Justin Parker Staying on as Pitching Coach
- Thread starter hatfieldms
- Start date
I’m okay with it. I would expect pitching recruiting to improve with BOC leading the program.
Works for me. We’ll be fine pulling quality arms and bats with the staff we’ve assembled. Future is bright.
I'm very surprised about this. Usually these coaches like to clean house and get their own guys in there. Maybe this would have been one of his top choices either way, and I like Parker alot. I just never saw him as one of the top pitching coaches in the nation. Maybe he is, I just have not seen it that way for the past few years. I was hoping to create an entirely new identity and team chemistry that we did not have the past few years, and that means you have to clean house. I'll trust BOS on the decisions he makes though.
Good for him though, he nailed it at the end of this season keeping this program afloat and did a hell of a job.
Kinda makes me wonder if the Wake head coach is on his way out or on a short leash and Muscara is being told he's the replacement.
Yeah. This looks like O'Connor thought he had someone and the deal fell through for whatever reason.
Is Parker the only coach on the new staff with SEC experience?
Parker wasn't the problem the last few years. He is well liked by the team, just gotta get better players. Plus BOC knows pitching so that will help.
Any speculation if the WF guy turned us down or simple as BOC and JP hit it off and likes what he's seen?
Interesting move and makes me wonder a little about some of the pitchers that went in the portal. Hard to know if they knew this was coming but assume so?
Obviously would be great to be a fly on the wall just to see/hear how all this stuff goes down.
ETA - missed the speculation above.
Interesting move and makes me wonder a little about some of the pitchers that went in the portal. Hard to know if they knew this was coming but assume so?
Obviously would be great to be a fly on the wall just to see/hear how all this stuff goes down.
ETA - missed the speculation above.
Last edited:
I trust Oak and his decisions.
Yeah. With O'Connor's pitching coach background, I'm not concerned at all about who the pitching coach is. But it's kind of weird to have the interim go back to being a position coach. Potential for some friction there, but if O'Connor and Parker are fine with it, I'm OK with it. You've got to think Parker could have found a decent job somewhere if he had wanted to.
I assume JP may be getting on the horn with Dotson and Stevens later this afternoon.
And I hope Ace is one of the players who loves Parker.
And I hope Ace is one of the players who loves Parker.
#metoo. At least Parker always looked like he knew what he was doing, while Lem looked lost
He definitely wasn't the problem in 2023.
Parker knew he wasn’t getting the job so that may have made it easier. I’m trusting BOC to make the decisions. Hopefully this wasn’t a case of outside pressure helping to keep Parker.
I think Parker already has a
I suspect if that was the case, O'Connor would have just said FU and hired who he wanted to hire anyway.
Parker is smart staying mainly because of BOC and his experience. If nothing else it should help his resume and I don't think Parker has an ego plus his demeanor seems to be very good.
I stand by what I said back on April 1st when some people were saying to clean house completely.
If we’d hired a younger guy with limited experience no way that guy would’ve kept Parker, but with O’Connor’s resume, I can see why keeping him on isn’t an issue for him.
He’s still in his 30s I believe. He understands that a couple/few years under O’Connor will only bolster his resume when his time comes.
Remember, Lemonis was not fired for anything that happened while Parker was in Starkville.
I realize we had a lot of injuries, but 2022-2023 was probably the worst pitching in the history of State baseball:
I realize we had a lot of injuries, but 2022-2023 was probably the worst pitching in the history of State baseball:
- 2022 SEC games (9-21) - 7.47 ERA
- 2023 SEC games (9-21) - 9.54 ERA
- 2024 SEC games (17-13) - 4.68 ERA
- 2024 Charlottesville Regional (2-2) - 4.46 ERA
- 2025 SEC games (15-15) - 5.68 ERA
- 2025 Tallahassee Regional (2-2) - 4.37 ERA
Familiar face with the current recruits, already has working relationship with CC and High School coaches. He probably needs to be rewarded for busting his *** in the final weeks thinking he would not be retained.
I have been a Parker fan from day one. Having watched the painful experience of ‘22. We had a very young staff at the beginning of twenty-five, who grew tougher as the year went along. I was hoping we keep him and his guys, because next year those of the freshmen will ‘beast out’.
From what I’m reading Drew Dickinson isn’t coming, didn’t get the memo that O’Connor was leaving, and is angling for the UVA Head coach job.
I think it’s a great move. Parker is a good coach and gives some continuity. See no issues here.
Agreed. I’m not sure anywhere notable is throwing a head coach gig at him based on a good 3 week run as an interim, but couple that run with a good season next year and he could be on the short list for a number of Power 4 or Sun Belt programs.
There’s no friends or emotions in this stuff anymore. Those guys are making a lot of money, just how it works, ask Don Eladio. Everybody associated has to know this, and they do. The guy is already angling for the job.
And look at Parker - kinda bashed the process the other day, but here he is again happy as a lark now.
Yeah, my point was that he probably didn't discuss it with him because he thought his other options, including Parker, were better.
