Penders Gets It | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Penders Gets It

After a good career including a national title, I think Ray has just lost the fire. Probably time to step aside.

As far as baseball goes, the college season isn’t really kind to Northeast teams but Penders is not buying any excuses and has consistently produced solid teams. Last year’s probably deserved a bid but lost out because it was a Northeastern club. I doubt it is ever a revenue producer but avrun to Omaha would certainly generate enthusiasm.
 
freescooter said:
After a good career including a national title, I think Ray has just lost the fire. Probably time to step aside.

As far as baseball goes, the college season isn’t really kind to Northeast teams but Penders is not buying any excuses and has consistently produced solid teams. Last year’s probably deserved a bid but lost out because it was a Northeastern club. I doubt it is ever a revenue producer but avrun to Omaha would certainly generate enthusiasm.
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Agreed. UConn has squandered some of it's reputation in Soccer. Ray should move on.

On the baseball side, I think we perhaps misunderstand the "revenue" positive aspect of baseball. We can't sell enough tickets with our schedule to make that happen. What UConn getting to Omaha and being ranked much of the year can do is strengthen our case for the ACC. Now that would go a long way to improving our revenues right?

At this point, it's about positioning the athletic department well in the sports that matter most. Football 1, Basketball 2, and then baseball and soccer 3 and 4. I'd mention hockey, but it's outside the normal conference structure and we're already in an ideal situation (minus the lack of arena).
 
Dream Jobbed 2.0 said:
What’s preventing UConn baseball from being a revenue sport is playing like 10 home games a year in a 2,000 seat stadium. Most of them in the cold of April and on weekday afternoons. The new stadium they’re planning will help them play more home games (lights and plowable fields). The games at DDP help build interest. If you’re a Sox fan they mention Barnes went to UConn about 40 times a season. There are advantages as well as roadblocks to UConn baseball becoming a powerhouse. The fact that they are even relevant is a miracle.
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The size of the stadium isn't going to make it warmer outside. Lights aren't going to make someone want to sit through a baseball game in Connecticut at night in April.

Penders is over a period of time achieving more than any other school in the northeast/rust belt. I just have trouble seeing how much better he is going to be able to do. But I hope I'm wrong.
 
businesslawyer said:
The size of the stadium isn't going to make it warmer outside. Lights aren't going to make someone want to sit through a baseball game in Connecticut at night in April.

Penders is over a period of time achieving more than any other school in the northeast/rust belt. I just have trouble seeing how much better he is going to be able to do. But I hope I'm wrong.
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My interest in the new stadium isn't that it'll increase the attendance (even though I do think there'll be a bump, at least when it first opens).

It's what it'll do for recruiting that is of most interest to me.
 
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UConn, BC and Maine were pretty good college baseball teams in the 70s. Maine up to the early 1980s and they have snow through 4th of July for heaven sakes. All three made the college World Series in that era. The thing that set Northeast baseball way back was the change in the academic calendar. A typical College calendar up to the mid-late 70s started in mid-late September, took a break for the holidays and finished first semester in mid-late January. 2nd semester started sometime in Feb and ended in mid-June. The college baseball season started early April (April break of 2 weeks was standard) with a “southern swing” usually to Florida for NE teams then a northern season that ran mid-April to mid June. It literally took 15 years for schools to adjust to the impact of this schedule change on the sport. The biggest changes were related to increased travel and various “tournament” neutral site events.
 
UCONN has an outstanding Olympic sports coaches. I disagree on Ray Reid stepping aside right now. Let's see how he recruits with the new facility (which he personally donated a total $350K towards).
 
I'd like to address several points made in this thread regarding Connecticut baseball.

1. UConn is at a natural disadvantage in recruiting compared to southern schools

UConn recruits MUCH better than you guys think. There has always been talent in Connecticut, Mass, Rhode Island, New York, etc. Just look at George Springer, Tim Cate, Anthony Kay, etc. Also, Penders isn't Edsall; he is consistently able to land recruits that big time programs want. He has two All Americans (Pat Winkel, Michael Burrows) coming in and some other very touted players as well. I would be surprised if next year's class wasn't rated in the Top 25, much like the 2013 class was.

The two biggest disadvantages to recruiting here are J.O. Christian Field (mercifully getting a big upgrade, so this will no longer be an issue soon), and fan apathy. If the 2nd problem holds the program back long term, fine: but it isn't a UConn baseball problem, it's a UConn fan problem. I just wanted to make that clear.

2. The bad weather is a huge disadvantage!!!

Why? If anything, it's a good thing for UConn. Southern schools in conference play respond very poorly to bad weather when they play in Storrs, and all those early season road games boosts our RPI and make the team battle tested for conference play. UConn and other Northern schools are typically rusty to start the year, but that effect only lasts for 1-2 weeks...not exactly a big deal.

Also, in regards to Southern schools rigging the sport...yea, the season should start and end later on in the year, but I don't think Florida and Texas are preoccupied trying to keep us down. In addition, we did host a regional as a 2 seed several years back! UConn, Indiana, and St. John's have all had Omaha caliber clubs over the past decade, and it is a combination of bad luck and close losses that have kept any from reaching Omaha.

3. I don't want to watch games in cold weather

I get skipping a midweek game vs. Fairfield due to weather, but really? 50 degree weather is gonna stop people from coming out to Hartford to watch a ranked UConn team take on the traditional baseball powerhouses in this conference? I went to the Friday game vs. Tulane and the crowd was depressing. There were some people at the game, sure (although there were much more for Saturday's game) but half the crowd took shelter from sprinkles in the terrace, killing whatever atmosphere we could have had. I see the weather excuse all the time for underwhelming home attendance, and I hate it more than anything.

In summary, UConn has some mild and overstated limitations that it has easily been able to overcome, and the last, and easily most difficult hurdle is getting apathetic UConn fans to actually care about this traditionally strong and currently ranked ballclub. End rant.
 
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uconnbaseball said:
The two biggest disadvantages to recruiting here are J.O. Christian Field (mercifully getting a big upgrade, so this will no longer be an issue soon), and fan apathy.
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And fixing the first will go a long way in helping to fix the second.
 
Pudge said:
This just points out how lackluster Ray Reid and UConn soccer has been.

We were one of the national powers. National Championship and regular appearances in the late rounds of the NCAA; a leader annually in attendance nationally. And poof ... he’s in quicksand. And the effort to market and outreach is just never near the Joe days. Miss that clipboard throwing Devil.
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I can't believe I didn't find this thread a bit sooner.

In my mind, Ray Reid and Jim Penders are polar opposites of each other. Ray Reid may know a thing or two about soccer, but aside from the creation of the Goal Patrol and his efforts to get the new soccer facility built, from what I can tell he pretty much does nothing to promote the UConn soccer program. Try finding any information from his coaching staff about player injuries, for instance. Reid seems perfectly content to operate the program in secret. Meanwhile, Jim Penders and his athletic communications assistant and baseball broadcaster Chris Jones were made for each other. They are always creating interesting material and interviews for those of us that are interested in finding them. I really think they feed off of each other quite well.
 
dbmill said:
I can't believe I didn't find this thread a bit sooner.

In my mind, Ray Reid and Jim Penders are polar opposites of each other. Ray Reid may know a thing or two about soccer, but aside from the creation of the Goal Patrol and his efforts to get the new soccer facility built, from what I can tell he pretty much does nothing to promote the UConn soccer program. Try finding any information from his coaching staff about player injuries, for instance. Reid seems perfectly content to operate the program in secret. Meanwhile, Jim Penders and his athletic communications assistant and baseball broadcaster Chris Jones were made for each other. They are always creating interesting material and interviews for those of us that are interested in finding them. I really think they feed off of each other quite well.
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When I was growing up all the cool kids did Ray Reid soccer camp. The T-shirt’s were badges of honor. I dunno if that’s still around though.
 
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UC baseball. I think there are 2 different discussions going on. #1 is can baseball be a revenue sport. That one I’m pretty doubtful. Season is too short here and too much travel.
#2 can it be a successful program that competes nationally? Sure. Arguably its at least borderline now. I could imagine drawing a couple of thousand at Dunkin Donuts for a weekend series or two.
 
businesslawyer said:
The size of the stadium isn't going to make it warmer outside. Lights aren't going to make someone want to sit through a baseball game in Connecticut at night in April.

Penders is over a period of time achieving more than any other school in the northeast/rust belt. I just have trouble seeing how much better he is going to be able to do. But I hope I'm wrong.
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I find it amazing that Coach Penders has done as well as he has at J.O. Christian considering just how outdated the place is. Currently there is very little in the way of creature comforts for either the fans or the members of the team. For instance, I find the idea of having running water and real bathrooms on site to be very appealing, but maybe that is just me. And I'm sure the players will like the idea of lights, a turf field, and a locker room that they can call home. The new baseball facility has got to be a help the program, as Penders has done so much with so little physical infrastructure.
 
uconnbaseball said:
I'd like to address several points made in this thread regarding Connecticut baseball.

1. UConn is at a natural disadvantage in recruiting compared to southern schools

UConn recruits MUCH better than you guys think. There has always been talent in Connecticut, Mass, Rhode Island, New York, etc. Just look at George Springer, Tim Cate, Anthony Kay, etc. Also, Penders isn't Edsall; he is consistently able to land recruits that big time programs want. He has two All Americans (Pat Winkel, Michael Burrows) coming in and some other very touted players as well. I would be surprised if next year's class wasn't rated in the Top 25, much like the 2013 class was.

The two biggest disadvantages to recruiting here are J.O. Christian Field (mercifully getting a big upgrade, so this will no longer be an issue soon), and fan apathy. If the 2nd problem holds the program back long term, fine: but it isn't a UConn baseball problem, it's a UConn fan problem. I just wanted to make that clear.
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Here's a link to all the UConn MLB draft picks during the Penders era.

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/conn/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/2017-18/misc_non_event/98999.pdf
 
uconnbaseball said:
UConn is at a natural disadvantage in recruiting compared to southern schools

UConn recruits MUCH better than you guys think. There has always been talent in Connecticut, Mass, Rhode Island, New York, etc.
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Both can be true, and, in my estimation, both are true. We are indeed at a disadvantage and we do, indeed, recruit well by and large. Don't confuse recruiting well with recruiting as well as most SEC or ACC schools. We don't recruit as well as them, and that's ok.

uconnbaseball said:
fan apathy. If the 2nd problem holds the program back long term, fine: but it isn't a UConn baseball problem, it's a UConn fan problem. I just wanted to make that clear.
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Right. I think it's been established in this thread that we have a good team but the fans don't come out for them. It's a fan issue, and it's not the team's fault. Not sure who thinks fans aren't coming out because the team isn't good enough?

uconnbaseball said:
2. The bad weather is a huge disadvantage!!!

Why? If anything, it's a good thing for UConn. Southern schools in conference play respond very poorly to bad weather when they play in Storrs, and all those early season road games boosts our RPI and make the team battle tested for conference play. UConn and other Northern schools are typically rusty to start the year, but that effect only lasts for 1-2 weeks...not exactly a big deal.
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That's probably all true, I'll defer to your judgment. But that's a player's or a coach's perspective. A fan's perspective is that it's cold and most of us aren't interested in college baseball enough to go sit in the weather conditions in CT in April.

uconnbaseball said:
I don't want to watch games in cold weather

I get skipping a midweek game vs. Fairfield due to weather, but really? 50 degree weather is gonna stop people from coming out to Hartford to watch a ranked UConn team take on the traditional baseball powerhouses in this conference?
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Yes. It is. You don't think it should. But it does. By your own observation of the Tulane series, this is the case.

I actually agree with your sentiments, tbh, but it just feels like your point is that the obstacles that UConn faces in building a larger baseball fan base- which, frankly, is just the weather (the team is certainly plenty good enough and if games were played at night in 75 degrees I'm sure they'd draw better)- shouldn't exist just because in your opinion they shouldn't exist. The problem is they do exist. How do you fix them? Tough to fix snow in April.
 
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freescooter said:
UC baseball. I think there are 2 different discussions going on. #1 is can baseball be a revenue sport. That one I’m pretty doubtful. Season is too short here and too much travel.

We mine as well shoot for the stars. I agree it is very unlikely, though.

#2 can it be a successful program that competes nationally? Sure. Arguably its at least borderline now. I could imagine drawing a couple of thousand at Dunkin Donuts for a weekend series or two.

We can definitely compete nationally, and are doing so now. A supportive, energetic fanbase would do wonders for us in this regard. If friggin Indiana can average over 1,000 in attendance, we can too. The weather isn't exactly fantastic in Bloomimgton...
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MattMang23 said:
Both can be true, and, in my estimation, both are true. We are indeed at a disadvantage and we do, indeed, recruit well by and large. Don't confuse recruiting well with recruiting as well as most SEC or ACC schools. We don't recruit as well as them, and that's ok.



Right. I think it's been established in this thread that we have a good team but the fans don't come out for them. It's a fan issue, and it's not the team's fault. Not sure who thinks fans aren't coming out because the team isn't good enough?



That's probably all true, I'll defer to your judgment. But that's a player's or a coach's perspective. A fan's perspective is that it's cold and most of us aren't interested in college baseball enough to go sit in the weather conditions in CT in April.



Yes. It is. You don't think it should. But it does. By your own observation of the Tulane series, this is the case.

I actually agree with your sentiments, tbh, but it just feels like your point is that the obstacles that UConn faces in building a larger baseball fan base- which, frankly, is just the weather (the team is certainly plenty good enough and if games were played at night in 75 degrees I'm sure they'd draw better)- shouldn't exist just because in your opinion they shouldn't exist. The problem is they do exist. How do you fix them? Tough to fix snow in April.
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We humans have short memories. This April has been tough regarding weather in CT. This April was far from typical. I believe the temperature was 10 degrees cooler for 20 plus days this April. Snow in April?
Not very often in CT. We are making it out to be a much bigger factor than it is. The biggest factor regarding UCONN Baseball attendance is the Storrs location which makes it very difficult for many to attend Mon.-Fri. mid afternoon games.
 
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LIUCHusky said:
This April was far from typical.
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True. But it's typically still on the colder side. I still think 50 is cold to sit stationary outside. I won't do it for the Red Sox, I'm not doing it for UConn. This is subjective so everyone can disagree, but to me, that's cold.

20180501_222601.jpg


LIUCHusky said:
The biggest factor regarding UCONN Baseball attendance is the Storrs location which makes it very difficult for many to attend Mon.-Fri. mid afternoon games.
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I think that's a huge factor as well. That, the weather, and the fact that people have other stuff to do in life than attend every single UConn home game in every sport. Not everyone is a Boneyarder and a diehard. Heck, I post here but wouldn't consider myself a diehard. People have crap to do and going to games for the 5th most popular sport at a local college isn't usually high on the list. This board should probably accept that.
 
MattMang23 said:
Yes. It is. You don't think it should. But it does. By your own observation of the Tulane series, this is the case.

I actually agree with your sentiments, tbh, but it just feels like your point is that the obstacles that UConn faces in building a larger baseball fan base- which, frankly, is just the weather (the team is certainly plenty good enough and if games were played at night in 75 degrees I'm sure they'd draw better)- shouldn't exist just because in your opinion they shouldn't exist. The problem is they do exist. How do you fix them? Tough to fix snow in April.
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Michigan and Indiana -- two other successful northern programs -- have no issue drawing butts to seats (well over 1,000 a game on average). Neither program plays in fantastic weather on a regular basis.

I don't think weather is the main issue. After all, successful UConn teams of the past have struggled to draw for home games even in nice weather. J.O. Christian is obviously suboptimal for the time being, but stadium quality doesn't explain 200 people at a big conference game on Sunday. The students in particular are disappointingly absent from games.

How do we get more support? Well, I guess the program could use more PR from the university. Mind you, Benedict has shown an active interest in the team and Chris Jones (the play by play guy) is awesome in every way, but it's true the program doesn't get the coverage it deserves. I don't have any easy solutions to the problem, but UConn nation needs to think critically about how to support its successful programs because a couple hundred people a home game is a horrible look for any prospective p5 conference.

We are definitely not far apart on this. Where I disagree is that it's acceptable for UConn fans to ignore a regional host-level team because of cool weather. It's not.
 
uconnbaseball said:
We are definitely not far apart on this. Where I disagree is that it's acceptable for UConn fans to ignore a regional host-level team because of cool weather. It's not.
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Fair enough.
 
If the team keeps on at its trajectory, the weather wont' be as much of an issue as people think.
 
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With the gobs of free money that can be diverted from the CT transportation fund after tolls are implemented, they can just build a domed baseball stadium...might as well put in a small entertainment center (water park, adventure park, mini-golf, etc.) inside to combat fan apathy.

Problems solved!
 
The lack of lights is a bigger problem than weather. 3:00 or noon starts on Tuesday and Wednesday is impossible to attend for 90 percent of people
 
Dream Jobbed 2.0 said:
The lack of lights is a bigger problem than weather. 3:00 or noon starts on Tuesday and Wednesday is impossible to attend for 90 percent of people
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Yea I honestly don't have an issue with those midweek games. It's the weekend games that people need to start coming out for.

Dunkin' Donuts park will be lively for Houston, but the ECU series concerns me.
 
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