Possible AU baseball coaching candidates

[Ranger12 46]

Records are as of this post and info is to the best of my knowledge by looking up each coach's bios. Feel free to add or correct me on anything I may have missed since I got some of this from various sources. Also, add info for any other candidates rumored to be considered or you think should be considered (try to keep it within reason of coaches that might be legitimately considered please).

Dunn (3 seasons): 118-112 .513

2006 OVC champions, 2006 OVC Coach of the Year, 2006 recruiting class ranked 69th in the nation by Collegiate Baseball for all college programs at all levels in the nation which also included a rank of 29th for all schools in the southeast.

Pierce (20 seasons): 748-342 .686

Florida junior college championship, 1983 Panhandle Conference and Florida junior colleges Coach of the Year (4 Panhandle conference championships and 5 state tourney appearances), 3 GSC division championships, 1 GSC conference championships, 2 GSC tourney championships, 4 NCAA Div-II regional appearances, 2001, GSC Coach of the Year, 2005 ASC Coach of the Year, 2006 Sun Belt Coach of the Year, 1 ASC conference championship. 1 each Sun Belt conference and tourney championship, first ever NCAA Div-1 regional appearance for Troy in 2006.

Lowe (30 seasons): 1038-550-3 .652

8 regular season conference championships, 5 conference tourney championships, 9 NAIA sectional/regional championships, 3 NAIA World Series appearances with one runner-up in 1990, NAIA 1990 National Coach of the Year, finished #3 in the nation in 2006, only two losing seasons in 30 years as a head coach.

[OldNewby 27]

Thanks for the stats, Ranger12. Do we go with proven experience or youth and potential?

[Ranger12 46]

Tough call. If you want a little of both, then Pierce is your guy. I think Dunn can do the job, at least better then Slater, but there is that question mark with his head coaching experience. He did a good enough job to beat us this year, but the question is was he able to beat us because Slater was such a bad coach or can Dunn do that on a regular basis?

I think Pierce or Lowe are less questionable selections. Their experience and credentials are far better then Dunn. My heart likes Dunn because he is a recent player and young, but given the last few seasons under Slater, I am not sure I would take a chance on Dunn right now. However if Dunn can be successful rather quickly and given his age, we could have another Coach Baird in the works by having another long term successful coach.

Pierce is my first choice, but my fear would be if Jim Wells leaves UAT for any reason in the next few years, Pierce may want that job with it being his alma-mater.

With Lowe, you have his age to consider, plus would he be willing to leave the program he started? At this stage in his career, he may not feel like he has anything else to prove and may just want to retire from AUM. He also may not want to spend the last years of his career before he retires starting all over at a new program.

[SouthLink02 8]

Go with the better recruiter

The reason for UGA's success this year is due to a new, young recruiting coordinator we hired who apparently is REALLY tearing it up like we have never done before with players

So much so that I think we are really over-recruiting due to just knowing that a few of our best are going to MLB. If they don't go than great but if they do, we still have one of the best classes we have ever gotten

Hire good position coaches but hire the better recruiter

[bojack34 2]

Go with the better recruiter

The reason for UGA's success this year is due to a new, young recruiting coordinator we hired who apparently is REALLY tearing it up like we have never done before with players

So much so that I think we are really over-recruiting due to just knowing that a few of our best are going to MLB. If they don't go than great but if they do, we still have one of the best classes we have ever gotten

Hire good position coaches but hire the better recruiter

I may be wrong but I believe Slater has actually done a really good job recruiting but he doesn't know how to coach them. It does no good to get great recruits unless you know how to coach them.

[AU alum 2]

Tough call. If you want a little of both, then Pierce is your guy. I think Dunn can do the job, at least better then Slater, but there is that question mark with his head coaching experience. He did a good enough job to beat us this year, but the question is was he able to beat us because Slater was such a bad coach or can Dunn do that on a regular basis?

I think Pierce or Lowe are less questionable selections. Their experience and credentials are far better then Dunn. My heart likes Dunn because he is a recent player and young, but given the last few seasons under Slater, I am not sure I would take a chance on Dunn right now. However if Dunn can be successful rather quickly and given his age, we could have another Coach Baird in the works by having another long term successful coach.

Pierce is my first choice, but my fear would be if Jim Wells leaves UAT for any reason in the next few years, Pierce may want that job with it being his alma-mater.

With Lowe, you have his age to consider, plus would he be willing to leave the program he started? At this stage in his career, he may not feel like he has anything else to prove and may just want to retire from AUM. He also may not want to spend the last years of his career before he retires starting all over at a new program.

If Lowe got an offer from Auburn, he would take it in a heartbeat. Now, if it were any other team, I think he'd stay at AUM and retire there.

[CircleDrill 178]

I think you go with the proven winner and whoever is the best gameday coach. That is what is missing from our program right now.

We have so many other things in place but drop the ball where it counts the most. What we need is 4-5 back-to-back winning seasons and some trips to the SEC Tournament and maybe a NCAA regional/super regional, etc. That's what we need in the next 4-5 years.

We don't necessarily need a coach that is going to stay here 20 years right now. The program is ready IMHO. It does not need to be "rebuilt." It just needs to be pushed up to the level it should already be at.

[AUesquire 1]

Pierce

[SLAG-91 1,483]

Don't know if there's actually anything to it, but here's a link to a possible contact with Baylor's Steve Smith

Click here

[TitanTiger 20,479]

Sounds intriguing.

In 14 years at Baylor, Smith has led his alma mater to nine NCAA Regionals, three NCAA Super Regionals, one College World Series appearance and two Big 12 Conference titles.

http://www.al.com/sports/mobileregister/in....xml&coll=3

Not a bad resume for a school that to my knowledge isn't known as a baseball hotbed.

I was listening to the sports talk show out of Auburn yesterday and they noted that since he's been at Baylor, they are second in the Big XII in number of players drafted by the majors with 57. I think only Oklahoma or Texas had more. And the Big XII is a darn good baseball conference with Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, OK State and Texas A&M regularly having good teams.

[autigeremt 6,606]

Hey.....who knows. It may work out! He looks pretty darn good.

[mowegl 4]

Sounds intriguing.

In 14 years at Baylor, Smith has led his alma mater to nine NCAA Regionals, three NCAA Super Regionals, one College World Series appearance and two Big 12 Conference titles.

http://www.al.com/sports/mobileregister/in....xml&coll=3

Not a bad resume for a school that to my knowledge isn't known as a baseball hotbed.

I was listening to the sports talk show out of Auburn yesterday and they noted that since he's been at Baylor, they are second in the Big XII in number of players drafted by the majors with 57. I think only Oklahoma or Texas had more. And the Big XII is a darn good baseball conference with Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, OK State and Texas A&M regularly having good teams.

I dont know what you consider a baseball hotbed, but they take their baseball pretty seriously there. Baylor has probably been the most consistent team over the last 15 years or so in the Big12. I would say their tradition has been a lot like ours. Not much success except under 1 coach (Baird for AU and Smith for BU). Although BU did have a coach Mickey Sullivan who was their for a long time and that took them to a couple CWS in the 70s. Auburn doesnt have a terrible baseball history, but for some reason AU people hold in much higher regard than it is. Auburn's baseball history is about equal to its basketball history.

BTW You practically listed the entire Big 12 there since it isnt actually the big 12 in baseball. There are only 10 teams in baseball.

I dont really know why he would leave considering all he's done at BU.

[SouthLink02 8]

Is Auburn going after UNO's HC?

[TitanTiger 20,479]

According to WSFA, Baylor's coach has withdrawn his name from consideration.

[Ranger12 46]

Confirmation on Baylor coach withdrawing his name. Also two new names have now popped up...Pat McMahon and Tom Walters.

Walters, McMahon on list of potential Auburn coaches

By Ross Dellenger

Sports Writer

Auburn’s search for a baseball coach may be heading to the Big Apple and the Big Easy.

The university “wants” former Mississippi State and Florida coach Pat McMahon, a source close to the situation said Friday. McMahon is the manager of the New York Yankees’ minor league team, the single A Staten Island Yankees.

Also, the source said that Auburn also is interested in University of New Orleans coach Tom Walter.

The Tigers’ search for a baseball coach began exactly three weeks ago when Tom Slater resigned following Auburn’s 28-28 finish to the 2008 season. Slater’s four-year run was mired by the program’s absence in the SEC tournament each of those seasons.

Neither McMahon nor Walter returned phone messages left for them Friday afternoon.

Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs was out of the office Friday and has stated in the past that he’s not discussing details of the ongoing search.

It is unclear if McMahon and Walter have officially been interviewed by Jacobs and Carr Sports Associates, the firm Auburn hired to help in the search.

Other candidates

At least two candidates have been interviewed for the position: Baylor coach Steve Smith and Samford coach Casey Dunn.

According to a story on the Waco Tribune’s Web site, Smith has pulled out of the running for the open coaching jobs at Auburn and Mississippi State, choosing to stay at Baylor, where he’s spent the last 14 years.

“After much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to withdraw my name from consideration for the jobs both at Auburn and Mississippi State,” Smith said in a statement on the newspaper’s site. “I appreciate their interest and wish both programs nothing but the best.”

New potentials

Now, the search moves on to McMahon and Walter.

A graduate of Mississippi State, McMahon, 54, coached the Bulldogs for four years, leading them to the 1998 college world series. He left for Florida after the 2001 season.

McMahon took Florida to Omaha in 2005, leading the Gators to the national championship series, where they lost to Texas. But after missing the postseason in the next two years, McMahon was fired.

McMahon is in his first season with the Staten Island Yankees. Their season begins June 17. He has compiled a 527-259-1 collegiate head coaching record.

Walter has led the University of New Orleans to NCAA tournament appearances over the last two years. Last year, in just his third season at the school, Walter led the Privateers to the program’s first Sunbelt Conference Tournament championship since 1979.

UNO returned to the NCAA tournament this past season. The Privateers finished in third place at the Baton Rouge, La., regional and finished the season 43-21.

Before his stint in New Orleans, Walter spent eight seasons as coach of George Washington University. The Pennsylvania native had an overall record of 275-184, and his George Washington team averaged 39 wins per season during his last five years there.

[Ranger12 46]

Here are stats on McMahon and Waters. The head coaching record for McMahon that was quoted in the article that I posted above seems to be missing two seasons. By checking other resources, I think I have the accurate stats for him.

Pat McMahon (14 seasons): 555-287-1 .658

1990 Sun Belt Coach of the Year and 1994 CAA conference championship at Old Dominion, 2001 SEC tourney champs at Miss. St, 2001 USA Baseball Coach of the Year, 2005 SEC Coach of the Year and College Baseball Foundation Coach of the Year, 2005 SEC champs and took Florida to the CWS finals (beaten by Texas), 10 NCAA regionals, 4 Super Regionals, and 2 CWS appearances. Currently manager of the Staten Island Yankees of the New York-Penn League.

Tom Walter (12 seasons): 406-298 .577

1998 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year at Georgetown, 2002 Atlantic 10 tourney champs at Georgetown, 2007 Sun Belt Conference champs at UNO, 3 NCAA regionals (one each at GW and two at UNO). Also coached a couple of years in the Cape Cod league and the Yankees single A organization.

[SouthLink02 8]

What Tom Walter has done at UNO is out right amazing

If AU hired him, they are getting an absolute gem

[WarTiger 3,901]

Here are stats on McMahon and Waters. The head coaching record for McMahon that was quoted in the article that I posted above seems to be missing two seasons. By checking other resources, I think I have the accurate stats for him.

Pat McMahon (14 seasons): 555-287-1 .658

1990 Sun Belt Coach of the Year and 1994 CAA conference championship at Old Dominion, 2001 SEC tourney champs at Miss. St, 2001 USA Baseball Coach of the Year, 2005 SEC Coach of the Year and College Baseball Foundation Coach of the Year, 2005 SEC champs and took Florida to the CWS finals (beaten by Texas), 10 NCAA regionals, 4 Super Regionals, and 2 CWS appearances. Currently manager of the Staten Island Yankees of the New York-Penn League.

Tom Walter (12 seasons): 406-298 .577

1998 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year at Georgetown, 2002 Atlantic 10 tourney champs at Georgetown, 2007 Sun Belt Conference champs at UNO, 3 NCAA regionals (one each at GW and two at UNO). Also coached a couple of years in the Cape Cod league and the Yankees single A organization.

Each of these coaches seem to have the ability to make a program successful. I wouldn't have a problem with either of them being hired at Auburn. Wonder what these coaches level of interest in the job at Auburn is?

[AUslug 1]

What is the level of interest from any coach about the Auburn job?