Sawyers Steps Down

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Sawyers is leaving the program to persue other oppertunities. Bingam is moving into a different position and Nebraska is now looking for a new pitching coach.

[hastingshusker]

Where'd you hear that?

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The Nebraska baseball team’s trying 2007 season may be over, but there’s still some shakeup left in the Huskers.

 

On Friday, coach Mike Anderson announced that five-year assistant Andy Sawyers is leaving the program to pursue other opportunities and that Dave Bingham, the pitching coach for the past two seasons, will now handle different responsibilities in his assistant’s role.

 

“I think this whole thing is all encompassing. There’s not one piece without another,” said Anderson, whose fifth NU club endured multiple player suspensions and dismissals, went 32-27, finished fourth in the Big 12 Conference and had a 2-2 showing at the NCAA regional in Tempe, Ariz. “In order to move the program to where it needed to be, just like in a game, I think there’s adjustments that need to be made.

 

“Our whole staff had a chance to be honest about our evaluation process. I think there’s opportunity that you can create from everything (and) this was mutually agreed upon.”

 

The 32-year-old Sawyers, a Nebraska graduate and two-year player for the Huskers who worked with the catchers, was the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator, said he’s considering a couple of options working in professional baseball and another outside of the sport.

 

“Dee and I have been here five years and this place means a lot to us,” Sawyers said of himself and his wife, “but it’s kind of a thing where we’re ready to try something new. I felt the time (to do that) was right now, in order to be fair to Coach Anderson.”

 

Sawyers admitted he was surprised to hear that Bingham, who was head coach at Kansas from 1988-95, would no longer be working with the Husker pitchers. But Anderson said people should be careful to look at that change as a demotion.

 

“It’s a restructuring. Coach Bingham knows all facets of the game,” he said. “Every part of the game, he’s been a big part of — from team defense to the offensive side.”

 

Anderson, who spent eight seasons as a Nebraska assistant before replacing Dave Van Horn following the 2002 season, will return to his original role working with hitters. He served as Nebraska’s hitting coach from 1996 to 2005.

 

His search for a pitching coach could take up to a month.

 

“I need to evaluate, (but) I have a pretty clear idea of what I think can win in this conference,” he said.

 

LJS