Delusional In Stillwater?
Oklahoma media just keep reporting that UH baseball coach Rayner Noble is a finalist for Oklahoma State's baseball head coaching position, along with Cal-State Fullerton's coach.
I've expressed amazement at the wishful thinking over Rayner Noble in private emails, but I'll express amazement publicly now. OSU had a fine baseball tradition under Gary Ward in the old Big Eight, back when OU occasionally had a good team and the rest of the conference couldn't beat a little league softball team. Even then, OSU didn't have great facilities. Now, with the addition of superior programs in Texas via the creation of the Big 12 and the emergence of Nebraska as a baseball power, OSU is a second-tier program in its conference in terms of recent performance, facilities, investment, and even geography (the Texas schools simply have a leg up in baseball, because of weather and proximity to talent and other Texas schools that can be scheduled for mid-week, RPI-boosting games).
So, why would Rayner Noble leave Houston and his situation for that?
He has better facilities in Houston (Cougar Field and the accompanying sports complex next door trump tired Reynolds Stadium). He has better financial support in Houston (thank you, John Moores!). He is a Texas guy. He is a Houston baseball All-American. And he has built a competitive program with a good reputation (which, incidentally, may be part of the reason UH got in the NCAA tourney this year with a worse record than OSU's).
The only advantage OSU holds is Gary Ward's tradition (which, frankly, is not the University of Texas's tradition -- hence UT's ability to go hire Augie Garrido) and a slightly stronger conference. Even on that last, the actual strength of the Big 12 in baseball, top to bottom, isn't that much greater than C-USA (5 Big 12 tourney teams this year, 4 C-USA tourney teams), although there is certainly a gap in prestige. And whatever slight advantage the Big 12 might have is negated by the fact that Houston can schedule stronger opponents mid-week and boost its RPI because of geographical location (Rice, A&M, Baylor, UT are all fixtures on the UH midweek schedule).
So, why does OSU think it can hire Rayner Noble away from home?
I could ask the same thing about a coach who's in a program that always seems to find a way to make it to the CWS (Fullerton), but I'll let the Fullerton baseball bloggers (if there are any) take up that topic.
I would advise OSU to look to the northeast a bit to Keith Guttin at SMSU, who always manages to have a competitive program, and made the CWS this year for the first time. Guttin has done it without much in the way of facilities, financial commitment, or geography so far, although he may not want to move once construction is finished on Hammons Field
[Posted at 20:54 CST on 06/18/03] [Link]
