David Perno fired Pitching Coach Brady Wiederhold after four seasons. This year, the Georgia Bulldogs had arms. Five Bulldog pitchers were drafted in the most recent MLB draft. However, the team had an absolutely absurd team ERA of 8.51 (8.48 in SEC play...so it was always bad...not just on weekdays) which was 12th best in the SEC. The 11th best pitching staff in the league had a team ERA of 6.92 and the 10th had an ERA of 5.88.
The low light for me was the 14 walk performance against Georgia Tech in Athens. The team had given up 12 walks before the end of the 5th inning, and the team's "closer" surrendered 3 consecutive walks after entering the game with the bases loaded.
When your ERA is 2.63 runs per game out of 10th place in your league, you're terrible. It would be different if there was no talent at that position. But that certainly wasn't the case.
I sincerely like Coach Perno, and I respect what he has accomplished overall in Athens. But this needed to be done. Badly. Rebuilding the pitching staff will take time, but this was the biggest no brainer termination in Athens in quite some time. Hopefully, more systemic changes are coming because there were problems with last year's team beyond just the pitching coach.
Onward and upward,
PWD
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7 comments:
I never like to cheer a man losing his job, but ...
Yipee!
Let's make that two cheers: Yipee!
I hate to burst your bubble but in baseball, college and up to pro, it's 95% player 5% coaching that makes success. It's not like football. Coaches in baseball are more like managers. Brady was just a bystander for Perno to answer to the Ath Dept for "turning around" for next season....
I too respect what Perno has done in his time at UGA. However, I've never met anyone that liked the man. Of course, I don't know his wife, but I even have my doubts as to whether she likes him. When Perno comes on the radio, I always turn the station. His voice and most definitely the things he says rub me the wrong way. Plus, I know more than one student athlete that has been recruited by Perno and some of the things he's said just blew my mind.
You're 100% right. Perno is a pretty polarizing kind of guy. Since I love UGA I will refrain from giving my full take.
I've always been a Perno supporter. He's taken the program on 3 great rides to Omaha and he loves the University more than any coach in Athens. Is he polarizing? You bet he is. What you see is what you get. But his attitude and cockiness is something I think benefited us in '04, '06, and '08. His coaching strategies and techniques definitely can be criticized as I have done many times. He has put together some great recruiting classes which has covered up some of his deficiencies.
Having said all that, 2011 is a huge season for him. No trip to the post season and even the staunchest Perno supporter would have a tough time taking up for him.
Perno is the equivalent to a Bud Kilmer in football, personality-wise. The Omaha runs UGA had in baseball had more to do with the players than anything else. You could have stuck plenty of coaches in there and had the same (or better result).
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