Blanked by Kentucky, 5-0. To put the drop off from Kentucky to Georgia in perspective, all three of Ketucky's weekend starters would probably be our first starter. We drop precariously off after McLaughlin and Boling, both of whom are pitching well. The bats also go silent at terrible times, but we also only have two guys hitting above .300 in conference play. On the season, we are sitting at 10-19 (1-8). After we face Kennesaw State today, we have Missouri coming to town this weekend.
Missouri is our best chance
TD
7 comments:
I find myself in Dawg baseball/Perno discussions more and more these days. I do not have the answers, apparently neither does Perno. I have heard rumors that Coach Perno has an awful reputation on the recruiting trail. Not sure how accurate this is, but it does seem to fit. I will be anxious to see if a change is made (one could agrue a change should be made now). This team has 2 SEC caliber pitchers, poor fielding and awful situational hitting. GATA?
Skeptic Dawg
The crazy thing about recruiting is that he is getting commitments from guys that are near mortal locks to go pro out of HS, which looks good, but doesn't help. We are getting kids off of those big time programs in East Cobb, Columbus, ATL privates and the big South Georgia programs, but we still struggle to develop those guys into SEC caliber players.
When you look at how many guys get drafted each year off of Georgia's teams, I think we are still getting talent. Development and performance isn't there.
I genuinely like Coach Perno. By all accounts, his teams love him (which could be a post for another day). All I can say is that I felt this year was going to be different with the incoming Freshmen, Uperclassmen leadership, and more ability to focus on baseball from Coach.
I don't see that becoming a
Well, my nephew actually played for Perno and started for 4 years (he was drafted as well). He is not well liked by the players and it's actually quite the opposite. He throws his players under the bus in the media, never accepts the blame for strategic mistakes, and criticizes his players openly and privately.
As far as recruiting. He has had some of the most talented teams in the nation. Just look at how many players have been drafted over the past 5 years. Talent is not the problem at UGA. Perno is the problem.
As far as development, Perno has made great players mediocre and good players bad.
Wow. Thanks for that perspective.
No problem. It seems that nobody associated with the program will step forward and speak up. I was fortunate enough to attend a lot of games and sit/stand with the fathers of the players (my brother being one of them). Most of the comments and experiences with Georgia baseball were not positive at all. Some of these fathers actually played professional ball and did not have very good things to say about how their sons were coached and treated on the field and dugout. Obviously, they would not come forward for fear that their sons would suffer Perno's wrath, which could potentially harn their playing time and eventually their draft status. I'm just surprised the the AD has not been active in the UGA baseball issue. Just listen to Perno's interviews and read his quotes. At times they can be down right inappropriate and disruptive to team chemistry.
There is no reason that UGA baseball should not be making the regionals every year.
I've wondered how his...approach...with the media has been taken within the team. I think the AD will absolutely be involved this year.
Being a student from '03-'08 I had the opportunity to take classes with a bunch of athletes and was able to meet and hang out with a number of baseball players. The older guys on the '06 CWS team seemed to not care too much for Perno. None of them ever remarked that they hated him but I got the sense he was not well liked. On the other hand, the veterans on the '08 team, who were freshman and sophomores on the '06 team, seemed to embrace Perno and would outwardly talk about Perno's competitiveness and fire. Guys like Beckham and Piesel seemed to love him.
There is no way to dispute that Perno throws players under the bus. He always has. The first time I heard him take the blame in a post game interview was after the Saturday game against Alabama two weeks ago.
You also can't dispute Perno's love for UGA. He always talks about the pride and love he has for the University as a whole. I have great memories of the 3 CWS teams while I was a student, some of the best from my time in Athens. Perno deserves credit for that success just like he deserves all the blame he should be getting now.
However, Georgia baseball should never, ever be this bad. To make it worse, the program has been completely irrelevant on the national scene since the great collapse of '09 after reaching a #1 ranking. There's no doubt the baseball program is in need of a new direction with a new leader. No matter what your thoughts on Perno are, it's hard to make a case for him at this point.
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