I loved growing up with Ron Polk at third, but now that they make them wear helmets, I don't want my head coach out there looking like a little boy.
Justin Parker Staying on as Pitching Coach
- Thread starter hatfieldms
- Start date
Parker wasn't the problem. Lem and Foxhall's missed and lazy evals were the problem. And we now appear to have an elite recruiting team, as well as an elite HC
I bet you could get a lot of ice cream in that helmet***
I never understood any of the dislike of Parker. Stats tell a success story everywhere he's been. Drew Dickinson has doem some good stuff, too. But not as much and at as many places as Parker.
I'm very happy to have Coach Parker back!
I'm very happy to have Coach Parker back!
This guy was my #1 favorite. And after eating my plate of crow.....I had posted something to the effect that" we should load up the Brinks truck full of cash, drive to Nashville and back it up to Tim Corbin's house and make him say '"no". Then, drive to Knoxville and make Vitello say "no", then finally drive to Charlottesville and show the cash to Brian O'Conner". Then I said there's no way any of these 3 would ever leave where they are to come to Starkvegas so we should just go after Butch, Mingione, or some other mid major coach and be happy with it. To my surprise BOC took us up on the offer (however it went down). Any one of my first 3 here would have been Home Run hires. I guess my third Home Run choice took the bait. BTW.....I'm starting to crow after eating some!
Which is pretty interesting in and of itself, because Dickinson is a damn good pitching coach. UVA had the lowest team ERA in the ACC, and the 10th lowest in the country.
That tells me a few things:
1) BOC thinks VERY highly of Parker
2) Because of #1 above, BOC maybe didn’t want to risk losing Parker to another gig just to bring Dickinson with him, only to have Dickinson turn around and accept the UVA head coaching job days later.
or
3) Dickinson decided on his own to not join BOC in Starkville, in attempt to pursue the UVA HC job more directly, or at least stay on staff with the new HC there even if he doesn’t get the job.
No, no, noooo on Corbin! That would likely have been a disaster for us. His success at Vandy came only when Opportunity Vanderbilt was put in place.
They had the biggest advantage in the SEC & maybe the entire country. They never had to worry about splitting schollies. They could give out free tuition to anybody they wanted. Hell, if they wanted they could even give free tuition beyond roster limits as long as they didn't officially add them.
How do you think they really managed to have such tremendous depth, particularly with pitching? Corbin's record before Opportunity Vanderbilt was mediocre at best. We would have backed up the truck and been straddled with that for years.
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Dickinson literally said he was "blind-sided by it all", but yes, he is going for the HC job and has already interviewed with their AD.
Parker has had similar success at multiple schools. And what he's accomplished vs SEC teams is more impressive than what DD has vs the ACC, this year notwithstanding.
I never had any dislike for Parker but I thought O'Connor really wanted Muscara. Hopefully with better recruiting Parker will knock it out of the park.
I’ve read that O’Conner and Dickinson were ready to part ways and O’Conner was preparing to bring Muscara to Virginia before we entered the picture. I’ve read a lot of stuff though.
Nobody knows who O’Connor really wanted. Maybe he did really want Muscara. Or maybe somebody just posted some wild a$$ speculation and everyone ran with it. Kendall Rogers posted today that there’s a reason they didn’t run with that story when everyone else was & not to believe everything you hear. Whatever really happened I think it’s safe to say O’Connor didn’t settle for someone he doesn’t really want.
For as much love as Gaut got and being on staff for years he didn't get the interim tag. Says a lot about him and Parker too that Parker was chosen. Same when Henderson was chosen.
Respectively, disagree vehemently......Tim Corbin can coach and coach very well. He didn't need the extra help situation that he got in Nashville. He would have gotten them the talent regardless and he would have won big time regardless. He would have been amazing at Miss. State, and so would have Vitello, and now BOC. Any of those 3 would have been major home run hires. Glad we got one of my top 3. I really did not expect BOC to come to Vegas either, but after seeing the money that we ponied up, I see why he jumped at it. I had no idea we would offer that type game-changing money. Some big Cigar Boy must have really popped the cork to get him.
Time to add some more seats. That would easily cover half that salary depending how many you put up and charge. Then add to that actually charging market value for the current seats in a few years and you can cover the whole staff and I imagine more.
Just because he was “blindsided by it all” doesn’t mean that BOC didn’t offer him a spot on the new staff. It only means that he was surprised BOC chose to leave, as I’m sure pretty much everyone else was in Charlottesville after 22 years.
But also, it MIGHT have meant that, because maybe he didn’t want a hanging chad situation with a HC-qualified member of his new staff being put in a tough spot. We simply don’t know.
Regardless, it’s hard to envision any scenario where BOC wasn’t immensely satisfied with the job Dickinson did as his pitching coach. I simply do not believe the reasons for Dickinson not joining the staff are performance-based at all on his end.
I would pick Brian O'Connor over every coach in America. I thought the same in 2018, even though I don't think that was possible. I didn't know it was a possibility this cycle until I was proven wrong.
Best SEC coaches (in no particular order):
- Van Horn - great resume, but 64 years old
- O'Sullivan - great resume, but character issues (and older than O'Connor)
- Johnson - good resume, but not as good as O'Connor's
- Bianco - good resume, but not as good as O'Connor's (and older than O'Connor)
- Vitello - great resume in a short period, but not as long a track record as O'Connor (and personality clash)
- Schlossnagle - great resume, but not as good as O'Connor's (and older than O'Connor)
- Corbin - great resume, but 63 years old
What evidence do you have to suggest Corbin would have been great without the huge advantage he has had? Nothing in his record prior to Opportunity Vanderbilt suggested he was a great coach. It suggested he was average at best.
Have you even bothered to look up his record before he got virtually unlimited scholarships while most everybody else had to split 11.4?
Sorry, but no way I'd be ok with throwing that much money at a guy who has never shown he can win big without that advantage having set him up. That's what happened to us with JoMo. His record as HC at Fordham University suggested he was terrific. But a deeper dive showed he was coaching the only school in his conference that was allowed to offer scholarships! The price they paid was agreeing they could not play in their conference's CG or claim to be conference champs. But Joe's record looked amazing.
Well what would you think our football record would be if we'd been able to play all our conference games vs FCS/Division 3 teams?
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I didn't suggest it was performance-based. I'm sure he's a fine PC, and BOC thought so too. But I also think it's more likely BOC preferred Muscara or Parker. Parker had done as well or better vs tougher competition, and has had similar results at multiple programs, Dickinson's only done so at UVA.
Plus BOC would have known keeping the guy who is already on staff here and is an SEC guy, etc. is another benefit. Finally, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if BOC figured not taking Dickinson with him would set Dickinson up for a shot at HC of UVA.
From an article talking about new coaching candidates at Va.
Drew Dickinson
This one is worth talking about, simply because of the comments he made following Oak’s departure. Having served as the UVA pitching coach since 2020, Dickinson was the lone staff member that was not invited to join O’Connor as Mississippi State, and claimed that he felt “blindsided” by the whole situation.Dickinson publicly started that he has discussed the idea of filling the head coaching vacancy with athletic director Carla Williams. While it appears that Virginia will set their sights higher, this is not as outlandish as it may seem.
Dickinson did have some success as the Cavaliers pitching coach, particularly from 2021-2023 where the staff ranked in the top ten nationally in combined team ERA. Dickinson is well-respected in the industry and his name has previously been thrown around for other high-major head coaching jobs. It is at least worth a discussion.
(no sure if this has been actually posted)
I don't care if they make them wear a big red nose and call them the 3rd base clown as long as we do whatever gives us the best chances of winning.