Christiansen Gone!

[6-4-3 Jackrabbit]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

If the assistant coaches were paid accordingly, (or paid at all) some of the coaching turn over may occur quite as quick. This is a no brainer for Reggie. Run all over the country as the only paid coach on his staff to recruit, or go recruit a three or four state area and find all the players you need. He's to competitive to leave a head job for an assistant job. He'll be the head coach at Sac State in the next couple of seasons. State needs to find a way to pay their assistant coaches.

I'm very excited to see where Richie leads this team next season. The recruiting class sounds extremely talented.

[jackmd]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

If the assistant coaches were paid accordingly, (or paid at all) some of the coaching turn over may occur quite as quick. This is a no brainer for Reggie. Run all over the country as the only paid coach on his staff to recruit, or go recruit a three or four state area and find all the players you need. He's to competitive to leave a head job for an assistant job. He'll be the head coach at Sac State in the next couple of seasons. State needs to find a way to pay their assistant coaches.

I'm very excited to see where Richie leads this team next season. The recruiting class sounds extremely talented.

Towards this same point, it was likely a no-brainer for his wife and family as well. Perhaps I'm wrong but I suspect he'll spend less days away from home in his new position. With a young family that often figures into the equation more or less than it ought to. Its really a matter of perspective and priorities.

[JackJD]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

I moved a post from ShockerFan inquiring about Wichita State recruiting a new pitcher from Sioux Falls. See College Athletics "Wichita State Baseball recruit".

[ShockerFan]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

I will repeat the first part of my initial post, which deals with coach Christiansen (or, at least, his home). The ArgusLeader wrote:
Price, the son of current Jayhawks coach Ritch Price, takes over for Reggie Christiansen, who resigned after four seasons to become an assistant at Sacramento State near his hometown of Fortuna, Calif.
I grew up in Humboldt County, California, which includes Fortuna, Eureka, Arcata, Willow Creek, etc. My parents moved to Sacto after I graduated from college and I made the drive between Fortuna and Sacramento on many occasions. While Sacto is much closer to (the real) northern California (i.e. Humboldt & Del Norte counties + a bit more) than is South Dakota, the roads are still not great and it is much tougher driving than in the midwest. On Hwy 101, the redwoods jump out in front of you. (j/k) The term "near" did cause some laughter.

The name of your new coach, Ritchie Price, is slightly familiar but nothing more. WSU and KU usually play twice per year and I suspect that I saw him play at Eck Stadium. The ArgusLeader calls him an "standout infielder" and I seem to recall that he was a good player for Kansas. I am curious, however; did he get hurt? At 23, he should (still ?) be playing in MLB if he was good.

[JackJD]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

Coach Price, after a standout career for the Kansas Jayhawks, was drafted in the 18th round and played minor-league ball in the Mets system. His bio is on GoJacks.com at the following link. It looks like he knows baseball and will be a great young coach. Nothing mentioned about injury. Anyone know why he didn't continue to pursue the Bigs?

[ShockerFan]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

Coach Price, after a standout career for the Kansas Jayhawks, was drafted in the 18th round and played minor-league ball in the Mets system. His bio is on GoJacks.com at the following link. It looks like he knows baseball and will be a great young coach. Nothing mentioned about injury. Anyone know why he didn't continue to pursue the Bigs?

I'm curious about Price's signing bonus. Dusty was drafted in the 28th round but his signing bonus was about $700,000 http://www.ksn.com/sports/25913579.html which is high second round money. I guess it helps that WSU players perform well in wood bat Cape-Cod league; both Conner ("Conor Gillaspie, the Cape Cod Baseball League’s 2007 MVP and batting champion") and Dusty played well in the CCL http://www.codball.com/2007/09/15/codball-conversation-cape-mvp-conor-gillaspie-wichita-state-falmouth-commodores/

If Price's dad is a coach, if Ritchie Price really wants to be a coach and if the money (for him) in MLB was not that great, I can understand going into coaching as quickly as possible. Maybe he has a family to support? If it works out for him, I think he made a smart choice.

BTW: What kind of record (over, for example, three years) would he have to maintain at SDSU in order to keep his job? If his teams did poorly for several seasons, would SDSU dump him or keep him and let him develop the program?

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

BTW: What kind of record (over, for example, three years) would he have to maintain at SDSU in order to keep his job? If his teams did poorly for several seasons, would SDSU dump him or keep him and let him develop the program?

He was named interim coach, and there will be a search for a head coach...which he will have a chance at. If he gets the nod then, we would bear with him for a number of seasons because our AD doesn't bounce around on coaches unless absolutely necessary. Of course, a change in AD's could always inflluence that.

[76Rabbit]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

Of course, a change in AD's could always inflluence that.

You don't have any insider info on that do you fan?

[jackmd]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

You don't have any insider info on that do you fan?

I was wondering the same. Was that just mentioned in passing or is something up?

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

I was wondering the same. Was that just mentioned in passing or is something up?

No, nothing up in the immediate future on my part, but Dr. Oien has gone through a lot of stress in the last 10 years, can feel rightfully proud of his fortitude in leading this institution to full status in Division I, and has earned a break if he seeks out a change in the future. Things happen and I just conditioned my statements on coaching changes because I know his philosophy...which might not be shared by a future AD...and someday, sometime, there will be a different AD.

I am just so GLAD that he stuck out the transition (despite being called a "liar" by STU-pid and a lot of other names by a lot of people who just didn't get it in regards to the move). Had a person of lesser stature been at the top, my guess is we would have floundered along trying to make decisions and wound up where our counter-parts did. We were VERY lucky to have him in place.

[ShockerFan]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

He was named interim coach, and there will be a search for a head coach...which he will have a chance at. If he gets the nod then, we would bear with him for a number of seasons because our AD doesn't bounce around on coaches unless absolutely necessary. Of course, a change in AD's could always inflluence that.

Do you expect to do better than Price? What kind of candidates do you expect to apply?

[Jacks-02]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

Do you expect to do better than Price? What kind of candidates do you expect to apply?

I think its too early to say whether we could/could not do better than Price considering his lack of a track record or previous experience. Based on the number of applicants we've gotten for other coaching positions at the school, I think there would be a pretty decent pool to select from.

Nothing from the inside here, just my 2c.

[ShockerFan]

Re: Christiansen Gone!

I think its too early to say whether we could/could not do better than Price considering his lack of a track record or previous experience. Based on the number of applicants we've gotten for other coaching positions at the school, I think there would be a pretty decent pool to select from.

Nothing from the inside here, just my 2c.

Thanks for the reply. Picking a coach is critical to success; best of luck in the search.

BTW: You could do worse than Price.