--Baseball head coach Randy Mazey said his team was looking pretty good and doing well in their mid-week games before things shut down. They were almost at the Pittsburgh airport and decided to turn things around prior to that Texas Tech series and at first they thought it was going to be just a couple series but it kept going and we all know what happened after that.
--Mazey said the players are trying to stay safe and be at home to do their part not to spread the virus. He told them that the number one philosophy they need to have was to be prepared. They had to be prepared for it and do their part with personal hygiene and social distancing. They want to make sure when they look back at this that they learned something from the experience.
--Mazey said that that he hears he has the salt and pepper look going on but it's way more salt and he is going for the Sean Connery distinguished look. You have to have balance in your life right now because if you don't you'll go crazy. He's a family guy and he's spent every day with his wife and kids so they've been going out doors and doing a lot of other stuff. This is the first time he's been able to spend an Easter Sunday with his wife and kids and he's really enjoying that aspect.
--It's not a time to push an agenda with health and safety being the primary concern but Mazey has been a proponent of starting the season later. If all the conferences ever entertained that thought then he was ready to show them it was possible. If people come to down to see the football game, then a lot of people would want to watch baseball which could improve crowds. One of the biggest crowds they have is always on the day of the spring football game. When all of this is over and there is a sense of normalcy, he does think that it could be revisited.
--Mazey said as baseball coaches not knowing what the team looks like they are in the business of managing rosters. They had a coaches meeting to figure out how they will pull it off. The decision that was made by the committee to bring everybody back for a year including the seniors was good but it does present a lot of challenges. This year won't be an issue, but moving forward it will be harder to navigate the roster. They need to look at the limits past that one year to help with some of those decisions that are going to have to be made.
--His coaches do a great job of getting on the road and signing kids. They are hammering the phones and talking to kids but they were in good shape going into it. The 2021 recruiting class was to replace the junior class that was going to leave but isn't leaving now because of the all new draft rules that they think could be in place with shortening it.
--Mazey believes that baseball is as strong as it's ever been. There has been 150 college baseball programs out there that aren't even fully funded scholarship wise by the schools. When half the teams across the country don't even fully allot their scholarships they still have a long way to go.
--All the seniors are excited to come back but they are all guys that could sign free agent contracts. Who knows what the future is going to hold but right now they are in a waiting game trying to stay in shape and see what happens. Mazey said he would like to have all three seniors back if possible.
--Right now they don't know anything about the MLB Draft. It could get pushed back, could be shortened rounds so there is just a lot of uncertainty. There is no idea if it could be virtual or what could happen when looking at those roster decisions. There's a lot of juniors and seniors that could make decisions so you have to cover your bases. There are probably going to be five to six guys on the team that weren't going to be in the draft was the same so that creates some issues with the roster management but on the flip side you'll have those players on your team.
--Mazey said the players are trying to stay safe and be at home to do their part not to spread the virus. He told them that the number one philosophy they need to have was to be prepared. They had to be prepared for it and do their part with personal hygiene and social distancing. They want to make sure when they look back at this that they learned something from the experience.
--Mazey said that that he hears he has the salt and pepper look going on but it's way more salt and he is going for the Sean Connery distinguished look. You have to have balance in your life right now because if you don't you'll go crazy. He's a family guy and he's spent every day with his wife and kids so they've been going out doors and doing a lot of other stuff. This is the first time he's been able to spend an Easter Sunday with his wife and kids and he's really enjoying that aspect.
--It's not a time to push an agenda with health and safety being the primary concern but Mazey has been a proponent of starting the season later. If all the conferences ever entertained that thought then he was ready to show them it was possible. If people come to down to see the football game, then a lot of people would want to watch baseball which could improve crowds. One of the biggest crowds they have is always on the day of the spring football game. When all of this is over and there is a sense of normalcy, he does think that it could be revisited.
--Mazey said as baseball coaches not knowing what the team looks like they are in the business of managing rosters. They had a coaches meeting to figure out how they will pull it off. The decision that was made by the committee to bring everybody back for a year including the seniors was good but it does present a lot of challenges. This year won't be an issue, but moving forward it will be harder to navigate the roster. They need to look at the limits past that one year to help with some of those decisions that are going to have to be made.
--His coaches do a great job of getting on the road and signing kids. They are hammering the phones and talking to kids but they were in good shape going into it. The 2021 recruiting class was to replace the junior class that was going to leave but isn't leaving now because of the all new draft rules that they think could be in place with shortening it.
--Mazey believes that baseball is as strong as it's ever been. There has been 150 college baseball programs out there that aren't even fully funded scholarship wise by the schools. When half the teams across the country don't even fully allot their scholarships they still have a long way to go.
--All the seniors are excited to come back but they are all guys that could sign free agent contracts. Who knows what the future is going to hold but right now they are in a waiting game trying to stay in shape and see what happens. Mazey said he would like to have all three seniors back if possible.
--Right now they don't know anything about the MLB Draft. It could get pushed back, could be shortened rounds so there is just a lot of uncertainty. There is no idea if it could be virtual or what could happen when looking at those roster decisions. There's a lot of juniors and seniors that could make decisions so you have to cover your bases. There are probably going to be five to six guys on the team that weren't going to be in the draft was the same so that creates some issues with the roster management but on the flip side you'll have those players on your team.