Texas Baseball Coaching Search**Updated with David Pierce Hire**

[UTK66]

Just wondering how many of these guys who say they are not interested in Texas have actually had any contact with Texas?

Good question. I know they are all using it to get themselves a raise, that's for sure.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

I would say it's wrapped up in the next couple of weeks.  Here's how I see it, and mind you I could be completely off base.

Texas has met with Savage.  If he was "THE guy" we would have already inked the contract. 

Instead, we have talked to Mainieri, (albeit by his request,) and Casey. 

I also think that there still may be a dark horse in the mix.  I don't have any idea who that may be, but at this point it would not surprise me. 

Now, it could very easily be something that's done tomorrow, but I could also see Texas waiting to announce until during the CWS, (which begins in earnest on Saturday.)  Not sure why I think that, but it seems that would be something that's done to get the news out there when there are eyes on the college baseball world. 

I'm just not sure how or when this all plays out.  That is highly dependent upon who else we want to interview, whether they're still playing in Omaha, and whether we were blown away by Casey.  I don't see Savage as the guy, otherwise it would be done by now, in my opinion. 

I'm not convinced that Texas's #1 target has been eliminated from consideration yet.

 

[java]

I'm not either, NTG.

 

[North Texas Golfer]

I'm not either, NTG.

I'm also not convinced that this isn't already a done deal. 

 

[TexCoyote]

I'm also not convinced that this isn't already a done deal. 

Who do u think it might be?

 

[North Texas Golfer]

Who do u think it might be?

O'Sullivan.

 

[Daniel Seahorn]

I'm content to just let things play out at this point. This one has been all over the map.

 

[DMAC]

This has been hilarious.  

Its McDonnel, nah

its O'Sullivan, nah

its Pierce nah,

its Maineri nah,

its Savage nah

and now its coming full circle back to O'Sullivan.  

 

[North Texas Golfer]

This has been hilarious.  

Its McDonnel, nah

its O'Sullivan, nah

its Pierce nah,

its Maineri nah,

its Savage nah

and now its coming full circle back to O'Sullivan.  

We don't know for sure that it was "nah" for anyone. 

I really doubt that Texas has truly offered more than one candidate. 

All of these reports of coaches turning down Texas are nothing more than some coaches "saving face" when they realize that Texas was never that interested in them. 

 

[Randolph Duke]

This has been hilarious.

Its McDonnel, nah

its O'Sullivan, nah

its Pierce nah,

its Maineri nah,

its Savage nah

and now its coming full circle back to O'Sullivan.

Help me understand how a this works. Is it just you and Perrin who talk to the candidates, or are others also in on the conversations? Do you talk to any agents before you talk to the candidates? I've never been in touch with someone who is directly involved with a coaching search at UT prior to you.
And by the way, seeing how you have personal knowledge of Mike Perrin's private conversations, I heard Perrin also talked to Bill McRaven last week. What was that conversation all about?

 

[joeywa]

11:10 PM UPDATE 6/17/16

I want to give y'all an update and get everyone up to speed.

A quick recap since the narrative seems to be that we have been turned down over and over again.

This is what I have heard/know. It may not be 100% accurate but it is what I've concluded after putting several different pieces together. This is pretty darned close to spot on.

• Corbin-staying at Vandy after the tragic loss of one of their players on the eve of their first regional game. (No Texas offer)
• O'Connor-staying at UVA; likes where he is and wanted to take his name out of the hat (No Texas offer)
• O'Sullivan-has stated publicly that he's staying at UF, (which is what I'd expect a CWS coach to say while his team is still playing.) After being promised several things from UF AD Foley, Foley announces his retirement. O'Sullivan has signed a new contract, and is therefore off the table. (No Texas offer)
• Mainieri-Contacted Texas expressing interest. Texas flew out to visit and gauge interest level. Mainieri leaked this to his agent, and then, (I believe,) leaked that he turned down UTs offer, (which there was no UT offer.) When called on this, he changed the story and said he has not been offered and LSU gave him a raise. This one was a ploy to get a raise. (No Texas offer)
• Casey-UT representatives were in Portland yesterday to interview Casey. Things went extremely well. An offer was extended. Casey is deep rooted in Oregon, lived here his entire life. He is not going to uproot his family and head to Austin. He didn't publicly announce that he had turned down any offer, merely that he is staying in Corvallis. (Definite Texas offer)
• Savage-Interviewed both in SoCal and in Austin (I believe.) My guess is that he was a backup plan, otherwise he'd be under contract at UT now. When Casey declined, we extended an offer to him. Today, after learning of the Casey interview, he pulls his name from the hat for consideration. What I've been told is that he's bitter we interviewed Casey. Savage does not particularly care for Casey and must've felt it was a slap in the face. (Definite Texas offer)

So, when you lay it out like this, our offer has been turned down by two-Pat Casey & John Savage. While the pitchfork and torch crowd would have you believe we have been made a fool of, I don't see it that way.
I think this plays in our favor. I think we will get a very good head coach. If I could make the media stay the heck out of it, I would. I think they are an AD's/Coaching Search's worst nightmare.

We should get someone before the end of the CWS. This could happen early next week or it could take two to three weeks. The good thing is that our 2016 class is in place and I don't see a new coach coming to The 40 and trying to completely clean house.

I know this is probably clear as mud, and offers you no indication as to who we're targeting, but that's all I've got.

 

[NWAHorn]

My pick is still Spike Owen, a Texas legend both at the prep level, UT and a decent MLB career.

 

[java]

That's possible, Joey, but in reading one of the articles about him, it was quite clear that, at least in the past, he hasn't seen himself retiring as a coach, but as an administrator. Oregon State provided for that in his contract, but we are looking for a Coach. as I mentioned before, he is impressive, but it could be that the timing was wrong.

I'm beginning to think we may have our man and all of this is a smokescreen. Everyone expects us to fly around and talk to candidates, but Casey knew he wasn't leaving Oregon State. I would also be willing to be that Perrin knew Meinieri (sp?) was just looking for a raise from LSU before the interview. If we've already got our man locked down, who cares?

I know for a fact that when Gary Barnett interviewed for the Head Football Coaching position with us, he was certain he had it. He was on his way to the airport to meet Texas (where he had every intention of signing a contract) with agent in tow. He got a call from a higher up with Texas, was told we had decided to go another way, and could withdraw his name from contention if he chose.

I was on the phone with someone involved when it happened.

That's just the way we handle these things.

 

[joeywa]

That's possible, Joey, but in reading one of the articles about him, it was quite clear that, at least in the past, he hasn't seen himself retiring as a coach, but as an administrator. Oregon State provided for that in his contract, but we are looking for a Coach. as I mentioned before, he is impressive, but it could be that the timing was wrong.

I'm beginning to think we may have our man and all of this is a smokescreen. Everyone expects us to fly around and talk to candidates, but Casey knew he wasn't leaving Oregon State. I would also be willing to be that Perrin knew Meinieri (sp?) was just looking for a raise from LSU before the interview. If we've already got our man locked down, who cares?

I know for a fact that when Gary Barnett interviewed for the Head Football Coaching position with us, he was certain he had it. He was on his way to the airport to meet Texas (where he had every intention of signing a contract) with agent in tow. He got a call from a higher up with Texas, was told we had decided to go another way, and could withdraw his name from contention if he chose.

I was on the phone with someone involved when it happened.

That's just the way we handle these things.

While I understand what you're saying, you can take my comments at face value in this instance. There was more than one double take when Casey declined.

Regarding Mainieri, the leak was from his perch. Only a handful of folks knew about it from our side and they weren't talking, and most certainly not to the media or to agents. The leak of the meeting came from the agent circles the way I understand it.

We don't have our guy locked up yet, and quite honestly, there is still some candidate vetting to do. I'm confident we will have a fine coach when it's all said and done. I'm of the opinion that we just pour us a cocktail, sit back and enjoy some baseball over the weekend, and try not to burn this place down in the meantime.

 

[Daniel Seahorn]

Good stuff Joey. Sucks that Savage got into his feelings over someone else getting an interview for the job.

 

[joeywa]

Good stuff Joey. Sucks that Savage got into his feelings over someone else getting an interview for the job.

In corporate America, very rarely do you interview only one person for a position. You vet several candidates and choose the best fit for your organization. Sometimes it's not the person you thought it would be when the interviews begin. I would think this would be common knowledge. Maybe not.

 

[Daniel Seahorn]

In corporate America, very rarely do you interview only one person for a position. You vet several candidates and choose the best fit for your organization. Sometimes it's not the person you thought it would be when the interviews begin. I would think this would be common knowledge. Maybe not.

Totally agree. He had to know that Texas would cast a wide net here and that they would go after the best candidates possible.

 

[The Bry-Man81]

Help me understand how a this works. Is it just you and Perrin who talk to the candidates, or are others also in on the conversations? Do you talk to any agents before you talk to the candidates? I've never been in touch with someone who is directly involved with a coaching search at UT prior to you.

And by the way, seeing how you have personal knowledge of Mike Perrin's private conversations, I heard Perrin also talked to Bill McRaven last week. What was that conversation all about?

Calm down dude... He never claimed to have inside knowledge. He was just making a comment on how the whole has played out with respect to what's been made public. What's been made public may be either fact or fiction, but in public, his post describes exactly what we've all seen. And, tbh, it's pretty funny that all these names are coming out and none of us really know how legit those names are in our search.

 

[Randolph Duke]

Calm down dude... He never claimed to have inside knowledge. He was just making a comment on how the whole has played out with respect to what's been made public. What's been made public may be either fact or fiction, but in public, his post describes exactly what we've all seen. And, tbh, it's pretty funny that all these names are coming out and none of us really know how legit those names are in our search.

What amazes me during high level coaching searches is how the naivete of some becomes clearly evident as does the total ignorance of others (cough*Saban*cough).

The reality is that Mike Perrin is leading this process and exactly none of the people professing to know who Perrin has talked to and everything Perrin has discussed knows anything about Mike Perrin or how he does business.

Some people act as if Perrin is calling prospective coaches on the phone, asking "Would you like to be head baseball coach at Texas?" and waiting for an immediate answer. No high level hire is performed by the employer asking someone if they want the job and shoving a contract in their face to sign. Over at BON they have a writer named Jack Keyes banging out headlines like "Texas baseball coach search facing trouble" and "John Savage will not the be the next baseball coach at Texas." Jack Keyes is an 18 year old college freshman. He knows nothing. He has zero inside information. Yet people see what he writes and immediately they start banging out comments about how Texas can't find a coach, based on they read something on the interweb, and of course nothing can be on the interweb unless it is true (cough*Saban*cough). Even if it comes from a clueless 18 year kid with no sources.

There is no way UT is going to announce a coaching hire until the College World Series kicks off. I seriously doubt there is any interest in announcing a new coach until 30 minutes before the championship game. If you want your program to be in the spotlight when it isn't in the spotlight, you wait until the spotlight is turned on and then you do something that gets the spotlight diverted to your program. This is simple marketing. Anyone interested in college baseball will be watching the CWS championship game. THAT is when you want to make the announcement, when the ardent followers of the sport are paying attention. How can people not understand this?

Someone was mocking UT, commenting how Texas was supposedly not going to retain a search firm, but now that they can't find a coach, the university has been forced to retain a search firm. Bullshit.

Anyone who has done any negotiating or any sales work knows "no" is just an opening negotiating position. Coaches have families and spouses. Coaches need to discuss matters with assistant coaches. Assistant coaches have families and spouses. For any high level hire, there are a lot of moving parts that need to be considered and factored into the discussion. People can be hesitant. People need time to think. People need time to decide. And sometimes people need to negotiate or be convinced by someone like Mike Perrin.

As for the search firm, exactly who inside Bellmont is qualified to vet the background of a candidate as well as the proposed assistants properly? Does anyone think we have people with that skill set just sitting around on the payroll, or do people think that when we get to the point we need to vet candidates, we call in professionals? The search firm that was hired, has anyone seen the engagement memorandum? I didn't think so.

Mike Perrin knows how to negotiate and he knows how to respect confidences. Yes, those on the other side may talk freely, but I don't think Mike is going to be talking much with candidates who run to the press every time they got off the phone with Mike because those are the exact type of candidates who will run to the press, leaking inside information if they were to be hired. Perrin isn't the one leaking information and anyone on the other side of negotiations running to the press isn't the right guy for the UT job. It's that simple. And if Perrin isn't talking and the candidates we truly want aren't talking, where is all this "100% certain" information coming from? Usually from people like 18 year freshman with jobs writing for blogs, but no real sources.

I'm content to laugh at those who think they know everything that is going on, because they read it on the interweb and the interweb can only contain information that is true (cough*Saban*cough). If there is no coaching hire three or four days past the CWS championship game, I will begin to wonder. Until them, just sit back and let the process work itself out. Highly competent people are in charge of this process. There has been nothing to make me think the process is not moving along and that we will have the coach we want by the end of the CWS.

 

[Johnstark23]

My pick is still Spike Owen, a Texas legend both at the prep level, UT and a decent MLB career.

I can't understand this thinking. Yeah Spike played here but he spent 1 year as a minor league manager. That's all the head coaching experience he has. Why would you hire someone with no head coaching experience?