A conversation we don't want to have.

[MrMemorial]

Unlike Coach K who just rode off into the sunset holding the hand of Mrs. Coach K down that stadium portal last night after his final game at the age of 90 or whatever, most people don't coach until that age. We know Corbs has been a great coach, a great representative of Vanderbilt University, and the greater Nashville community.

How much longer does he want to do this? Don't flip out. Just a rhetorical question.

[commadore]

If we are going there, the what about this. Would we want Tennessee's coach?

[MrMemorial]

Wouldn't the Michigan coach be first in line?

[VUGear]

Wouldn't the Michigan coach be first in line?

I don't know if he's the best for the job, but Bakich definitely has to be considered. And would probably be interested, right?

[MrMemorial]

He was also head coach at Maryland for a couple of years, so he has the credentials.

Would he want to leave Ann Arbor for a return to Nashville, both good places to live?

He's only 44 years old?

[geeznotagain]

The conversation (question) I don't want to have is: are we better in any sport than UT? I know we are oh-fer in the major sports, we are 0-1 in football, 0-4 in men's and women's basketball, and now 0-3 in baseball. Have we beaten them in golf? tennis? lacross, soccer? None of those are sports that I follow, but at least that would be SOMETHING. Geez. What a miserable weekend. At least my dog didn't die.

[commadore]

The conversation (question) I don't want to have is: are we better in any sport than UT? I know we are oh-fer in the major sports, we are 0-1 in football, 0-4 in men's and women's basketball, and now 0-3 in baseball. Have we beaten them in golf? tennis? lacross, soccer? None of those are sports that I follow, but at least that would be SOMETHING. Geez. What a miserable weekend. At least my dog didn't die.

According to the SEC website, we are not ahead of tennessee in any sport. We do have a bowling team that they do not (whoop te do), but in any SEC sport we aren't ahead.

[Haptown]

Do any of you know that the VandyBoys were swept at home by UT in 2009 and also at USC? The big difference is that UT was using rolled Easton bats then, and it appears that they may be using rolled Louisville Slugger now if the rumors are true.

[baseball1234]

Chicken Little, Chicken Little, Chicken Little.

[MrMemorial]

Tampered bats is a fascinating subject and I remember how Bama tee'd off mysteriously well on Sonny Gray when he was a freshman out of the bullpen. But what happened to the original subject? The future of Corbs?

Maybe PinkFloyd could add another brick in the wall on the subject?

[FayetteDore]

Through no fault of your own, MrM, the GENERAL subject has gotten bifurcated into the "ineffective recruiting" thread. I don't fault you in the least for raising the question; this is a fan discussion board after all. In fact, I admire your chutzpah in the face of the inevitable pushback you'll get.

Since I don't/won't pretend to be an expert in recruiting, coaching or even the fine points of the game, I'll just say this: IMHO, CTC has earned the right to have what appears today to be a down year and time to recalibrate. VU is only 2 seasons removed from its last CWS championship and played in the championship games just last summer. Coach Corbin is only 60. Even at age 75, Coach K took Duke to the Final Four and was likely two last-minute missed free throws from advancing to the championship game. That's still pretty damned good. And there's still plenty of time left in the current season. One other thought: I'm old enough to remember people wondering if Bear Bryant was washed up at age 57, after 2-3 down seasons for the Crimson Tide despite 3 NCs to his credit. Bryant went out to Austin to learn the Wishbone from Darrell Royal -- and proceeded to dominate SEC football for another decade and reel off 3 more NCs.

In summary, I repeat: I don't fault you for raising the question. But my answer is, it's waaay too premature to say CTC is ready to pack it in.

[MountainDore]

How much longer does he want to do this? Don't flip out. Just a rhetorical question.

In my book, he gets as long as he wants. The program was almost nothing when he started, and he's got a whole lot of good will in the bank. Plus I'm not ready to give up on this season.

[MrMemorial]

Through no fault of your own, MrM, the GENERAL subject has gotten bifurcated into the "ineffective recruiting" thread. I don't fault you in the least for raising the question; this is a fan discussion board after all. In fact, I admire your chutzpah in the face of the inevitable pushback you'll get.

Since I don't/won't pretend to be an expert in recruiting, coaching or even the fine points of the game, I'll just say this: IMHO, CTC has earned the right to have what appears today to be a down year and time to recalibrate. VU is only 2 seasons removed from its last CWS championship and played in the championship games just last summer. Coach Corbin is only 60. Even at age 75, Coach K took Duke to the Final Four and was likely two last-minute missed free throws from advancing to the championship game. That's still pretty damned good. And there's still plenty of time left in the current season. One other thought: I'm old enough to remember people wondering if Bear Bryant was washed up at age 57, after 2-3 down seasons for the Crimson Tide despite 3 NCs to his credit. Bryant went out to Austin to learn the Wishbone from Darrell Royal -- and proceeded to dominate SEC football for another decade and reel off 3 more NCs.

In summary, I repeat: I don't fault you for raising the question. But my answer is, it's waaay too premature to say CTC is ready to pack it in.

That's why (for once) I'm not taking sides in this. I simply asked a question... hypothetically at that.

It's not like saying Bryce Drew should get the mother of all pink slips after the worst SEC season in the last 70 years. That was fairly easy and non-controversial to pick a side on. For most of us.

[admin]

We just had a lot of bad luck over two series. The sky is not falling. We'll be okay. UT is a juggernaut but there might be more to that than just good coaching.

[Haptown]

Here is a good link about bat certification and the NCAA, but it does not go far enough.

The giant hole in the NCAA’s bat inspection process, the safety hazard it creates and the NCAA’s reluctance to fix it

There are mainly 2 types of bat construction in use today. The traditional aluminum barrel bat that makes the unique ping sound when hitting a ball, the composite barrel bat that is made from reinforced carbon fiber. These bats make a more of a thud sound when contacting a pitch. Based on the BBCOR certification standards, the exit velocity of both bats are essentially the same at this point.

The difference between the two is that an aluminum bat's trampoline effect never gets any better, while a composite barrel bat will continue to get better until noticeabe cracks or hairline in the fiber appear. With each use, these fibers will break a little bit, which increases the exit velocity / trampoline effect.

The effect of this increased trampoline effect is that the batted ball will have an increased exit velocity. The ball may travel 20-30 feet further, making a batter with warning track power a consistent home run hitter. Also ground balls will travel faster through the infield making plays on it much harder.

What the Auburn series this weekend and pay attention to the sound and the color of the barrel. An aluminum bat will make the ping and the barrel is usually unpainted except for the graphics. The composite fiber bat will always be painted and will make a soft thud or maybe no sound at all if the trampoline effect is maxed out. Notice the difference in the flight of the ball between the 2 bat types.

Another thing to notice is the swing effort. A batter using a composite bat may not have to swing as hard as one using an aluminum one, thus having more control.

[FayetteDore]

Thank you Hap for posting that article.

Perhaps you can help me understand this because the article itself didn't make it clear. It says:

"And in the case of last Friday, multiple sources with intimate familiarity of the weekend’s events confirmed there was a private inspection of Beck’s bat the day after was confiscated. The result of that inspection was that Beck’s bat was found to have fallen 400 PSIs below the game-legal limit"

What does that mean? If it was BELOW the game-legal limit, does that mean the bat's specs were legal even if it was technically "illegal" due to the lack of a sticker?

Not to distract from that question, but it seems as if the stickers used are not likely to fall off if they, as the article says, use the same adhesive used on the stickers for your license plates. Which raises ANOTHER question: if the adhesive on the stickers is THAT strong, it seems like they're going to be on the bats week after week, with more and more stickers added to them since they (according to the article) get inspected before every game? And if they build up like that, might that affect the bat?

Obviously this is all over my head, but a little clearer writing in that article would have helped.

[VandyPhile]

Thank you Hap for posting that article.

Perhaps you can help me understand this because the article itself didn't make it clear. It says:

"And in the case of last Friday, multiple sources with intimate familiarity of the weekend’s events confirmed there was a private inspection of Beck’s bat the day after was confiscated. The result of that inspection was that Beck’s bat was found to have fallen 400 PSIs below the game-legal limit"

What does that mean? If it was BELOW the game-legal limit, does that mean the bat's specs were legal even if it was technically "illegal" due to the lack of a sticker?

Not to distract from that question, but it seems as if the stickers used are not likely to fall off if they, as the article says, use the same adhesive used on the stickers for your license plates. Which raises ANOTHER question: if the adhesive on the stickers is THAT strong, it seems like they're going to be on the bats week after week, with more and more stickers added to them since they (according to the article) get inspected before every game? And if they build up like that, might that affect the bat?

Obviously this is all over my head, but a little clearer writing in that article would have helped.

The article mentioned that the stickers can be removed with a razor blade.

[Haptown]

The article mentioned that the stickers can be removed with a razor blade.

Yes, and also may take off a little paint, so not a big deal. The bat ring and compression testing started in 2020, so this is not a new process with the sticker.

Here is more info from 2019 and the AAC conference on game bat testing.

http://cbua.arbitersports.com/Groups/10 ... edures.pdf

This link has a video of how a bat is tested.

https://www.batdigest.com/bat-size-char ... t-results/

[egbertsouse]

More and more this is looking like the prolonged post-Donnie Everett funk Vandy experienced. Something about the way we finished the CWS last season wasn't right. Crazy thought but did the team internalize the criticism over the way they got into the finals over NC State? We looked good prior to the start of the SEC regular season but were playing generally weak competition.

[egbertsouse]

Thank you Hap for posting that article.

Perhaps you can help me understand this because the article itself didn't make it clear. It says:

"And in the case of last Friday, multiple sources with intimate familiarity of the weekend’s events confirmed there was a private inspection of Beck’s bat the day after was confiscated. The result of that inspection was that Beck’s bat was found to have fallen 400 PSIs below the game-legal limit"

What does that mean? If it was BELOW the game-legal limit, does that mean the bat's specs were legal even if it was technically "illegal" due to the lack of a sticker?

From the link provided by Naptown:

"On the G4 SSL fixture:
o 1250 psi shall be the lowest passing score for metal bats.
o 1000 psi shall be the lowest passinmg score for composite bats
o 800 psi shall be the lowest passing score for non‐linear bats."

So 400 PSI below the legal limit would be illegal by a lot.