[Husker] Husker baseball needs your help

Mon May 9 10:50:50 CDT 2011

First, the petition may not have any effect (I said that already).  But we
have to do something.  I would suggest emailing him too, I already have.  

There's a big difference between 'saying something positive' and what T.O.
has said up until this point.  I hope I'm wrong, but the general feeling of
his comments are "unless he's doing something illegal."

"Automatic termination" was accurate and just (would we keep a football
coach who finished last and then 2nd to last in the Big XII two years in a
row??).  "Firing Squad" was a joke. I thought that was obvious, but I guess
not.

There are SEVERAL candidates that would still jump at the job and your
comparison to Iowa, while funny, isn't really that related for the following
reasons:

1] The Huskers have THE NICEST stadium / facilities in the Big Ten and
pretty much already do amongst northern schools.  And next year on top of
everything, they're getting a brand new indoor practice facility that nobody
in the Big Ten can touch.

2] Mike Anderson would be the highest paid coach in the Big Ten ($330k
guaranteed) and our financial commitment to baseball is unparalleled in the
league 

3] There are several coaches that would call coaching in Lincoln "home" that
are considered hot young coaches.  Brian O'Connor @ #1 Virginia (and I've
been told that he would take the call and listen to the offer).  Andy
Sawyers the hitting coach at Texas A&M.  Will Bolt at Texarcanna (sp?). 

There are more, but I think I've made my point.

I hope you're right on Osborne, but this is exactly what I'm trying to do.
Get people to convince him.  The team is in shambles and the decision is
EASY.    If Mike Anderson is the coach of the baseball team next year you
KNOW 1 of 2 things is true.  Either Mike has dirt on T.O. or T.O. does not
care in anyway way about the baseball team. 

--

Skylar

From: Mike Jaixen [mailto:mikejaixen at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2011 10:31 AM
To: Skylar Dodds; husker at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [Husker] Husker baseball needs your help

I don't think an online petition is going to have any impact with Tom
Osborne.  In fact, I think there's a slight chance it could be
counterproductive.

I also wouldn't read much into Osborne's statements to this point. You do
realize that him saying anything other than something positive about Mike
Anderson would be essentially be his dismissal. I don't think Osborne will
say anything negative about Anderson during the season.  If he said that in
June (assuming that Nebraska's season is over at that point), I view it much
differently.

I'm not going to disagree with much of your analysis...though I think
suggesting "automatic termination" and "firing squad" might get your
opinions dismissed.

I do think that writing Osborne directly (either via snail mail or e-mail)
probably would be more effective than an online petition. I'd focus on the
change to the Big Ten, and specifically, Mike Anderson's statement last week
that he thinks his team will be a "championship contender" next season. I
would hope that Osborne would look into that, and flesh out whether Anderson
is trying to pull one over us. Certainly, we don't see much to be encouraged
about right now (other than generally not getting blown out game after
game), but Osborne has always looked beyond the box score to evaluate
things.  

Osborne also would need to have somebody in mind to take over, if he were to
replace Mike Anderson. Dave Van Horn is not coming back, and there probably
are more than a few coaches who would view a Big Ten job as a step backward.
(Remember, Jack Dahm resigned at Creighton instead of being fired, and ended
up taking the Iowa job...suggesting that Creighton baseball, even playing at
their old on-campus facility, is better than a Big Ten job.

While Osborne will give coaches the benefit of the doubt, and will never be
quick on the trigger, I don't believe that Osborne won't fire a coach. He
fired Bill Callahan (though that was a pretty easy call), and gave the
gymnastics coaches an ultimatum to win.  You just need to convince him of
it, and emphasize the impact of not doing anything.

Mike Jaixen
http://huskermike.blogspot.com
http://www.cornnation.com

  _____  

From: Skylar Dodds <sklarbodds at cox.net>
To: husker at tssi.com
Sent: Mon, May 9, 2011 10:10:21 AM
Subject: [Husker] Husker baseball needs your help

This is a plea to the casual baseball fan.  Please read it, we need you.

OK, let me start off by saying this is not me.  I'm not usually this guy.  I
will give a coach every single chance to turn a ship around.  But right now,
Husker baseball is in critical condition.  Whether he's a nice guy or not
(and I believe he is to SOME), Mike Anderson is not the right guy for the
baseball team.  I've always been a staunch MA defender, but he's taken a
very very very good program and turned it into a disaster.  

I get most people don't care about college baseball.  If you do, you're
probably already on board with this.  If you don't, think of it this way.
When baseball is good it can turn a small profit if not break even.  Right
now I've heard estimates that baseball is losing close to $1 million per
year.  Even if it's not that high, the fact is they're still hemorrhaging
money. And that's coming STRAIGHT out of the pockets of our beloved football
team.  A coaching change could be the equivalent of a $1 million per year
donation directly to the pockets of the football team.  Love the football
team and don't care about baseball? This is still for you. 

For whatever reason, Dr. Tom doesn't seem to want to do anything about it.
He's said things like (not exact quotes), "We always said that if a baseball
coach won a game in Omaha, he'd have a lifetime contract" and "fans opinion
changes whether they win or they lose and those who want him gone are a
vocal minority". 

We need people to sign a petition to convince Dr. Tom that something needs
to be done:
http://www.petitiononline.com/UNLBB001/petition.html

It may not change anything.  But here's the reason this has to be done NOW.
If he's allowed to stay next year his record will improve.  I know that
sounds like a weird reason to fire a coach, but it's NOT because he's going
to do a better job, but because he's going to a conference that is PATHETIC
in baseball.  And so, if he's not taken care of this year, next year he'll
hang around just by virtue of the fact that to the 'casual' fan he LOOKS
like he's doing better.  To the point, in the latest RPI Nebraska would be
NUMBER ONE (#1!!!) in the Big Ten in RPI with the terrible season we're
having (last place in the Big XII!!!).  The Big XII always gets 1 or 2
National seeds and 3 or 4 regional hosts.  The Big Ten gets ONE TEAM IN most
years and they usually play on the road.

Here's a few Mike Anderson 'nuggets' to digest:

1] Attendance: In 2005 & 2006 we averaged right at or around 5,000 fans per
game.  This year, we're hovering somewhere around 2,700.  Can you imagine
if the football coach was ever so bad attendance dropped by almost 50%?????

2] Big XII Tourney: We're well on our way to missing our THIRD STRAIGHT Big
XII tourney.  This is not 'postseason play', this means you are finishing in
the BOTTOM 2 of the league.  You are the worst of the worst.  Once should be
automatic hot-seat, twice should be automatic termination and three times???
Maybe firing squad?

3] Big XII Series: We've lost now something in the neighborhood of 23 of the
last 27 series.  Can you imagine if a football coach went 4-23 over ANY
STRETCH???  Yikes. 

4] Big XII Series (2): We've lost 11 of the last 12 'rubber matches' where
we could win the series on Sunday.  Well coached teams play well when it's
all on the line.

5] Big XII Road Series: We haven't won one in 3 years.

6] Big XII Series (3): We've only won TWO series in the past 3 years when we
weren't already mathematically eliminated from the Big XII tourney.  TWO.

7] Offensive Stats:  Currently we're dead last in the Big XII in conference
hitting, by a ways (.230 average, 2nd worst is .242).  We're last in On base
percentage. We're 2nd to last in runs scored.  2nd to last in doubles.
We're the only team without a triple in league play (2nd lowest is 3).
We're last in RBI, 3rd to last in walks, 2nd to last in stolen bases and
attemps.

8] Pitching Stats: We're 3rd to last in ERA (4.70).  4th to last in
strikeouts.  Last in Homeruns given up. 3rd to last in walks per 9.

9] Excuses:  We've all heard them. We're young (for the 3rd year in a row I
might add, and who is in charge of recruiting??).  I have too much integrity
to over-sign.  We've had a lot of opportunities and have had some bad luck.
Etc, etc, etc.

10] Leadership issues: I'm not going too far into this, but I'll list a
couple.  First, he sat Jake Mort on "Jake Mort Day", Jake was one of the
most blue-collar hard working players ever to put on a Husker uniform.
Second, the motto of the team that was his 'crowning achievement' (2005) was
(paraphrasing) "F____ him, we'll win anyway".  Third, other teams gave him
the nickname of "Jekyll and Hyde" and would say, "I wonder which coach will
show up today"....I could go on. 

Alright, I could keep going, but if I haven't convinced you yet, I probably
won't.

All I'm asking is to take a few seconds out of your day and care.

--
Skylar

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