What's up with your program?

Haven't won a conference tournament since 2017.

Haven't been to a regional since 2017.

Haven't won a regional since 2013.

Since 2017, y'all have gone:

23-28 2018
26-33 2019
2-14 2020 (Covid year)
13-14-1 so far in 2021

Dead last in the West Rankings. How long is Matt Braga on contract for and will he be bought out if he doesn't perform soon?

Considering how good you guys were up until Graham's last few years... it's shocking how far you guys have fallen. What happened? Graham lose quality assistants towards his end years? Bad AD leadership? Bad hires? Loss of recruiting pipelines? I'm puzzled. CUSA needs a strong Rice baseball program again!

(04-06-2021 08:59 PM)TTT Wrote:  Graham lose quality assistants towards his end years? Bad AD leadership? Bad hires? Loss of recruiting pipelines?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Other teams started using his advancing age against him in recruiting. No plan for develping a coach-in-waiting. No communication between coach and AD. Quality assisstants got tired of waiting.

Plus other schools found more creative ways of funding kids on partial scholarship. A 1/3 scholarship at Rice still left the parents with about $40K to pay.

(04-07-2021 08:25 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(04-06-2021 08:59 PM)TTT Wrote:  Graham lose quality assistants towards his end years? Bad AD leadership? Bad hires? Loss of recruiting pipelines?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Other teams started using his advancing age against him in recruiting. No plan for develping a coach-in-waiting. No communication between coach and AD. Quality assisstants got tired of waiting.

Plus other schools found more creative ways of funding kids on partial scholarship. A 1/3 scholarship at Rice still left the parents with about $40K to pay.

Can Rice do whatever it is that Vandy is doing to get better schollies for their baseball players?

(04-07-2021 08:39 AM)Eagleholic Wrote:  

(04-07-2021 08:25 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(04-06-2021 08:59 PM)TTT Wrote:  Graham lose quality assistants towards his end years? Bad AD leadership? Bad hires? Loss of recruiting pipelines?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Other teams started using his advancing age against him in recruiting. No plan for develping a coach-in-waiting. No communication between coach and AD. Quality assisstants got tired of waiting.

Plus other schools found more creative ways of funding kids on partial scholarship. A 1/3 scholarship at Rice still left the parents with about $40K to pay.

Can Rice do whatever it is that Vandy is doing to get better schollies for their baseball players?

Yes-We have a program that began a couple years back (after Graham left) that hopefully should help: https://financialaid.rice.edu/rice-investment

That said, Bragga is not doing a good job with on-field coaching and recruiting. Most long-term baseball fans want him gone, but don't trust our AD to make a good hire to replace him... So it's a bit of conundrum. We shall see how the rest of the season goes. I think if he wins less than 10 conference games (what a pathetic threshold), he's probably gone. More than that, he gets another year. Who knows though!

(04-07-2021 09:53 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(04-07-2021 08:39 AM)Eagleholic Wrote:  

(04-07-2021 08:25 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(04-06-2021 08:59 PM)TTT Wrote:  Graham lose quality assistants towards his end years? Bad AD leadership? Bad hires? Loss of recruiting pipelines?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Other teams started using his advancing age against him in recruiting. No plan for develping a coach-in-waiting. No communication between coach and AD. Quality assisstants got tired of waiting.

Plus other schools found more creative ways of funding kids on partial scholarship. A 1/3 scholarship at Rice still left the parents with about $40K to pay.

Can Rice do whatever it is that Vandy is doing to get better schollies for their baseball players?

Yes-We have a program that began a couple years back (after Graham left) that hopefully should help: https://financialaid.rice.edu/rice-investment

That said, Bragga is not doing a good job with on-field coaching and recruiting. Most long-term baseball fans want him gone, but don't trust our AD to make a good hire to replace him... So it's a bit of conundrum. We shall see how the rest of the season goes. I think if he wins less than 10 conference games (what a pathetic threshold), he's probably gone. More than that, he gets another year. Who knows though!

Considering yall have what is now probably the worst draw for crossover opponents in ODU and Charlotte the road is a lot tougher. Your travel partner UTSA is having a up year (well, up until last weekend vs USM), you have La Tech this weekend and still have to play USM so it could be a long rest of the season. But at the same time that might be what Rice fans need to get Bragga gone if that's what it takes.

remaining games with RPI as of 4/7/21
LT x4 (9)
Incarnate Word (177)
@ODU x4 (30)
@UTSA x4 (98)
USM x4 (21)
@UAB x4 (213)
CLT x4 (28)
@ Texas (17)

(04-07-2021 04:13 PM)usm99 Wrote:  

(04-07-2021 09:53 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(04-07-2021 08:39 AM)Eagleholic Wrote:  

(04-07-2021 08:25 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(04-06-2021 08:59 PM)TTT Wrote:  Graham lose quality assistants towards his end years? Bad AD leadership? Bad hires? Loss of recruiting pipelines?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Other teams started using his advancing age against him in recruiting. No plan for develping a coach-in-waiting. No communication between coach and AD. Quality assisstants got tired of waiting.

Plus other schools found more creative ways of funding kids on partial scholarship. A 1/3 scholarship at Rice still left the parents with about $40K to pay.

Can Rice do whatever it is that Vandy is doing to get better schollies for their baseball players?

Yes-We have a program that began a couple years back (after Graham left) that hopefully should help: https://financialaid.rice.edu/rice-investment

That said, Bragga is not doing a good job with on-field coaching and recruiting. Most long-term baseball fans want him gone, but don't trust our AD to make a good hire to replace him... So it's a bit of conundrum. We shall see how the rest of the season goes. I think if he wins less than 10 conference games (what a pathetic threshold), he's probably gone. More than that, he gets another year. Who knows though!

Considering yall have what is now probably the worst draw for crossover opponents in ODU and Charlotte the road is a lot tougher. Your travel partner UTSA is having a up year (well, up until last weekend vs USM), you have La Tech this weekend and still have to play USM so it could be a long rest of the season. But at the same time that might be what Rice fans need to get Bragga gone if that's what it takes.

remaining games with RPI as of 4/7/21
LT x4 (9)
Incarnate Word (177)
@ODU x4 (30)
@UTSA x4 (98)
USM x4 (21)
@UAB x4 (213)
CLT x4 (28)
@ Texas (17)

But hey, if we go undefeated the rest of the season we can probably get an at-large .