Let me preface this post by saying that it is still early in the baseball season and I understand that things can turn around quickly.
But my post is not about where Oklahoma State’s baseball program is at this point in the season, it’s about where our program is looking at the big picture.
The state of the program is horrible and here’s the reason why. It can be summed up in one statement: our program is massively underperforming.
Understand that I make these judgments out of years of watching, covering, and coaching numerous successful - and unsuccessful - programs in my over 40 years as a coach, sports broadcaster, and sports writer.
I know what a championship program looks like, I know what a pretender program looks like, and I know what a failing program looks like. I have been blessed from a young age to be a part of championship programs. I’ve also seen programs that are doomed to failure.
What this baseball program looks like over the last few years is a program that massively underachieves on a regular basis.
And in my years of watching sports, I’ve found that it stems from coaches who - although they have talented rosters and excellent facilities - do not have the ability to put their athletes in the best position to have success. This leads to high, but very often unfulfilled, expectations.
It leaves the coaches, the players, and the fans frustrated on an annual basis. A sure sign of these types of programs are teams that experience blowout losses to talented teams and baffling losses to not-so-talented teams. Mixed in, there can be big wins and an occasional better than expected season, but more often than not, seasons end in disappointment.
This type of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde feeling the can be the case with a player as well as a team. The expression I’ve used in the past to describe this kind of team (or player) is a “tease”. And just like in romance, a tease will, more often than not, leave you heartbroken.
Inside these teams, the players lose trust in the coaches. Players get frustrated because they feel like there is no improvement. Players who have been around winning can easily see this. The coaches are left trying to explain losses to less talented teams and/or making excuses for the failures of the team or the players.
These types of things can happen on any team no matter the quality of the coach. But with great coaches it is rare. With other coaches it is an almost annual occurrence, even though there can be occasions when the team “overcomes” their coaching.
As Oklahoma State fans, I think we’ve seen this in more than just one program and it is very frustrating, although I know a lot of OSU fans have come to expect it and some accept it.
Sorry for rambling, but the last two weeks of watching OSU baseball - okay, the last 25 years of watching OSU baseball - was about all I could take.
But my post is not about where Oklahoma State’s baseball program is at this point in the season, it’s about where our program is looking at the big picture.
The state of the program is horrible and here’s the reason why. It can be summed up in one statement: our program is massively underperforming.
Understand that I make these judgments out of years of watching, covering, and coaching numerous successful - and unsuccessful - programs in my over 40 years as a coach, sports broadcaster, and sports writer.
I know what a championship program looks like, I know what a pretender program looks like, and I know what a failing program looks like. I have been blessed from a young age to be a part of championship programs. I’ve also seen programs that are doomed to failure.
What this baseball program looks like over the last few years is a program that massively underachieves on a regular basis.
And in my years of watching sports, I’ve found that it stems from coaches who - although they have talented rosters and excellent facilities - do not have the ability to put their athletes in the best position to have success. This leads to high, but very often unfulfilled, expectations.
It leaves the coaches, the players, and the fans frustrated on an annual basis. A sure sign of these types of programs are teams that experience blowout losses to talented teams and baffling losses to not-so-talented teams. Mixed in, there can be big wins and an occasional better than expected season, but more often than not, seasons end in disappointment.
This type of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde feeling the can be the case with a player as well as a team. The expression I’ve used in the past to describe this kind of team (or player) is a “tease”. And just like in romance, a tease will, more often than not, leave you heartbroken.
Inside these teams, the players lose trust in the coaches. Players get frustrated because they feel like there is no improvement. Players who have been around winning can easily see this. The coaches are left trying to explain losses to less talented teams and/or making excuses for the failures of the team or the players.
These types of things can happen on any team no matter the quality of the coach. But with great coaches it is rare. With other coaches it is an almost annual occurrence, even though there can be occasions when the team “overcomes” their coaching.
As Oklahoma State fans, I think we’ve seen this in more than just one program and it is very frustrating, although I know a lot of OSU fans have come to expect it and some accept it.
Sorry for rambling, but the last two weeks of watching OSU baseball - okay, the last 25 years of watching OSU baseball - was about all I could take.
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