize baseball coaches aren't as mobile as football and basketball coaches, and you have to take what you can get moreso than in the 'bigger' sports, but we have pretty good reach and candidates need to be scrutinzed pretty closely.

Anyways, if you expected you could nominate someone and that candidate to not be scrutinized, well, you've learned you had the wrong expectation.

If you expected you could also belittle people, and your candidate not be scrutinized, well, you certainly had the wrong expectation.

Lance has posted numbers, I've posted numbers. You've not even acknowledged them, and if Mike Taylor is a great coach, I don't know why you need to ignore the statistics...

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Wins' are what counts, statistics are for the other guys to make themselves feel better.

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For head coaches, maybe. For assistants- no, not really. And you know that. You know some teams pitch their way to wins, you know some teams bash their way to wins. You know statistics aren't meaningless.

But how about this- let's first try to get a coach that has the wins AND the statistics?

I like Will Bolt, too. (By the way, why are you willing to bring up your personal connection to him and why'd you get so pissy when I brought up one of your personal connections to Mike Taylor?) There's a guy at St. John's up New York named Mike Hampton. Completely off the Texas baseball radar, I know, and it gives away where I've lived recently, but they've turned into quite the little program and they've been breaking offensive records under Hampton. As their recruiting coordinator, they've broken MLB draft records, too.

He's got the wins, and he's got the stats. The qualifier is he's in the Big East, but he played at Clemson and spent some time in the minor leagues. I *think* (but yeah, can't know for sure) that he'd transition well to a bigger program like A&M.

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 7/25/2014 2:58p).]

http://www.redstormsports.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/hampton_mike00.html

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Lance, there's a little thing in college baseball called RPI, everybody doesn't play the same schedule

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I agree. The Aggies play a harder schedule, meaning their offensive production likely came against overall superior compeition. In 2014, A&M played in the #1 conference in terms of RPI. The American Athletic Conference, which UH played in, finished 6th. Average Team ERAs faced were 3.23 in the SEC vs. 3.61 in the AAC. Half of Houston's conference opponents had overall losing records. (The Big 10 is the worst rated of all being compared, that's another thing to consider in this search).

In 2012, the Big 12 was 4th to CUSA's 5th. In 2011, 3rd to 5th. In 2011 and 2012 A&M finished ahead of Rice in RPI.

I also agree wins and postseason advancement are superior metrics for judging a team's overall season. But we're hiring for someone to run the offense, not an entirely new staff. I think some statistical comparison would be a useful exercise in this situation. And I know this is a dreaded statistic, but if you want to compare the biggest difference in the success of Houston and A&M this year, their staff had an ERA a full 1.32 points lower than the Aggies.

And you're right that I don't know that Will Bolt is the favorite or the first call, but I do know Childress has been predictable in the past. Bolt has many of the qualifications that Taylor does (though again I agree not over the same amount of time)...ran an offense, had success with infielders, recruiting connections in Texas and from Texas. But he has the one thing Childress usually looks for....worked with Childress before. Their previous work together is what causes me to assume he gets the first call. (and he may not want it, he is coaching at the school where he played).

[This message has been edited by Lance Uppercut (edited 7/25/2014 3:47p).]

2014 NCAA 'D1' Baseball Season RPI: #5) Univ. of Houston, #31) Texas A&M Univ., #32) Univ. of Nebraska

[This message has been edited by chandlauch (edited 7/25/2014 4:52p).]

That's not what he's saying. He's saying A&M played a harder schedule than UH, which had a direct impact on hitting numbers

Percentage Ratings Index (RPI) - go to Wikipedia and learn what that is!!!

A&M did have a higher SOS than Houston this year (8 v 15) and Rice in 2011 (19 v 31). Houston played a tough schedule this year, but I don't think it's debatable that slogging through the SEC or the Big 12 a few years back is on the same level as CUSA or AAC.

I'm not in denial that Houston won a lot of games, but again, their staff's ERA was absurdly lower than our own. They gave up 66 less runs while playing 4 more games. They had 4 regular starters with ERAs under 3. We had zero. In 54 of their 66 games, their opponent scored 3 or less runs (A&M accomplished that in 30 of 62 games). I wouldn't say the reason for their recent success was mainly because of an amazing performance by the offense, and we're only hiring for that side of the ball.

Assume their SOS is exactly equal or whatever else and just look above at the years we have to compare Sawyers and Taylor and tell me that he's clearly better than the guy who just left. A&M had a higher RPI than his last two Rice teams, and this year's Houston team clearly differentiated itself from A&M's based on pitching prowess.

Look... this babble is not why I started this thread. Houston, in 2014, had some walkons and non-recruited players starting in the line-up. You guys are assuming all the talent in both line-ups are equal, that's ridiculous. You're trying to diminish this veteran coach with useless stats, that are apples and oranges. If that's all you have against Mike Taylor, and you guys think that is relevant, then hope Coach Childress doesn't select him. That's okay, but your argument is lame to me based on your responses.

[This message has been edited by chandlauch (edited 7/26/2014 4:23a).]

[This message has been edited by chandlauch (edited 7/25/2014 6:15p).]

Well that settles it

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Percentage Ratings Index (RPI) - go to Wikipedia and learn what that is!!!

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Anybody else see the irony in this post?

We're not trying to diminish him at all. We are just trying to debate this topic. One of my chief areas that I'm interested in is development. Do guys get better or plateau (as we've seen many players do over the past 3 years)? There's a lot of factors that go into this. RPI, SOS, and stats are a way to measure their success albeit not a perfect way.

Duck Patrol, I went back and read all the posts on this thread... I started this to let Aggies that care about our baseball program to know about a successful, veteran assistant coach that was available (after Andy moved on). The 'push back' was amazing to me, but after several of your posts, Lance's and 2011's... all of you finally revealed, it wasn't about Taylor, that it just differed from your choice. When I put my name on here my phone blew up... former baseball players from different years and other big Ags, that wouldn't post on here in a million years. They want this program to be back on top again, especially after Blue Bell Park was done. I told everyone of them my opinion. I think Rob Childress is a tough man and can do the job, but needs help. He wasn't Bill Beirne's 1st choice to fill the Nebraska job, when their head coach left to go to his alma mater. Bill Beirne's 1st choice has already been fired at Nebraska. I don't want that to happen here, because we would have to start all over again. We're in the SEC now, the stakes are higher... this hire is HUGE.

I agree. Rob needs help

Chandlauch - not to pick a fight, just curious, why didn't your kids choose to play at A&M?

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Chandlauch - not to pick a fight, just curious, why didn't your kids choose to play at A&M?

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Assuming his kids didn't get offered by A&M, that's kind of a dick question for a dad...

Nope, the "push back" was totally about Mike Taylor and your failure to answer our questions about Taylor.

I won't lose any sleep if Taylor got it over Hampton, if Taylor is the better candidate or Hampton wouldn't come here. I have zero expectation we'll even consider contacting Hampton so again, no, the push back was totally about Mike Taylor and never about pushing any other guy.

You asked us for other names so you got other names.

Funny how that happens.

We answered your question, you still haven't answered mine.

p.s. the phone was blowing up before you posted your name or that you even revealed you played for A&M.

My older son needed to go to junior college first to mature physically. He was a two-time, 1st team All Greater Houston selection at Bellaire HS, but wasn't ready to compete at a D1 school. He needed the two years and the extra 400 at bats. He was offered by Rice and was talked to by Baylor out of high school. He was later appreciative of that high school offer and after junior college he signed with the Owls. My second son broke his left arm (compound) in a car wreck the Fall of his senior year. He had committed to USCw prior. The only recruiting trip he took, other than that, was to Texas. He went to junior college one year to heal after being drafted by the Astros. Following that Spring, he played in the Cape Cod League and finally chose between Oklahoma State (Holiday) and Wake Forest. He signed over a 90% scholarship to Wake Forest. He chose them on his own, I only met the head coach for breakfast in the Cape later, after he had committed on his visit. He spent two years there. (Mark talked to me, if that is what you're getting at, about the older one after high school. He told me he didn't think he was good enough and I agreed, and I told him that the decision had already been made for him to go to junior college). They both played professional baseball. (and are still Aggie football fans today, after growing up catching footballs at Aggie Yell Practices in their youth). They both live in Houston, married, and are very successful young men. Curiosity??? NOTE: Their little brother has an A&M undergraduate degree in Economics and an A&M Masters in The Bush School of Government and Public Service. (he is currently in The Bates School of Law at the University of Houston)
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[This message has been edited by chandlauch (edited 7/27/2014 7:12a).]