Texas Baseball News (Wed 10:13 AM)

[closetojumping]

5 minutes ago, goathumper said:

College baseball players are getting offered six figure NIL deals???

Yes. Skenes got $1M from LSU two years ago. College baseball is at the point of being able to compete with mid-lower round draft pick money for many roster spots and a much better lifestyle for 2-4 years versus riding buses in the minors. 

If you're surprised by this, I shudder to think about how you'd react if you saw the football and basketball side of things.

4 minutes ago, Blake Munroe said:

In my defense, I never said the bottom half of the SEC.  I said that number would be closer to 8, rather than 1. LSU, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Florida and Ole Miss are for sure ahead of Texas' NIL efforts in baseball. Tennessee has done well there, along with Vanderbilt. 

This doesn't just come from the Texas side, either. 

Yes, NIL definitely played a role in guys like Witt, LBJ, etc coming back. There's no denying that. They got their fair share.

With that said, there's a ton of money being thrown around in the SEC.  LSU is offering HS kids so much money it's insane. Proven portal players are going for much more than that. Texas A&M paid A LOT for Braden Montgomery.

A very high-level prospect (who holds offers from most of those programs listed above) told my son the other day what some schools are offering. It's a whole other ballgame.

What a lot of these programs are exceling at is getting big time sponsors (LSU/Marucci for example) to help out, rather than crowd funding.  That part hasn't been easy, for whatever reason, for Texas. 

Baseball NIL is improving, but there's still a gap between Texas and a few select other schools.

Many baseball programs in the SEC (NIL wise) are offering everything paid for, plus some pocket money too. Texas baseball is not at the level where they can pay for everyone to essentially be on full scholarship at the moment.   

LSU and Arkansas are ahead of everyone else, and Texas is right in the thick behind them. Moneywhipping one player, which is what ATM did, isn't getting out in front in NIL. It's being a drunken sailor fresh off the boat in a new harbor, which is who ATM has been in NIL dating back to when it was called playing the bag game. ATM isn't committing major NIL resources to baseball on the whole and the guy who helped on the Montgomery effort isn't always going to help - just ask Jimbo. Any school, at any point in time, in any sport, can do something crazy for a single player. It happens every cycle in football and basketball. We'll see it happen in other sports going forward. That isn't foundational or directional with NIL building though.

Regarding Florida and Ole Miss for baseball, we'll have to agree to disagree. I already laid out for you the rest of the complications in examining and comparing NIL across many programs and understanding where Texas is at in the landscape. A high school player claiming certain dollar figures should only be believed if you see that crap in writing. 

Referencing where NIL sits if it is accurate in comparison to the tip top of the heap is fine, but the situation isn't dire. There are 299 D1 baseball programs. Texas NIL is top 4-8 in the country. 

As to corporate, outside of Marucci, I'm unfamiliar with other major corporate support for an individual program somewhere unless the Arkansas families are diverting through their corporate side, which is what the former LSU player/trainer is doing at Marucci. The work on the corporate end for Texas across all sports is burgeoning and will be a national leader over the longer haul. Folks forget that NIL is still a baby. Just now almost 3 years old. 

As Texas enters the SEC, any lamentations about where NIL sits in comparison to any other program in any other sport is unwarranted handwringing with few exceptions. LSU and Arkansas in baseball, OU in softball, and SCar in women's basketball are all formidable. The gap was wide early in baseball and that will close over time. Maybe the OU gap never closes because that program is so important to OU. Texas has met SCar where they are at in women's hoops, if not surpassing them. That's it. Texas is either the leader or at-level with others across the rest of the board and where we are even, we will be leavin'. Not saying there isn't a ton of work to be done, but that is a never-ending given.

[qaertyisthatdude]

😂 that’s the only news you need to know about Texas Baseball.  At least the Texas Rangers look good.

[horns96]

The NIL support will be there for the right coach.

[Realist Horn]

Good awful pitching last night. Time to put pressure on Pierce. 

[CoachBobbyFinstock]

On 3/28/2024 at 10:05 AM, closetojumping said:

Arkansas and LSU are ahead of Texas in baseball NIL. The Marucci money certainly puts LSU at the top of the class. The Hunt family and other uber wealthy folks for Arkansas have chosen to emphasize NIL on baseball. Tennessee beats its chest but they are not ahead of Texas in NIL unless marginally so. If they were able to flex the way they want folks to believe, they'd have kept Chase Burns. 

Any coach, for any program, is going to tell you they don't have enough NIL. Some guys on the collective side feeling the weight of delivering for a program will always tell you they don't have enough either. As a reporter, you're also an easy mark for getting word out there that someone somewhere doesn't have enough NIL support. 

Texas is not in the bottom half of NIL in the 16 team SEC for baseball. It's not even close, and if you really believe that, you are flatly wrong. It also won't be the case going forward. Now, Pierce choosing to more evenly distribute NIL is probably a strategic error on his part. That isn't what they're doing at LSU, Arkansas, Clemson, or Miami. That's a different discussion, however.

TY I’m tired of the poor Texas NIL excuse. Again CDC didn’t say that. Not sure why he would  blatantly lie about it.

CDC also said the pride of the University of Texas will not be entrusted to the weak and timid. Shots fired if anyone paid attention to that. CDC was very short on baseball and was very complimentary of a lot of other programs. It was an interview with Trey E. Told me everything I needed to see.

I don’t believe he’ll let baseball flounder when the directors cup means a lot to him. Baseball is  the worst program on campus with the major sports.

Behind football, softball, both hoops and of course volleyball. Tennis and swimming are also better.

[Jerry K]

On 3/27/2024 at 10:24 AM, Jerry K said:

Thanks Blake. Man I hope T Witt can make it back this season. Doesn’t sound like that’s going to happen.
 

A series win this weekend and they’re back in the drivers seat. I was so pumped for Boogie! Hope he keeps it rolling. Also Hurley seems to be doing better too. If he could come back as a solid weekend pen arm that would be a huge help. I think O’Dowd has lost his starting job at 2nd. Dee Kennedy saved 2 runs in that game last night snagging balls Jack wouldn’t even have tried to get. 

@CoachBobbyFinstock you laughed at my comment. Why? 

[closetojumping]

On 3/27/2024 at 2:02 PM, closetojumping said:

Update:

[horns96]

After seeing Pierce's game-three post-game interview with KXAN, he knows it's on the wall.

Excerpts- 

"18-year old kids", "have to go to class", "we're alway evaluating", "turn it around".