slot canyon 1,332 Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 Jimmy Kolaitis was one of my "dark horses" for the AU job last year. He has been hired as HC of softball at UAB (uabsports.com/news). I feel he is someone to watch for the future. He has spent last 5 seasons as assistant at Oregon. Has worked with Scrap Yard Dogs and Chicago Bandits. Worked as recruiting coordinator and assistant coach at South Alabama2008-2013. I had seen face book interaction between he and Cooper in the past. He is said to be a very personable and should have recruiting connections on west coast as well as in the south. This may be interesting to follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderWhiskey 953 Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 He is also an excellent hitting coach, as I understand.Would love to have had him for that, but really no motivation for him to make a lateral move from Oregon to AU. This will probably adversely affect our recruiting in the Birmingham area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomstick 1,315 Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 Proud for Jimmy. He was one of my HS baseball coaches when I was at Lee-Scott. Great dude who has worked his way up through the ranks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
around4ever 4,139 Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 2 hours ago, OlderWhiskey said: He is also an excellent hitting coach, as I understand.Would love to have had him for that, but really no motivation for him to make a lateral move from Oregon to AU. This will probably adversely affect our recruiting in the Birmingham area. He should be a great hire for UAB. I'm sure he will get a few but I don't see him hurting Auburn and Alabama locally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderWhiskey 953 Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 You may be right. For perspective, we currently have 3 players on roster from the Bham area. Greenwood, Olszewski, and Tissier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
around4ever 4,139 Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 15 minutes ago, OlderWhiskey said: You may be right. For perspective, we currently have 3 players on roster from the Bham area. Greenwood, Olszewski, and Tissier. If he can put them into regionals in a couple of years, he may be able to use that to lure a few of the top local players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBAU83 212 Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 Maybe he can make a little headway here and then if we need to make another HC move, he would already be established in the area. Not suggesting we need to move from CMD yet, just thinking this could work our way in the future if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slot canyon 1,332 Posted June 18, 2018 Author Share Posted June 18, 2018 16 hours ago, GBAU83 said: Maybe he can make a little headway here and then if we need to make another HC move, he would already be established in the area. Not suggesting we need to move from CMD yet, just thinking this could work our way in the future if needed. GBAU83 That was in part my reasoning for the original post. Like yourself, I hope Coach Dean can get the program moving in a winning direction but we should keep our eyes on coach K. I doubt he is making this move with thoughts of it being his long term job but rather a demonstration of what he can do as a HC.....clearly just an opinion on my part. I did not realize that UAB Mary Bowers Field (2016) now has approximately 1000 seats. (100 "premium seats" located behind home plate with chair back). Last game I attended there prior to the upgrade I don't believe they had more than 300-400 seats. I have not checked today, but as of yesterday, I did not see anything about the hire in the B;ham paper...…….from my perspective this is a big hire for them so surprised at lack of coverage in local rag. Hope to find out more about his staff and terms of his contract. Since I live in the area, may attend some games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slot canyon 1,332 Posted June 25, 2020 Author Share Posted June 25, 2020 Coach KoIaitis is leaving UAB. I had heard that UAB was reducing SB budget and placing travel restrictions on program. Must be bad for CJK to take assistant position and move across country. https://justinsworldsb.com/2020/06/24/jimmy-kolaitis-to-be-named-arizona-state-assistant-coach/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUBwins 10,074 Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 3 hours ago, slot canyon said: Coach KoIaitis is leaving UAB. I had heard that UAB was reducing SB budget and placing travel restrictions on program. Must be bad for CJK to take assistant position and move across country. https://justinsworldsb.com/2020/06/24/jimmy-kolaitis-to-be-named-arizona-state-assistant-coach/ What a step back for UAB as well. They had the pieces building for a real problem for other D1 schools facing them. They are a medical school first and foremost of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slot canyon 1,332 Posted June 26, 2020 Author Share Posted June 26, 2020 If they are financially strained, as many are, I expect UAB will promote from within the current staff. No announcement on UAB or ASU site but Kolaitis twitter site shows him as assistant softball coach at ASU. Generally no announcement until paper work is completed. Of course, UAB has a couple of AU transfers on the team. I think this will be a big blow to UAB softball as it will be difficult to replace CJK experience as recruiting coordinator, hitting coach and even pitching coach when he coached in professional league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slot canyon 1,332 Posted July 3, 2020 Author Share Posted July 3, 2020 ASU has now confirmed the CJK hire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slot canyon 1,332 Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share Posted July 10, 2020 UAB has now announced Joe Guthrie as new Head Coach. He was hired as assistant 2 years ago and promoted to Associate HC last January. I was expecting them to hire from current staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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