Re: Brads impact on our entire athletic department, as well as Clemson as a whole

DougKingsmoreCrusade

Orange Blooded [2333]

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Multiple things can be true at once

Jun 4, 2024, 12:46 AM

I think that having Jack Leggett back with the team is great for Clemson baseball. I thought the way he got fired was wrong and that whole situation was handled very poorly. Coaching lineage has always been an extremely important part of Clemson baseball ever since its inception. And it has been extremely successful. Bill Wilhelm first brought the program to prominence, and of course he had a very lengthy tenure. He was then directly succeeded by Leggett, who was one of Wilhelm's assistants. Leggett then had a long and successful career as the head man at Clemson himself, and produced an incredible coaching tree including the likes Tim Corbin, Kevin O'Sullivan, and Erik Bakich, among many others. At one time 1/3 of all SEC baseball head coaches were former Leggett assistants.

Now I do understand why some people had soured on him by the end of his tenure. The inability to win a college world series despite all the appearances has always been the big sticking point with Clemson baseball. The 6 postseason losses to the coots were really tough to take. And the failure to get out of a regional after 2010 was very frustrating. Having said that, firing Jack to then hire a mediocre coach from College of Charleston who had coot associations and no connection to the Clemson coaching tree seemed very questionable. It has also been rumored that the move hindered Clemson's coaching search, because many of the elite former Leggett assistants who would have otherwise been prime candidates were unwilling to take the Clemson job at the time out of respect for Jack.

And we all saw what happened under Monte. He had 3 good regular seasons (and 1 ACC tournament championship) using what were primarily Leggett's players. But he couldn't win a regional. And after those first 3 years, the team steadily declined until Monte was canned after missing the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year in 2022, and unprecedentedly bad performance for Clemson. The Leggett firing was one of several remarkably bad decisions made by Dan Radakovich, like trying to cut the men's track team and signing the GOR. I believe that Radakovich leaving was a blessing for Clemson, especially considering what a great job Graham Neff has done in his stead.

Neff made it a priority to restore the severed relationship with Leggett, which was instrumental in bringing in Bakich. In case there was any doubt, Erik made his feelings towards Jack quite clear in his opening press conference. This Greenville News piece did a great job covering it: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/sports/college/clemson/2022/06/17/clemson-baseball-jack-leggett-erik-bakich/7655255001/ Bakich made it very plain how much he respected Jack and wanted him to be involved in the program again. I think that's very important to remember.

All in all, I believe what the Bakich hire was exactly the right move. It restored the relationship with Leggett and the Clemson coaching lineage while simultaneously giving the program a fresh start and an energetic new leader. Bakich is a relatively young coach who isn't stuck in the past and knows what it takes to win in modern college baseball. But he also still has respect for tradition and the older aspects of the game, and he's very knowledgeable of the history of Clemson baseball because he was a part of it once before he returned. He isn't one of these Gabe Kapler types who falls so in love with modern analytics that he completely loses sight of common sense and makes terrible in-game decisions.

The bottom line is this: Having Leggett back with the program is important, and I truly believe he's had a positive influence on the team since his return. But Bakich also deserves his own credit independent of Leggett, and he deserves the majority of the credit for the success in '23 and '24. We shouldn't let our appreciation for Jack take away from Erik's remarkable accomplishments thus far in his brief tenure.

Also, the Tigers didn't win the ACC regular season. North Carolina did. Clemson was second.

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Having JL active in the program is a GOOD thing for Clemson baseball. Having him understand his role and stay inside those lines is a GREAT thing and takes a HC that is very confident in himself. Most coaches would not want a former hall of fame HC, let alone a former HC from their new job, looking over their shoulder every day.
I think CB and JL have a very special relationship and it shows. I also think JL has mellowed over the last few years and is thoroughly enjoying this new chapter in his life. It's great to see him loosen up a bit.
I would have paid good money to hear his conversation with Coach Gilmore after the game Sunday. I know there is a ton of mutual respect between those two.
CB was on Mickey Plyler's show this morning stating how he wants his teams to play free and loose. Act like the 10-year-old versions of themselves that fell in love with the game. That is the antithesis of JLs teams. Especially his post season teams. They played sooo TIGHT you could see it on their faces.
On a side note, I am so grateful Neff chose CB and not Corbin. I think Corbin would have been a nightmare at Clemson with his rigidity. I think the game may be starting to pass him by and CB is just getting started.

Jack Leggett returns and we have our best season in over a decade.

Re: Jack Leggett returns and we have our best season in over a decade.

Brads impact on our entire athletic department, as well as Clemson as a whole

Wow, never seen you attack coach Brownell like this