The diamond Dogs are back in action this evening, traveling up the road to Clemson. Coming off a series win over the LSU Tigers, the Dogs now face another group of Tigers-Clemson has a season record of 13-9, so they are obviously not the powerhouse Clemson team this year-at least so far. Clemson IS a great baseball school and they lost the WS title to their state rival last year-OUCH. I can't imagine losing the CWS to GT, that would be HORRIBLE. Still, it would be nice to win this game and continue to build some momentum for the Miss State weekend series.
Two of our rivals hired new coaches recently, Tech going with Brian Gregory formely of Dayton University while UT goes with Cuonzo Martin formely of Missouri State. My opinion, well, it means very little but here goes. First of all, Gregory, I think he is a pretty decent coach but I honestly don't see much if any upgrade over Hewitt because even if the guy is a slightly better floor coach, I am not convinced he will be able to recruit very well-let's face it, the knock on Mark Fox was that he was not well known coming from Nevada and it takes time for coaches to build relationships with the AAU guys that basically control recruiting ATL kids. I think Fox now has a lot more street cred, and hopefully that pays off for the 2012 class. For Gregory, he is a mid major coach at a school that loves hoops and I also must say, the Atlantic10 is not a bad basketball conference-we were 0-2 against teams from the A10 this year, Temple and Xavier. That being said, it is NOT as good top to bottom as the confernce he enters and he does not inherit a ton of talent-especially if Shumpert leaves early-he is going to test the NBA waters but not hire an agent yet. I am just not sure Gregory can recruit enough talent to win at GT even if his coaching is better than Hewitt. If you listen to Dayton fans, they were THRILLED for him to be leaving, saying he was not a great coach. Also, his starting point guard is leaving-well was leaving because as the kid said, he didn't think Gregory was developing him as a player. If you look at the guys conference record and oveall record, really not that impressive except for a couple of seasons-one being his first when he made the NCAA and had a 12-4 conference mark. Considering the financial handicap Tech had with the Hewitt contract, this is probably the best guy they could get but certainly I am not overly impressed by this guy and I think this move helps UGA in recruiting the state. I have also heard that Gregory at times had some issues with the academic side at Dayton-ie, players getting into school or staying eligible-just something I heard on the radio this morning. If that is the case, he better really watch out at the institute-you know, the place where it is such a recruiting disadvantage if you listen to Tech officials, alum, fans. Seems they had no problem getting Kenny Anderson, Stephon Marbury, Joe Hamilton and Reggie Ball in school over there-hmmm, interesting.
As for the UT hire, I think Martin is a good choice considering the NCAA cloud over that program. He has not lead his school to an NCAA berth but from all I have heard/read about him, he seems to be a good up and coming coach and I feel like he WILL recruit well. He does NOT have ties to the SE that I am aware so again, this is good for UGA. I do think he will be able to relate to the black kids in the SE, most kids around probably have heard of Big Dog, Glen Robinson whom Martin played with at Purdue-we beat that team btw in Tubby's first year in Athens, in the second round of the NCAA tourney. I hate to bring race into it but I do think that Martin quite possibly could have been a better fit at Tech than at UT. Regardless, Martin is not a bad hire for UT considering what could or could not happen-certainly a great move for Martin as well. The very good recruit from Ga, that had signed with UT, Kevin Ware is still asking for his release even though he might still play for UT. He just wants a chance to think about his options again as Pearl was a big reason he was going to UT. He has mentioned UGA but not sure if we have a spot, I would take him if we could-but then again, UT might not be like we were when Fox came in-granted a full release which means you are free to go to whatever school you choose. A lot of times, a school will grant the release but with restrictions. Martin may end up being a good coach but I have a hard time believing he will be nearly as good as Bruce Pearl.
Bottom line, both hires decent but in my honest opinion, neither any better than the previous coach, in the case of UT, worse than the previous coach. For GT, I call it a wash because I do suspect Gregory might be a better floor coach but in no way do I think he comes close to being as good a recruiter as Hewitt for star quality at least.
Speaking of recruiting, one last bit of infomation, UGA picked up another commitment for the class of 2012 in football when Ty Smith, TE from Colquitt County said he would sign with UGA. He was the top TE on our board from what I have gathered, he is 6'3" 225 and can play a role much like Orson Charles, line up next to the OT or split out. There is one thing we can all agree on, UGA appears to be set up nicely to continue our run as Tight End U. With Charles, White, Figgins, Lynch, Rome all on board, this kid now a verbal, we are set for a long time at that position. Course after this season, we will likely be down to 3-Lynch, Rome and Smith. White and Figgins are both SR's, I fully expect Charles to have a HUGE year and leave for the NFL.
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