Come Back Shooter

I don’t know too much about college baseball- so forgive me if I decline to opine on the merits of the inclusion of Tulane versus Baylor in the NCAA Tournament.

But I do know something about the nature and purpose of Division I sports. And Tulane’s failure to make this tournament is unacceptable. Considering the investments and salaries made in this baseball program, failing to make the tournament two years in three- and being a bubble outfit last year- is multi-year institutional failure.

I’m only a casual fan- but even I know the program has slipped enormously. Even I can see that frankly the only difference between three years of mediocrity is Shooter Hunt in a few big spots.

With the money and resources they spent here- for a boutique program with 2% of the visibility of men's football- it has to get better. Now.

It is run like a yogwf fantasy demanded by a certain sub-sector of the alumni who are willing to put their parochial baseball interest over the flagship men's programs. Mind you, I'm fine with that; it is their money. But the corollary is, if you demand funding for a secondary project, it had better work. All those bleating for this new stadium and associated baseball nonsense- while pounding those of us who pointed out this boutique sport was taking real monies away from actual Division I activities of relevance- had better man up and get this fixed.

Again, I’m no expert- but from browsing the chats and web sites the problems listed are making me crazy. The first is “Guys got drafted”. Heavens. This is a big money coach- if he can’t manage the roster and talent acquisition, then why is Tulane paying him all this money?

The second and third issues seem to be the growing domination (fair or unfair) of a BCS-style cartel at the expense of Leagues like C-USA coupled with the willingness of cartel schools to recruit and run-off surplus talent circumventing the scholarship limits.

Beats me. But if this is truly the case: college baseball is heading to a "have" and "have not" situation currently representative of college basket ball and football- and then Tulane is further numbered among the “have nots”. Well, then someone who we trust to guide this program has messed up- and made a huge multi-million dollar bad investment in facilities and coaches that peobably can't succede. Investments that go sour in the millions of dollar range demand accountability.