Does Mike Bell
- Thread starter gary2
- Start date
125-141 overall. 52-92 in the ACC.
4-13 against WVU & Penn State, dropped the last five straight to the mountaineers. One more with PSU, here, in a week in a half.
Guy is supposed to be a pitching guru yet we never have quality arms.
4-13 against WVU & Penn State, dropped the last five straight to the mountaineers. One more with PSU, here, in a week in a half.
Guy is supposed to be a pitching guru yet we never have quality arms.
We DID keep it to 10! Only lost 11-1. Maybe baseball can join the PSAC for next season.
The PSAC might be the best D2 conference in the country, they might not do much better in that league.
Its time to consider getting rid of baseball and softball and adding men's and women's hockey or men's lacrosse and women's field hockey in their place. Baseball and softball cant succeed here.
Even by your standards, that's silly. The team from just down the road that we played last night is a borderline top 25 team this season. In fact Baseball America had them ranked 20th this week. Why is it that West Virginia can succeed at baseball but Pitt can't?
That's the disappointing thing. He was the pitching coach at a good program, so when they hired him I certainly thought that he would help improve the pitching staff. But that hasn't happened. And now this year we've got a Friday night starer with an era at almost 10, and an overall team era of 6.21.
Because decades of history prove we cant. Also, baseball is an afterthought at Pitt. Pittsburgh has a AAA/MLB team and for some reason, people love the Wild Things rec league ball. If we had a lacrosse team, that brings in a new audience and we wouldn't have to rent Highmark. Also, I think hockey could be successful because Pittsburgh is arguably the best hockey town in America and we arent at a competitive disadvantage due to the weather/season like in baseball.
Lets say we didnt have baseball or softball but you had to add 1 more men's and 1 more women's sport. What would you add? For me, baseball and softball are way down the list because I dont feel like the sports could compete given the weather. It would be:
1. Men's hockey and women's hockey
2. Men's lacrosse and women's field hockey
3. Baseball/softball
The hockey cost with practice ice rentals and PPG Paints rentals would have likely been too expensive but the Pens were said to be offering bargain basement prices and there is some type of NHL grant. Also, I would have built a 3000-4000 seat hockey arena that the volleyball team could use in the fall. Would have kept the Field House for wrestling as it would have been too costly to switch back and forth from hockey to wrestling in the winter.
Men's lacrosse and women's field hockey arent going to make money but you arent at a weather disadvantage there and both are emerging sports with no major D1 WPA presence. It also eliminates the need to rent Highmark. I feel like baseball is such a lost cause. The weather is just too bad. I used to go to a few games per year but I don't think I've gone since Covid. I'll put a few games in my calendar but then when the time comes it'll be like 45 degrees and I'm not going out in that. Once I even got to a game in the Bottom of the 9th Inning because I didnt realize they moved the game up due to bad weather coming in. It was listed on the website when I went back to look but I didnt know that was even a thing.
I mean hes a projected draft pick. Numbers dont mean much in college, hes a talented kid with good stuff. Hes pro bound this year
Who not? Usually the baseball program is decent and the softball is well not great but with baseball has to be softball
Because neither program has any chance to be good and we are renting a facility at Highmark when the land for baseball and softball could be used for lacrosse.
I've seen him pitch live twice this year. He bounces more pitches in the fake grass area, not the fake dirt area, the fake grass area, in front of home plate than probably every other pitcher I've ever seen in my life combined.
I'm obviously not a pro scout, but I cannot imagine how a guy who cannot get ACC hitters out has much of a pro future. And I can't imagine how a guy who wasn't even a starter at Rhode Island would be that highly thought of as a prospect. A pro pitching prospect at Rhode Island isn't a reliever, he's their Friday starter.
He has good good stuff. A Logan Evans type prospect, didnt put up any special numbers at Pitt but is killing it in the pros
Hockey is way too expensive, and quite frankly is nothing more than an afterthought at the college level. Men's lacrosse and women's field hockey are complete non-entities at any sporting level in the United States. If all you are looking for is a sport that almost no one plays so you have little competition to be good, why not men's volleyball? Or rowing? Heck, men's and women's golf would be a lot better then men's lacrosse and women's field hockey if you are looking to pick up a lesser sport.
I believe that if Pitt ever adds another sport, it will either be rowing (probably women’s) or men’s lacrosse. Maybe men’s gymnastics, depending on how much room there is in the new complex to add another locker room, and I’m not sure to what extent men’s and women’s gymnastics can share a coaching staff like track/xc and swimming can.
Well we'll have to see how this all plays out, but right now with the way that Title IX is, if Pitt adds another sport any time soon it's going to be a women's sport. Pitt, like most schools, is probably not technically compliant with Title IX. If someone were to file a lawsuit about it, Pitt would likely end up being forced to either add a women's sport or drop a men's one.
If they do add a women's sport, I agree that rowing is probably the most likely. In fact I'm pretty sure they at least explored adding that a few years ago, but decided to wait.
Unfortunately you are probably right. Should have built an on campus hockey rink up there and started mens/womens programs but that ship has probably sailed. I also would have brought back Mens Volleyball as well.
Will probably never happen because baseball and softball have history but the 2 programs really have no chance to ever be good. If you were starting from scratch, you wouldn't choose to have baseball or softball here.
Wasn't soccer both men's and women's considered an afterthought and historically bad, and can "never" be good just a few years ago?
Apples and oranges. Soccer is played when the weather is nice in PA. Aug, Sep, Oct. Baseball and softball have a major weather disadvantage and because of that plus our lack of funding, can never be good.
You still haven't explained why West Virginia can be a top 25 team but Pitt can't. UConn, which has much worse weather for baseball, has had success. St. John's has had success. Notre Dame has had success. This year warm weather haven Indiana State (not Indiana, Indiana State) is in the top 25. Oregon State, another place not known for it's balmy weather, is a perennial top ten team.
The real issue is that he didn't have to make that post to confuse you, you were already confused in the first place.
Weather in baseball and softball mean almost everything. There's a reason why the vast majority of the good programs are in warm weather towns.
Cold weather teams appear in the Top 25 every now and then. Not consistently.
And I wouldn't be using WVU as your gleaning example of cold weather success. Sure, they have never been really bad like Pitt but they've only made 4 of the last 30 NCAA Tournaments.
So Pitt should only play sports in which they will consistently be in the top 25. Yeah, good idea. After all, schools don't really NEED any sports at all.
Which is how many Pitt would have if that were the criteria.
The weather is obviously an issue but there are plenty of programs that have the same or worse weather than Pittsburgh that have been successful.
I don’t think anyone expects Pitt to be a power or regular top 25 program, but it’s not too much to ask to make the tournament more than once every 30 years.
I’d like to see us get a little more consistently to middle of pack in ACC and in the tourney once every 5-6 years. I don’t think that’s asking too much. BC has made the tourney 3x in the last 15 years. No reason we can’t.
I’d like to see us get a little more consistently to middle of pack in ACC and in the tourney once every 5-6 years. I don’t think that’s asking too much. BC has made the tourney 3x in the last 15 years. No reason we can’t.
Exactly. No one is asking Pitt to win the national championship. We all know that isn't going to happen. Of course we also know it isn't going to happen in football or basketball either, but that doesn't stop us from being fans of the team.
But the ceiling for this program shouldn't be occasional NCAA bubble team. There is no reason that it can't be higher than that.
Heading into these last five games of the conference season, here are the up to date standings for the last two berths in the ACC tournament:
Miami: 9-16 (@ 13-12 Va Tech x2, vs Pitt x3)
Notre Dame: 9-18 (@ 13-12 Louisville x3)
BC: 8-19 (@ 17-8 Clemson x3)
Pitt: 7-18 (vs 14-10 FSU x2, @ Miami x3)
We actually control our own destiny. But of course it is unlikely we will win the next two against a top ten team in the country. Heck, winning just one of the two would be nice.
Miami: 9-16 (@ 13-12 Va Tech x2, vs Pitt x3)
Notre Dame: 9-18 (@ 13-12 Louisville x3)
BC: 8-19 (@ 17-8 Clemson x3)
Pitt: 7-18 (vs 14-10 FSU x2, @ Miami x3)
We actually control our own destiny. But of course it is unlikely we will win the next two against a top ten team in the country. Heck, winning just one of the two would be nice.
The window to get in is definitely open. Last night was definitely a huge help. Gotta find a way to win one more vs FSU & hope we can take care of business vs UM.
If you were starting from scratch, then yes. We arent starting from scratch, so Pitt is never going to axe baseball and softball for lacrosse, field hockey, or ice hockey. But if you were starting from scratch, you'd have to consider everything and the difficulty the weather poses in recruiting would be the reason not to field baseball and softball teams. None of these programs make any money so you go with the ones that you have a better chance at winning.
