I don't believe Earley is a long term option, but think he deserves one more year and will get it. Have zero faith we will ascend to being consistently in Super Regionals with him at the helm, but we shall find out. Of note, it seems like a ton of teams/coaches are struggling to find their footing in this NIL era of college baseball, given that none of the CWS teams from last year even made it out of a regional this year.

As Elko likes to mention, he wants complementary football, meaning the offense feeds off of the defense playing well and vice versa. We saw that with the pitching staff figuring things out a bit in the middle of the season and we started rolling, but when the pitching stabilized some games later on in the season unexpectedly, the batting approach seemed to stiffen, we would chase and try to hit home runs rather than stick with going the other way and beating the shift.

I get the concerns with Kelly, although I like that we have a pitching coach that emphasizes attacking the zone. I think that style will be much more effective if we can recruit pitchers with more raw talent. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that will happen quick enough for it to matter. As for hitting, we have seen this team have random pockets of explosion with the bats since Earley has taken over. It's obvious that the hitting improved this year, so I don't want to completely tear down their success, but the performances down the stretch in both seasons at the plate are gigantic red flags. Too much feast/famine, very extra base hit dependent. If he is serious about being the head of a top collegiate program, he probably needs to relinquish the reins of the hitting program or at least get someone with skins on the wall to offer a different perspective and push back when the system seems to be failing.

I realize they're 3 outstanding players but they may not all be first round.

College baseball is an interesting sport. #1 and 2 knocked off in regional at home. Zero of the 8 CWS teams from last year are going to Supers this year !!! I don't know the answer

a.froman said:

---

Aggie_Fire said:

---

Just Tired said:

---

W said:

---

what's the plan to replace the three 1st rounders at the top of the lineup?

---

it shouldn't take much to replace that grand total of 4 runs in the last two season-defining games.

---

Such a short sided statement. This is called recency bias! This is just as bad as the selection committee. Only remembering what just happened.

Without those three guys, we would've finished 13th in the SEC like predicted

---

Oklahoma finished 11th and made a super. Much rather be there

---

They won when it mattered most. It is what it is.

Against an actual good team. TBD still if the sips do this post season.

He doesn't have the same big shot players protecting him anymore. Him staying another year should only be a function of whether we can get vitello or not. I'll take another year of his mediocrity if we can get vitello when the mlb experiment is over.

Regarding these supposedly 1st rounders the Ags are losing… how much did they make while wearing the maroon & white?

As long as the Aggies are making the regional finals, I don't think the coach will be fired.

big red dog said:

---

He is a good hitting coach but not much more than a decent select ball coach. If I'm coaching a team against someone that clearly out talents my ball team I'm hoping they have a gameday coach like Earley.

---

Got damn. Our problems are solved

Submit your resume when the job opens up, coach.

LB12MEEN said:

---

ApachePilot said:

---

I'm torn. I think he could make it work, but I also believe Texas A&M deserves a proven winner. I'm not big on the Aggies having a project coach. It'll take a lot to wash away last season. If the Ags can pull a proven winner I say do it.

---

It's just one more year. Lots of other sports are doing very well, focus on them.

---

Might wanna hold that statement till after football szn

Football is doing fine but how do you get just football from "lots of other sports?"

Ball Five said:

---

But I'm fine with giving him one more year. Fire Kelly. New pitching coach, no more excuses. If he fails to make the Supers after next year, time to rip the bandaid and move on. We can't afford to be stuck in mediocrity.

---

I haven't been hard on him but am going to form my final opinion of him by next year. So yes, he is our HC for one more year. He also placed #3 in SEC regular season and you simply do not fire a new coach for that.

My issue with Earley is that he is clearly learning in the job and I dont like his pitching decisions on when he pulls a pitcher. I was PISSED off last night because it was so VERY FREAKING CLEAR THAT FRESHCORN WAS TIRED. I told my entire family that Earley needed to pull him after the 6th. He did his job. Earley had a clear sign when he then threw 3-0 to a batter early in the next inning. Yet....he ignored the signs of Freshcorn being tired. He also was over his season pitch count by like 20 pitches at that point, too. He kept him in far, far far too long. Earley is CLUELESS here.

And yes, always wanted Kelly fired after Year 1 with Earley. Writing has been on the wall there, yet, Earley hasn't pushed for it.

So I am not confident in Earley at this point but understand he is getting another year regardless. I also think he earned it with a massive turnaround from Year 1. Early injuries to key members of an already thin pitching staff ultimately killed this teams hopes for Omaha. This was clear a few months ago and no coach could overcome that in the present tense.

I also frankly do not like Earleys cocky and immature demeanor. He seems younger than his own age by his behavior on the field at times. He is very hot headed and emotional. And I dont trust that in a inexperienced coach. Almost like he wants to be Vitello which he isn't.

I do think Albert's should make a few calls just to feel out a few names. And it could be worth some strategizing with Vitellos agent.

W said:

---

what's the plan to replace the three 1st rounders at the top of the lineup?

---

You mean the ones that were pretty much non existent fof their last 2 games played in CS?

Sean98 said:

---

IslanderAg04 said:

---

W said:

---

what's the plan to replace the three 1st rounders at the top of the lineup?

---

You mean the ones that were pretty much non existent fof their last 2 games played in CS?

---

it's still a pretty fair question given we'd have been about 10-46 without them

---

Not dogging them, just saying they're replaceable.

IslanderAg04 said:

---

Sean98 said:

---

IslanderAg04 said:

---

W said:

---

what's the plan to replace the three 1st rounders at the top of the lineup?

---

You mean the ones that were pretty much non existent fof their last 2 games played in CS?

---

it's still a pretty fair question given we'd have been about 10-46 without them

---

Not dogging them, just saying they're replaceable.

---

If you are indeed irreplaceable you should never be invisible in the biggest moment of the season.

There were a bunch of people that were quick to troll, name calling, belittle us that didnt believe in Earely, based on results.

Im guessing theyre all going to hide now like cowards

TxA&Mhunter said:

---

Being honest with you, Jay. Wheb you say

"The facilities are not a problem and are just an excuse. We have excellent facilities as is."
"People keep *****ing about the pitching and Kelley but that is not why we lost our own regional."
Would leave most people to believe that you were severely misinformed about the situation of the facilities prior to the new addition. It's very similar to RC Slocum at the end trying to recruit against other programs that were investing into their infrastructure.The player out facilities and improvement centers have been lacking for nearly a decade.
As someone that understands pitching I can fully tell you that Jason Kelly is really just missing the mark all the way around. There's some mechanical miscues with some of the freshmen that I think lead to the inconsistencies that are easy to spot and they haven't been addressed since the fall.
When you pair that with the pitch calling sequence for the starters, it's just mind-boggling to me . I don't know how many cement mixers we threw in plus counts and Rarely did you see a picture shake off the call which leads me to believe they didn't have the ability to do that and that's not right. Most pitching coaches I know have built-in margins for shakes as long as they don't buck the analytics that you have on the hitter.

---

I don't know enough about Kelly to have a strong opinion. I feel like Sims, Moss and Freshcorn all made significant strides year over year but there were nagging concerns that a boatload of guys that appeared to have the talent went through the entire season without any apparent progress, having the same issues virtually every time they were on the mound. The above post, I believe, is probably an accurate overview.

Jarrin Jay said:

---

dixichkn said:

---

Kelley will get thrown under the bus and rightly so. But the bullseye is squarely on Mike's back next year. He'll have the God blessed facilities that so many have blamed for the lack of progress. This program will never lack for support. Monetary and otherwise. Sh** hits the fan next year if we can't even be competitive in a regional

---

The facilities are not a problem and are just an excuse. We have excellent facilities as is. What we don't have is a a decent HC and staff. We are vastly over paying a position coach to be HC, and his forte is supposed to be offense which was a complete no show in 2 straight regional finals.

People keep *****ing about the pitching and Kelley but that is not why we lost our own regional.

Early was a stretch hire and he should have been gone after last season due to the Mizzou sweep. All we have done this season is lower the buyout by a year.

Even if you did hire Earley, which was somewhat understandable given the situation, you don't go 8x his current salary on a 4 year contract. You don't give him the same contract or even close to what you would have given to hire Skip Johnson or Rob Vaughn.

We will miss regionals next year, fire Earley and be back to square on. Texas A&M baseball is not a place for a 1st time HC getting OJT. Ridiculous.

---

The facilities have absolutely been a problem, which is why we are currently upgrading them. The lack of a pitching lab has greatly reduced our ability to recruit quality pitchers. That isn't debatable and has been acknowledged for a while. Our biggest issue this year is pitching. If we had 3 really good weekend starters with this offense, this is a CWS team. Great pitching beats great hitting. I'm willing to bet that SC goes from blowing us out in 2 games to losing a close game Sunday night with quality depth at pitching. And that not even mentioning how much pressure is taken off the batters by having an ace on the mound where they don't feel like they are expected to slug to a win every night especially when they find themselves already in a 5 run hole like Sunday.

AGDAD14 said:

---

Regarding these supposedly 1st rounders the Ags are losing… how much did they make while wearing the maroon & white?

As long as the Aggies are making the regional finals, I don't think the coach will be fired.

---

Regional Rob -> Mediocre Mike

A lot of this fire JK stuff is just sheer idiotic reactionary ranting. Pitching sucked, so let's fire the pitching coach. That's about as deep as the thinking gets for a lot of folks.

Keep in mind that we are not operating under the same staff limitations that we used to see in NCAA baseball. If JK has some shortcomings, replacing him is not the only option; you can also find reinforcements to augment our pitching staff. Already, you see Hutch involved in a way that wasn't allowable under the old rules. It might be that we can find someone to help us with the recruiting angle for pitching while still keeping JK. I don't know if that is the way we will go, but a lot of people don't seem to realize that there are more ways to handle this than there used to be.

In any event. just like Earley had to fix issues with the position players last offseason (and did so pretty comprehensively), the assignment this offseason is to fix the pitching. It's going to be hard to replace the offensive numbers we had this year, so the pitching staff had better take a big step forward if the program overall is not to take the kind of step back that would put Earley on the brink.

Once you hired Earley you had to be willing to grow with him some. After a disaster last year the team made a ton of progress this season being a border line top 8 seed. They were dealt a top 3 hardest regional and lost their best pitcher right before the tournament.

I'd caution everyone basing their feelings too much on single tournament outcomes. Just like in basketball, it oversimplifies things way too much.

I'd expect changes are coming on the staff and hopefully a nice portal haul.

You went risky and now need to support your decision. What you don't want to see is you bail on him too early and he's the next Vitello for someone else.

t - cam said:

---

Once you hired Earley you had to be willing to grow with him some. After a disaster last year the team made a ton of progress this season being a border line top 8 seed. They were dealt a top 3 hardest regional and lost their best pitcher right before the tournament.

I'd caution everyone basing their feelings too much on single tournament outcomes. Just like in basketball, it oversimplifies things way too much.

I'd expect changes are coming on the staff and hopefully a nice portal haul.

You went risky and now need to support your decision. What you don't want to see is you bail on him too early and he's the next Vitello for someone else.

---

Why do you say we were given a tough regional? 2 sub Power 4 teams and a Power 4 team that was 1-11 versus Quad 1 competition. Seems like a pretty good draw especially when you didn't even see USC's best pitcher.

Again, at what program have you seen a staff change make the directory of the program change. We have tried this numerous times with football to never see different results. They all resulted in us firing the head coach.

Just Tired said:

---

W said:

---

what's the plan to replace the three 1st rounders at the top of the lineup?

---

it shouldn't take much to replace that grand total of 4 runs in the last two season-defining games.

---

Those dudes got us there and taking a pot-shot at them is insanity.