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Message
Posted on 6/1/22 at 10:33 pm to sweetwaterbilly
Smoke didn’t understand how to recruit at Lsu.
He could get all these top recruits to sign, but then lose
the majority of his classes to the draft. You should take a chance
on a few guys that might go pro, but not more than half of your class
He could get all these top recruits to sign, but then lose
the majority of his classes to the draft. You should take a chance
on a few guys that might go pro, but not more than half of your class
Posted on 6/1/22 at 10:36 pm to Honest Tune
This is very true. Smoke had too much ego and not enough motivation for players. Overall he was a piece of shite too
Posted on 6/1/22 at 10:42 pm to sweetwaterbilly
He loves Sammy's on Highland
Posted on 6/1/22 at 10:47 pm to sweetwaterbilly
Heard that he was scared to fly or something and made the team ride a bus to South Carolina for a series
Posted on 6/1/22 at 11:04 pm to sweetwaterbilly
When Skip left, Beetle Bailey and Dan C. should have taken over.
Posted on 6/1/22 at 11:06 pm to ProjectP2294
quote:
Let’s not forget him narc’ing to the ncaa on the way out.
A lot of people don't realize, that for a couple of days, that came really close to being really bad. One of my in-laws was an NCAA committee member back then. Skip just had too much pull and LSU was the only true baseball cash cow back then.
Posted on 6/1/22 at 11:18 pm to sweetwaterbilly
I thought he was a good coach. He won multiple conference championships at ULM, although that wasn’t the best predictor of success at LSU. My kids went to his camp in Monroe and he seemed like a great guy. I was disappointed that he didn’t have long-term success at LSU.
Posted on 6/1/22 at 11:19 pm to Cenlabration
quote:
A lot of people don't realize, that for a couple of days, that came really close to being really bad. One of my in-laws was an NCAA committee member back then. Skip just had too much pull and LSU was the only true baseball cash cow back then.
What exactly did he rat about?
Posted on 6/1/22 at 11:24 pm to PP7 for heisman
I can't remember the details, but it had something to do with money from the summer baseball camps and maybe housing for the players? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Posted on 6/1/22 at 11:30 pm to Pistol 23
Smoke was a lazy fat arse.
Posted on 6/2/22 at 12:18 am to sweetwaterbilly
quote:
Every time I see him mentioned it sounds like people weren’t a fan, but wasn’t sure if that was just because he didn’t meet expectations.
He seemed not to give a shite sometimes and other decisions made no sense.
Personal anecdote:
I'm not a prude or nothin but he arrived at a crawfish boil after the 2005 Saturday Game vs Auburn before some of the fans did. It raised a few eyebrows b/c we had a huge game the next day for the series. I remember wondering what the hell he must have said to the team after the game. "Good Job. See yall tomorrow!"?
We lost Sunday btw.
This post was edited on 6/2/22 at 12:19 am
Posted on 6/2/22 at 4:55 am to TigerDM
quote:
Smoke didn’t understand how to recruit at Lsu.
He could get all these top recruits to sign, but then lose
the majority of his classes to the draft. You should take a chance
on a few guys that might go pro, but not more than half of your class
This and other SEC schools started using something similar to TOPS in their states. I've had a few talks with Smoke since he left Toronto Blue Jays. He talked about recruiting and how pro teams recruited against colleges. Giving them more money up front and young kids snapping it up all thinking they would be in the bigs in a few season so smaller salaries didn't bother them.
But recruiting not coaching did him in. Not saying he was the best choice out there. I think hiring Bertman as AD was sketchy.
Posted on 6/2/22 at 5:36 am to josh336
Spoke to a friend who played for skip and smoke.
He said skip was details, details, details. You knew what time to be at breakfast, what outfits he wanted you to wear at breakfast as a team, , what time the bus was leaving, what order to take betting practice etc.
He said smoke was a good baseball coach, but was not meant to manage college players. Would have made a better coach for professionals because he was more relaxed and less regimented. .
He said skip was details, details, details. You knew what time to be at breakfast, what outfits he wanted you to wear at breakfast as a team, , what time the bus was leaving, what order to take betting practice etc.
He said smoke was a good baseball coach, but was not meant to manage college players. Would have made a better coach for professionals because he was more relaxed and less regimented. .
This post was edited on 6/2/22 at 5:41 am
Posted on 6/2/22 at 5:39 am to sweetwaterbilly
quote:
Smoke Laval
Mr. 2 and cue...
Posted on 6/2/22 at 5:55 am to caliegeaux
quote:
He said smoke was a good baseball coach, but was not meant to manage college players.
Cousin that played for him said basically the same thing. Knew baseball as well as anyone. Just could not make decisions for the entire program. Perfect for an assistant coach.
Posted on 6/2/22 at 6:47 am to Honest Tune
quote:
Made Omaha a few times. Skip hand picked him but he also had to fire him. Loves cheese fries.
Made it his first two years, but it was downhill from there. Was not Skip's first choice, Skip at first was grooming his hitting coach whose name escapes me but that guy ended up leaving before the grooming was over.
Then he wanted to hire another former assistant who was then the head coach at Alabama, but Skip still wanted to control his camp money and that guy said no to that arrangement.
So then it was Smoke. Old school baseball guy, loved to go to Sammy's as the story goes, and any other school he probably lasted a few years longer that here where baseball matters, (It does not in the vast majority of other schools) but it's different here and he probably wasn't the best hire given that fact.
Posted on 6/2/22 at 7:00 am to Tiger Ugly
Skip saw the success Smoke was having at ULM and thought that he would do great at LSU when the program recruited itself. Much of Smokes success at ULM was because of Ben Sheets. Sheets, arguably one of the best pitchers from Louisiana, happened by chance as he didn’t pitch much in high school. Smoke was the beneficiary of this talent by chance.
Posted on 6/2/22 at 7:11 am to Tiger Ugly
Laval's regular season and sec records his last three years was very similar to Maineri's last three years. As the other poster said, he probably gets another year at school where baseball is not as important. Kudos to Skip and the admin for pulling the plug before things got really bad. Smoke's final signing class did include several guys who were key contributors on Maineri's championship team (Ryan Schmipf, Sean Ochinko, Blake Dean).
Posted on 6/2/22 at 7:21 am to Tigerfan1274
And Jared Mitchell.
The problem was they were getting zero to no arms after the 2003 class. There's a couple of JUCO's I'm not listing but the list is terrible.
2004 Freshmen
Clay Dirks
Michael Bonura
Kody Bumpous
Will Goodwin
Matt Greenwich
2005 Freshmen
Ryan Byrd
Eric English
Nolan Cain
Brady Dugas
2006 Freshmen
Louis Coleman
Darryl Shaffer
Paul Bertuccini
Andrew York
2007 Freshmen
Chris Sorce
Matt Jackson
Shane Ardoin
Kellen Bozeman
Ragen Baker
TJ Forrest
The problem was they were getting zero to no arms after the 2003 class. There's a couple of JUCO's I'm not listing but the list is terrible.
2004 Freshmen
Clay Dirks
Michael Bonura
Kody Bumpous
Will Goodwin
Matt Greenwich
2005 Freshmen
Ryan Byrd
Eric English
Nolan Cain
Brady Dugas
2006 Freshmen
Louis Coleman
Darryl Shaffer
Paul Bertuccini
Andrew York
2007 Freshmen
Chris Sorce
Matt Jackson
Shane Ardoin
Kellen Bozeman
Ragen Baker
TJ Forrest
This post was edited on 6/2/22 at 7:28 am
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