I'd love to bring in Jamey Shouppe as the next head coach for the UCF Baseball program. He had over 20 years experience at Florida State, coached USA Baseball, great recruiter with an abundant of ties to the state of Florida and Nationally. Not to mention what he has done at Florida A&M in 3 years with hardly any scholarships or resources is nothing short of amazing. He's made them into a strong program and bringing in recruits that can go anywhere. He's got the #19 first baseman in the country going to FAMU! He'd build UCF into a national contender with CWS aspirations quickly. That's my choice obviously for the next UCF head cosch.
Shouppe for UCF Baseball
- Thread starter TnNole
- Start date
Recruiting dipped and so did the FSU program when Shouppe left. UCF could and should be a monster program with the location, winnable conference and recruits within arms reach of UCF. Of course I'd want that for UCF no matter where I'm from.
David and Rick Eckstein both went Seminole High School over in Sanford. I graduated and played ball at Seminole myself and have seen first hand Rick's coaching in person. His knowledge of baseball is off the charts. He was a hitting coach for the Washington Nationals and before spring training each and every year he ran a small exclusive training camp for the pro's on my high school field. Guys like David Eckstein, Gary Scheffield, and others would come just to work with Rick. And when he was done working with them, he would come over and coach us high schoolers. He will be a head coach at a either a college or Pro level. I guarantee it.
We need a guy that knows the area and can recruit high school talent. It is ridiculous with all Lake Brantley's D-1 talent or West Orange that we can't get some of them to stay around. I get that some want to leave and enjoy a different location, but man this area is loaded with talent. No reason to be sub .500 by 7 or 8 games. I'm willing to give coaches a chance, hell I would of given Donnie one more year. Roney has had 8 years in a sport much easier to compete because of our location. We also end up with a ton of home games too which makes it worse to lay an egg.
Local talent is important but the issue is getting talent. I agree that we should get our share of local players, but you cannot fault those local guys for heading to SEC and ACC schools. I was watching Ole Miss the other day and at one point in the game they had Fontes-Deland, Bortles-Oviedo, Woodman-Edgewater, Blackman-Lake Brantley and the young right fielder (cannot recall his name) from Trinity Prep all on the field at the same time. I realize that Ole Miss has a Central Florida connection now and they will be tough to break. They also have a fantastic home crowd that supports that team. The UCF baseball atmosphere is not close to any of these SEC and ACC schools but the atmosphere can change when the team wins and goes to regionals. I hope that UCF gets the right guys in here and that success follows them.
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