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I know people are balking at mentions of Will Bolt, with the primary concern being that we shouldn't only be going after people with Husker ties.

 

Bolt is a pretty qualified coach. Here's a bit of his resume from the Texas A&M website:

 

Quote

The Conroe, Texas native was associate head coach for the Cornhuskers from 2012-14, serving under Darin Erstad. Bolt helped the Huskers get back to the NCAA Tournament in 2014 after a five-year hiatus. Nebraska was one of the top offenses in the Big Ten Conference last season and ranked 19th nationally in hits (623), 30th in triples (19) and 31st in batting average (.293). Nebraska’s defense was also one of the best units in the country in 2014. With a new starter at first base, third base, shortstop, left field and center field, the Huskers ranked 21st in the country with a .976 fielding percentage.

Under Bolt’s watch in 2013, Nebraska’s defense turned in its best performance in school history. The Huskers ranked second in the nation with a .981 fielding percentage, setting school and Big Ten records. The Husker offense improved under Bolt’s tutelage in 2013, ranking in the top three in the Big Ten in eight offensive categories.

Prior to his tenure at Nebraska, Bolt served four years as head coach at Texarkana College from 2008-11. He led the Bulldogs to a pair of Region XIV championships during his four-year stint. Bolt guided the Bulldogs to back-to-back Region XIV championships (2009 and 2010) during a stretch of four straight Regional Tournament appearances and four 30-plus win seasons. Bolt, who was 140-82 (.631) at Texarkana, helped over 20 players sign with Division I schools.

Bolt has been in the collegiate coaching ranks for 10 years, spending the 2005 season as Nebraska’s volunteer assistant during the program’s school-record breaking 57-win campaign, prior to his two years on Texas A&M’s coaching staff.

One of the top infielders in Husker history, he finished his playing career holding six school records and caught the final out of the 2001 Super Regional to send Nebraska to its first College World Series.

The Conroe High School product started his coaching career by serving as a graduate manager for the 2004 Huskers, and he was then named head coach for the Parkville Sluggers (M.I.N.K. League) over the summer. Upon being named a volunteer assistant at Nebraska in 2005, Bolt helped direct the Husker infielders and hitters, as NU had its best season in school history. Nebraska compiled a 57-15 record and swept the Big 12 regular-season and tournament championships en route to capturing Nebraska’s first CWS win. Nebraska finished the season with a then-school record .975 fielding percentage.

 

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34 minutes ago, Huskers93-97 said:

Power 5 experience, experience with success at the P5 level, snag someone from the south who may have some recruiting ties. Pull some of the southern talent up north. Back the truck up to Arkansas?

 

Assuming you're talking about DVH coming back.  While it's a fun thought Nebraska would have to make him the highest paid coach in the country and probably throw a sweetner on top of all that.  Which would set you back $1.5mm/year and I still doubt DVH would leave Arkansas.  I'll be really interested to see where NU falls on the salary scale.  NU was getting such a hometown discount on Erstad that using his $200k salary isn't a reasonable benchmark.  UM's coach makes $400k for comparison's sake.  If Moos wants a proven P5 guy...NU is probably in the $600k range minimum plus a generous assistant coach pool.

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1 hour ago, Xmas32 said:

 

Assuming you're talking about DVH coming back.  While it's a fun thought Nebraska would have to make him the highest paid coach in the country and probably throw a sweetner on top of all that.  Which would set you back $1.5mm/year and I still doubt DVH would leave Arkansas.  I'll be really interested to see where NU falls on the salary scale.  NU was getting such a hometown discount on Erstad that using his $200k salary isn't a reasonable benchmark.  UM's coach makes $400k for comparison's sake.  If Moos wants a proven P5 guy...NU is probably in the $600k range minimum plus a generous assistant coach pool.

Moos will get er done. 5 Million on Frost, 4 Million on Hoiberg. Lets just spend 1 Million on baseball and make it an even 10 Million on the big 3 sports. 1 Million should get you a big boy coach.

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2 minutes ago, Huskers93-97 said:

Moos will get er done. 5 Million on Frost, 4 Million on Hoiberg. Lets just spend 1 Million on baseball and make it an even 10 Million on the big 3 sports. 1 Million should get you a big boy coach.

I do agree that if you're willing to spend $1mm/yr for a baseball coach, you're gonna get the attention of a whole lotta people.

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8 minutes ago, Xmas32 said:

I do agree that if you're willing to spend $1mm/yr for a baseball coach, you're gonna get the attention of a whole lotta people.

I agree. I dont know what the actual number is we should spend. But I think we should pay to play with the big boys. We have the College World Series in our back yard. I think its crazy to not pay for the right guy to get you there a couple times a decade.

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Just a question based on my complete ignorance of the finances of college baseball: if we spend $1 million, or half a mil, or whatever on a baseball coach, assuming he is successful, is that an investment the AD would get back?

 

I mean, $5M for Scott Frost can end up being a real a bargain if he is successful because football brings so many millions to the athletic department and the university, same with Hoiberg since Basketball also is a revenue generator. But what does the annual bottom line on baseball look like? Obviously we want to be competitive and successful, but what kind of financial impact can a good baseball coach have compared to a mediocre one?

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14 minutes ago, Ulty said:

Just a question based on my complete ignorance of the finances of college baseball: if we spend $1 million, or half a mil, or whatever on a baseball coach, assuming he is successful, is that an investment the AD would get back?

 

I mean, $5M for Scott Frost can end up being a real a bargain if he is successful because football brings so many millions to the athletic department and the university, same with Hoiberg since Basketball also is a revenue generator. But what does the annual bottom line on baseball look like? Obviously we want to be competitive and successful, but what kind of financial impact can a good baseball coach have compared to a mediocre one?

 

I would consider a coach's salary as an operating expense, and not an investment (or capital expense).  I haven't been able to find a recent NU Athletic Department budget, but from what I remember, the baseball team has been a near break-even program within the athletic department.  That may have been under the former Big 12, so the baseball team may be losing money now as I don't think they are generating the same revenue (compared to the past) and I think that travel expenses are now greater under the Big Ten.  Either way, the baseball team would probably continue to be near break-even or have minor losses.

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36 minutes ago, ColoradoHusk said:

 

I would consider a coach's salary as an operating expense, and not an investment (or capital expense).  I haven't been able to find a recent NU Athletic Department budget, but from what I remember, the baseball team has been a near break-even program within the athletic department.  That may have been under the former Big 12, so the baseball team may be losing money now as I don't think they are generating the same revenue (compared to the past) and I think that travel expenses are now greater under the Big Ten.  Either way, the baseball team would probably continue to be near break-even or have minor losses.

 

The Baseball program under Van Horn and the first few years of the Andersen era actually turned a profit--I remember because we were lauded as being one of the few in NCAA Baseball to pull that feat (other schools at the time were Texass and Arkansas, go figure).

 

It was incidentally this profitable success which was why our program's park was one of the few that was included in the MVP Baseball game from the PS2/XBox era (we were good, drew fans, and made money). Save for the Top 20 or so parks, everyone else had to play in a generic college ballpark (so for Northwestern, it was an unrealistic upgrade). 

 

I honestly haven't bothered to look into this since we joined the B1G since it seemed it took home regional action and a strong regular season to pull off turning a profit and...well...with the added travel costs, you get the picture. :dunno

 

3 hours ago, knapplc said:

I know people are balking at mentions of Will Bolt, with the primary concern being that we shouldn't only be going after people with Husker ties.

 

Bolt is a pretty qualified coach. Here's a bit of his resume from the Texas A&M website:

 

 

 

Those are some damn fine qualifications. If we could hire Bolt, we might be able to keep Silva to boot (depending on the pool for assistants). 

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28 minutes ago, VectorVictor said:

 

The Baseball program under Van Horn and the first few years of the Andersen era actually turned a profit--I remember because we were lauded as being one of the few in NCAA Baseball to pull that feat (other schools at the time were Texass and Arkansas, go figure).

 

It was incidentally this profitable success which was why our program's park was one of the few that was included in the MVP Baseball game from the PS2/XBox era (we were good, drew fans, and made money). Save for the Top 20 or so parks, everyone else had to play in a generic college ballpark (so for Northwestern, it was an unrealistic upgrade). 

 

I honestly haven't bothered to look into this since we joined the B1G since it seemed it took home regional action and a strong regular season to pull off turning a profit and...well...with the added travel costs, you get the picture. :dunno

 

 

Those are some damn fine qualifications. If we could hire Bolt, we might be able to keep Silva to boot (depending on the pool for assistants). 

 

Do we want to keep Silva?

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35 minutes ago, VectorVictor said:

 

The Baseball program under Van Horn and the first few years of the Andersen era actually turned a profit--I remember because we were lauded as being one of the few in NCAA Baseball to pull that feat (other schools at the time were Texass and Arkansas, go figure).

 

It was incidentally this profitable success which was why our program's park was one of the few that was included in the MVP Baseball game from the PS2/XBox era (we were good, drew fans, and made money). Save for the Top 20 or so parks, everyone else had to play in a generic college ballpark (so for Northwestern, it was an unrealistic upgrade). 

 

I honestly haven't bothered to look into this since we joined the B1G since it seemed it took home regional action and a strong regular season to pull off turning a profit and...well...with the added travel costs, you get the picture. :dunno

 

 

Those are some damn fine qualifications. If we could hire Bolt, we might be able to keep Silva to boot (depending on the pool for assistants). 

 

I played the bejesus out of that game on PS2.  I'm pretty sure I can remember all the custom parks...

 

Rosenblatt

Haymarket

FSU's field

GT's field

Arkansas

Cal State Fullerton

Stanford

Tennessee

Rice

Texas

USC

Clemson

Arizona

Notre Dame

St. Johns (lol why)

LSU

Miami

ASU

Pretty sure both Mississippi schools

 

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2 hours ago, Ulty said:

Just a question based on my complete ignorance of the finances of college baseball: if we spend $1 million, or half a mil, or whatever on a baseball coach, assuming he is successful, is that an investment the AD would get back?

 

I'm not sure they're really looking to get those dollars back.  As in, I'm not sure that's really a consideration.

 

But the most recent numbers I could find on a quick search (2015 via LJS) show baseball lost $752k ($2.3M in expenses against $1.5M in revenues).  

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