Congrats to Coach P indeed, what an accomplishment!  It would be even more noteworthy if his team had to play the entire conference each year.  The biggest problem with the NCAC is the schedule.  Last year, the second place team in the East was on the same level as the last-place team in the West.  It would be better for Wooster, in preparing for the post-season, if they were challenged during the season by OWU, Denison, Wabash, Witt, and Earlham.  They just hang out on cruise control and win all their conference games without much of a challenge from anyone in their division.  When they have played teams from the West, they haven't done so well lately.  Again, congrats to Coach P for winning 900, but the NCAC should do the right thing and have all their teams play one another.

Actually, I believe a good coach would win ASC titles at Sul Ross.  They have all of west Texas to recruit alone.  They could have a lineup full of guys like Arietta.  Actually, they did.  In 1999 they led the nation in hitting and won the ASC.  Sul Ross has serious advantages that a good coach would take advantage of, they just are guilty of terrible hires as well.  Vilade would have just as good of a team at Sul Ross as he does at Tyler, and that is true.  Actually, when it comes to conference titles in the last 15 years, Sul Ross 2, UTT none, though to be fair they are just getting started.

My brother played for the former ETBU coach (Riggs) when he was a JUCO coach at Tyler, so I want to set the record straight.  What happened at ETBU in 2006 was that one of the 2005 seniors, who was helping out as a volunteer assistant, fired up some of his buddies to mutiny against Coach Riggs, thinking he could get the job.  Most of the key players, except for their All-Region 1B, quit in hopes that the AD would actually listen to them and fire Coach Riggs.  The AD backed his coach, and the Coach resigned after the season.  The players that quit, many of whom still had a year or two left of eligibility, were going to return until Blackmon was hired and apparently told them they were not welcome.  Which I can understand.  The problem is that the AD made a bad hire.  Blackmon might be a decent baseball guy, but if you look at his track record at UD and ETBU both teams have fallen off once the previous coach's impact is no longer felt.   Vilade left him a gold mine at UD and he competed for awhile, but the team went backwards. 

Being a former college player, and having two brothers that were, I know how important coaches are.  I believe that the ASC schools (just like the NCAC schools up here) that win are the schools with the best coaches.  Between recruiting, keeping players focused off the field, and everything else involved, the coach makes or breaks the program.  I think that more young guys should be given a shot from time to time, because I believe that if a coach can't build a winner he should find another job.

I am new to posting, but have lurked on these boards for the past several years.  I am a big fan of D3 baseball and enjoy the quality of the NCAC athletes.  Being a former division I player, I appreciate how much these kids love playing for nothing more than each other and some memories.  Living in Indiana, I have found that NCAC teams are more entertaining than the HCAC teams, and the kids are much better behaved.  Anyway, I probably won't post often but I was just wondering...

Does anyone know what happened to Wabash and Earlham?  Wabash looked like they were primed to make a run this year and EC looked like they finally figured out how to compete last year.  It appears both programs have taken some steps backward this year.  Again, OWU and Dension appear to be the class of the West.