BB: WIAC: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[ShineTime]

I'm not saying anything is in the wings but know over the past few years I've heard he's always looking to move up.  He was a candidate for point ad job so I'm guessing if he can get ad job somewhere he's gone.  Of course being a pointer fan I'm hoping he stays and am also hoping point get a new stadium in next three years.

[AppletonRocks]

First off I am surprised by the fact that is a non-renewal situation instead of a resignation on the part of Lechnir.

As for a future coaching search, UWO went through the same thing last summer with basketball and many names previously associated with both programs were floated out there but in the end it went to two outsiders. I have a feeling the same thing will happen this time.

What Sims showed in his basketball hires is he likes coaches with connections to the area who can recruit but he isn't afraid to at least look at folks from far away.

What that means for specific coaches I don't know and maybe the situation regarding baseball is more different than I know but based on last summer that is what I see going down.

With basketball, they got rid of a coach who seemed to have checked out, not working hard on recruiting and ended his career with an 0-something season.  Pat Juckem was an outstanding candidate and has already done more recruiting work in one year than Van Dellen did in 10 years prior.  Sims had to make a change there, Ted was a disaster.   

I have no opinion on the Lechnir decision, just wondered why the Titans are no longer competing well nationally and in their own conference.

I have heard from several folks that the lady vice chancellor who is overseeing the AD (Sims) at Oshkosh is famous for trying to destroy the athletic department at LaCrosse so maybe she is meddling here too. 

[Bronko7]

The loss of Coach Lechnir is a shame. A great coach with a little too much of the old style approach. Kids today are going to run and hide as soon as anyone raises their voice at them. I will say that as a St. Scholastica alum, Coach Baggs held him in the highest regard and as he was building the Saints program through the mid and late 90's, Oshkosh was the model he wanted to follow. As for the the non-renewal of the contract, I will bet that he was given the option to resign, but knowing what I know about him I will bet he said no. His style isn't for everyone, but never question what the man stands for when it comes to his teams, and the players that made it through those 4 years with him will all tell you what he means to them reaches far beyond a baseball coach. I believe by making Oshkosh get rid of him he is going to take a lot of alumni support with him. I do not see anyone with Lechnir ties getting this job, the school wants to break that connection and if I were an alum and they came to me I would not even entertain the idea with the way my former coach was handled. Just my thoughts, Coach Lechnir is one of the best and will be sadly missed.

[badgerwarhawk]

The D3baseball.com All Midwest Region team has been named. 

http://d3baseball.com/awards/all-region/2013/midwest

WIAC players include:

Stevens Point: 
First team: Ryan Schilter, Jacob Herbst and J.P. Feyereisen
Third team: Sean Gerber

Oshkosh:
First team: Michael Swift, Tyler Kamps
Second team: Bobby Kachel

WHITEWATER:
First team: Marty Herum
Second team: David Cladis, Dylan Friend, Jared Fon, Michael Pierce
Third team: Tom Kerndt

Congrats to all

[ShineTime]

Anyone shocked with Berber on 3rd and not 2nd team?

[cubs]

Anyone shocked with Berber on 3rd and not 2nd team?

Kachel-.386 BA, 11 HR, 55 RBI, .780 SLUG, .500 OBP
Gerber-.369 BA, 12 HR, 60 RBI, .657 SLUG, .468 OBP

Gerber leads in HR/RBI while Kachel leads in everything else....

In all honesty, you could flip a coin between the two.....  Nothing to really be "shocked" about though!!!!

[ShineTime]

Coach of the year had to be difficult.  I would've gone with bloom not just because of making the World Series though.  I'm guessing very few people thought point would do as well as they did given they didn't make regionals last year and lost cam seidl to injury in the fall.  They added some great freshman but really didn't add any big time transfers.  I was thinking even a possible 4th place finish in the Wiac given what lacrosse returned.  Either way hard to argue against st Thomas's coach getting it even though I have a huge issue with the decision to pitch all American Dylan Thomas 1 inning at regionals.

[MIACLUV]

Any new news on the Lechnir situation? I would love an Oshkosh perspective on this, because this whole situation just reeks of a personal dislike by the AD towards a great coach.

[AppletonRocks]

No insight MIACLUV.  Sorry.  No more about hoops as previously discussed.

[cubs]

Coach Lechnir held press conference today.  He was joined by former players Jarrod Washburn, Craig Lieder, Brian Bott, Kevin Mlodik, Craig Glysch, Kevin Grater, Casey Kopitzke, Jack Taschner, and Mike Waupoose just to name a few.

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20130522/OSH0201/305220384

[ShineTime]

Where's lechnirs next coaching job?  There's no way he's going without work for too long.  I'm more than happy to have bloom as the pointer coach but if bloom leaves for better I would love to see lechnir at point. 

[BigPoppa]

Lechnir IS from Mosinee.... Just up the road from Point. I can read it now..."Local boy comes home."

[forheavendial4999]

Lechnir IS from Mosinee.... Just up the road from Point. I can read it now..."Local boy comes home."

Do you think that would happen though if for some reason Bloom left (D-I job, AD, whatever)?

All the gaudy career numbers and pro alumni aside, the fact is that UWO is now a pretty clear 3rd out of 7 in the WIAC (and UWL not far off), and not generally a regional-caliber program anymore. I'm surprised that this move is well, a surprise. It's not that it's been 20 years since a championship, but that UWO has fallen out of contention for one. If you want to put a D-I comparison to it for reference...I think a good one would be Tubby Smith.

I do think he should have been given the option to step down on his own terms, the time he's spent at the school deserves at least that...but maybe he was and refused it.

I have to think Jirschele has a good shot at one of these jobs, now or in the future. Has to be interesting for him...does he go after the UWO rebuilding project, or if Bloom is indeed not long for SP, wait that out and move up to the top job at UWSP and try to get them to the top of the mountain (if Bloom doesn't get there first). If a Titan has a shot at the job, I would think he's the one if he makes himself a candidate.

[cubs]

WFRV out of Green Bay did a much better job with the press conference today compared to the link I posted earlier. 

Couple of interesting quotes from the link, most notably what Jarrod Washburn had to say near the end.

http://wearegreenbay.com/fulltext?nxd_id=197622

[Babe Truth]

I only met Lechnir once, on a recruiting visit there, and he was warm and friendly as might be expected in such a situation. He was justifiably proud of his program's history and facilities.

Since then we've watched and heard him with some cringe-worthy amusement from the other side of the field.  I also heard reports from a friend whose son was a multi-year starter at UWO.  The stories of what might best be described as Lechnir's mind games, verbal abuse, intimidation and pettiness were sadly mind-boggling.  Was that ever a legit way to motivate young baseball players? Maybe you could get away with that when your roster is stocked with All Americans and recruiting takes care of itself.  But not so much with the connected players of this century when word spreads so quickly and there are many viable options to play elsewhere. They don't care about any Oshkosh baseball legacy, nor should they. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like more players quit or transfer out of UWO than any other WIAC program.

At any rate, I doubt Lechnir's dismissal is tied to his team's won-loss record. It's not exactly BigTen football. Maybe the stories or complaints piled up, or arrogance shown thru, or an administrator just concluded "who needs this?" and that was that. Please pardon the pure unfounded speculation there.

It will be very interesting to see what comes out if he follows through on the threat of a lawsuit. That usually results in career suicide no matter how it ends up.  Who hires a guy who sued his last employer?  It might be best to just take his shiny career record and try landing at another school, maybe even a D2 program.