BB: OAC: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Dr. Acula]

Obviously most of us on here are biased when it comes to the value to sports as part of the college experience, but I think there's basis for that feeling. 

If someone is playing a sport at a D3 school they're most likely taking a fairly rigorous academic course load while doing so.  I know at MUC we had study table, but compared to what I've seen at OSU it's not even close to the same level of structure or support (not surprising).  My point is that D3 athletes learn to be good time managers and multi-taskers and they do so largely on their own.  You're responsible for yourself.  Guess what?  That's what being an adult is all about so it's a good thing to figure out before you're in the real world.

JK you did a much better job talking about the lessons and physical benefits of sports than I could, but I want to go off on a tangent kind of.  When you're on a team you share common goals, common experiences, etc.  But more importantly, you physically spend A LOT of time together.  That's my favorite thing about playing sports at MUC.  I've made friends that I will have my entire life.  Sure you would have plenty of friends without sports, but there's something about spending hours together daily in that environment that bonds you whether you want it to or not.  To this day I'll run into former teammates and even if we're not friends we'll stop, chat and inevitably laugh.  "Did you hear about so and so?" 

Not long ago a kid I played ball with passed away.  My buddy and I attended the service.  Not surprisingly we walked in and saw probably a dozen guys from the team.  Some that hadn't talked to the kid since graduation.  One kid flew from Chicago to be there.  And none of this surprised me even though we graduated 7 years ago.  When it comes to the guys you played sports with it's like time stopped.  You knew them so well at one point that it will take years for that familiar feeling to fade away.  We haven't reached that point yet and honestly I hope we don't for some time.  But I just don't know if there's a way to replicate that connection outside of the context of a sports team. 

I guess my point, albeit longwinded, is that I wouldn't trade the friends I've made for all the wins in the world.  To me that's the most underappreciated aspect of the college sports experience.  I hope Capital, or any institution, keeps that in mind.

[JK]

Agreed.  To illustrate for you:

Recently in airports I ran into two former teammates of mine.  One from High School (Jeff Waggoner- now the head baseball coach at Marshall) in Houston- he was a year younger than me and we played football and baseball together, baseball even in little league; and one from College (Keith Boucher- last Capital All-American from the Welsh era) in St. Louis- he was a Sr. when I was a Fr. Hadn't seen either of them in 10-15 years. 

Talked for as long as I could to both like we never missed a day.  Didn't even hesitate.  Recognized each other instantly (not surprising with Jeff, pretty surprised Keith remembered me though given that we only played together for a year) even with the years that had passed, did the one handed bro-hug/ back slap thing, talked about old teammates.

Amazing.

[mideastfan2]

congrats to the ABCA All-Americans!!

First Team
Cameron Cimino (Marietta)

Third Team
Gar Keen (Heidelberg)
Brian Hiscox (Otterbein)

ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Team
Greg Ferrell (Mount Union)

Further congratulations go to Andy Lowe - Heidelberg, who also made ABCA Third  Team All American according to the Heidelberg web site.

My apologies to Andy Lowe for not mentioning him in my original lsit....after doing some research, I found that he was a late add-on to the ABCA 3rd team All-American list after Farmingdale State pitcher Heeman was suspended from the World Series and removed from the list.

Lowe deserved the honor regardless, he was such an outstanding pitcher this year for the Berg and for the OAC!!!  Congrats Andy 

[JK]

OHSAA Baseball Championships this weekend at Huntington Bank Field (the new Clipper's Stadium downtown- behind the arena).

DI- Semi's friday- Iggy and Moeller play first and then Green and Pickerington North.  Final Saturday at 7pm
DII- Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin and Walsh Jesuit play Saturday at 1pm
DIII- Gnadenhutten Indian Valley and Hamilton Badin play Saturday at 10am
DIV- Semis friday- New Middletown Springfield and Newark Catholic play and then Hamler Patrick Henry and Reading.  FInal Saturday at 4pm.

Here is a link to the bracket:
http://www.ohsaa.org/sports/bb/boys/2009/stbrkt.pdf

[JK]

The OHSAA finals are 7/8ths set.  Last game of the semis starts in about 20 minutes between Green and Pickerington North in Division I.

In addition to the two finals set yesterday, the DIV final will be between Hamler Patrick Henry and New Middletown Springfield

Moeller puched their ticket to the DI final earlier and awaits the winner of the Green-Pick North game above.

If there is anybody out there...

[Dr. Acula]

I wish I could go to the baseball championships, but I always work track and it's always the same weekend.  If anyone has a chance to go you should go just to enjoy the ballpark.  Very nice venue. 

I did get to see a kid from Gahanna break Brandon Saine's record in the 100 today though.  Kid scorched the track up with a 10.47 in the semis.  It was actually the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium record too which is cool for that kid.

[JK]

Moeller played Pick North for the DI title and won
Notre Dane-Cathedral Latin won D2
Gnadehutten Indian Valley won D3 (beat my wife's alma mater- Hamilton Badin- on a throuwing error in the bottom of the 8th inning.  Badin back to back runners up- both tough luck losses)
Hamler Patrick Henry won D4.

And the HS baseball season is over in Ohio...

[Dr. Acula]

To no one's surprise MUC asst. Joe Gilhousen was 1 of the 3 candidates interviewed for the HC position at Massillon HS.  According to the article the school hopes to make a decision in the next couple days, but it won't be voted on until the BOE meeting on 6/24.  If Vegas was taking bets on this Gilhousen would nearly be off the board.  His resume is light years better than the other 2 candidates combined. 

Inde Article

[fundamentalswin]

I have heard from former teammates that he in fact was offered and took the job at Massilion HS today

[Dr. Acula]

No surprise there.  Great hire for Massillon.  Not good news for MUC though.  This adds a new level of intrigue to see how next season goes.  I've heard that Spike Ridgely is a solid young asst, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that at least one other quality asst. is brought into the fold.  Unfortunately, I'm not getting my hopes up.

[fundamentalswin]

To be 100% honest I have no idea where this program will go now.  Joe did so much for this program beyond anyones realization and I dont think Hesse can pick up all the responsibilities that Joe left behind.  Spike is a quality assistant with high energy but he cant do it alone.  I am not suggesting he be fired but I feel like this would be an opportune time to clean house completely.  2 of 3 assistants leave, the economy warrants that a younger coach would make less and save the college money, and the program hasnt really gone anywhere the past decade with him there.  I'm not saying, I'm just saying...

But for reason that only MUC people will understand the common sense thing to is the last thing ever to happen in Alliance

[inthecrease]

common sense is like big foot at mount union. often talked about but never really seen. I know there were talks a few years back about Gilhausen taking over for Hesse, but that never happened. Mount Union's athletics program has turned into the old boys club. There are a good handful of guys there for the past 10+ years with only a fraction of them actually showing true success. I think everything is going to stay the same and they will be spinning their wheels for at least the next five years, or whenever Coach Kheres decides to hang up the whistle. If they bring a new AD in at that point, there could be a new baseball coach before the AD even gets his name on the door.

[Dr. Acula]

I think for the most part MUC is in decent shape in men's sports (football excluded obviously).  Here's my breakdown of the guys I know of:

Hesse:  I think there seems to be a general sense of agreement amongst the MUC posters on this, but I think pushing a decade and a half of mediocrity speaks for itself.  Each year the best case scenario is finishing 3rd or 4th in the regular season and, at best, winning a couple games in the OAC tourney.  But he's been at MUC forever and I don't think any of us see a change coming.  Why would we?  Past performance tells us not to.

Hood:  I touched on this during the basketball season on that board, but he's basically the same situation for hoops that Hesse is for baseball.  The only difference is that he did have one deep NCAA tournament run on the backs of Shipp and N. Richards, but that was almost 15 years ago.  Take a look at his winning % vs. Hesse's.  Eerily similar.

Homon:  The longest tenured coach at MUC and the man responsible for more hardware in the Timken trophy cases than anyone (LK included).  He's won 50+ OAC titles...aided by the fact that he has 3 chances a year (CC/indoor/outdoor), but the bottom line is the guy AVERAGES winning almost 2 OAC titles per year. 

Woj:  Quietly has done a nice job w/ tennis.  They're competitive every year.  They're basically almost a lock to make the semis of the OAC tourney every year.  I have no problem w/ Woj.  I think he does a good job.

MacDuffie:  Young guy has done a great job w/ golf.  They're consistently finishing in the top 3 of the OAC now and he seems to be getting better and better players.  They even made the NCAA tourney which is a bonus in my mind. 

Hawald:  Another young guy who I don't know much about.  What I do know is that the Raider wrestling program fell on some tough times and he seems to have them heading in the right direction (6-4, 4-2 last yr).

??:  I don't even know who the soccer coach is now.  That seems to be the grenade job at MUC.  Someone pulls the pin, leaves and the next guy comes in and...well, let's just say the program is struggling. 

[inthecrease]

nice breakdown. for the most part i was thinking of hood and hesse, because homon, lk, and woj have been there for ages, have won, and dont plan on going anywhere else. what does it say for the programs of mediocrity where they dont even cut. They just keep everyone involved and wait for them to quit year by year. A freshman baseball class of 20 turns into a senior class of 7 very quickly. Same with basketball in a group of 8 freshman, only 1 or 2 seniors come out of it.

[Dr. Acula]

I know what you mean about cuts.  We had a dress list for JV games because there were too many freshmen.  Can you imagine what the baseball roster would look like if there WERE cuts?  At least this way the right guys might get on the field by accident.  It's been years and several asst coaches since I was there, but half of our starters weren't even really recruited.  A couple were there to play football and also played baseball.  Our top 2 starting pitchers weren't recruited.  Nor was our best position player.  The only reason I was recruited was because I played summer league w/ an asst's son.  He asked me where I was going, I said JCU and he basically convinced me to go to MUC over the summer.  If not for that I would have ended up at JCU.