When trying to explain why USC has had the advantage over
Mar 4, 2014, 5:58 PM
us in baseball the last few years, a lot folks offer that USC has become elite in the last few years. This is true, but it's only part of the equation. Clemson has simply not been a real high level program in recent years. In the last 5 years, our highest win total was 45 which was done the 1 year we went to Omaha. NC, on the other hand went 3 times during that stretch and had a 51 and 59 win total 2 of those 5 years.
USC have been very good, but we've slipped. There's no denying it. I've seen college baseball experts say we're about the 4th-5th best program in the ACC the last few years. With our fan support, we can do better. I think the reason we are not elite is largely due to a decline in the quality of our assistant coaches. However, I think Jack is (commendably) very loyal so I don't expect much to change any time soon.
I want to also say that Jack is not a bad coach. In fact, it's not even fair to call him average. He's a good coach, but I don't think he's on the same level as some of the coaches of the elite programs right now. I think of Clemson as being a top 10 college baseball program (job).