Orange Blooded [2528]

TigerPulse: 98%

Posts: 3361

Joined: 4/11/02

Hop into you DeLorean, if you please. answer me this..(long)

Mar 31, 2015, 3:10 PM

Would you have fired Bill Wilhelm in 1985? it seems to me that this time in Wilhelm's career is fairly similar to where jack is now.

Clemson had been a premier team in the late 70's and early 80's, but it had been since 1980 since Clemson has been to the college world series, when they promptly went 0-2 and bar-b-que. alls well that ends well since the tigers beat the chickens twice as regional host to advance. things seemed to look a little better in 1981 when Clemson hosted a regional, but quickly was eliminated at home by wichita state and east Tennessee state. it looks a little like Connecticut beating Clemson twice in a row in 2011, but at least there Clemson was one win away from advancing.

Wilhelm went from 1960 to 1976 between CWS births. Leggett is in is longest drought at five years, last making the CWS in 2010.

the optimism was short lived as Clemson failed to make the tournament at all between 1982 and 1986. jack leggett has made the tournament ever year but one during his tenure, granted in an expanded field but also in a dramatically different ACC including Florida State, Miami, and in an improved league. 1985 was a low point for Wilhelm that saw losses to The Citadel, Valdosta State, UNCCharlotte, Series loss to UNC Wilmington, Campbell, Series loss to Virginia Tech, East Tennessee State, Kentucky, Florida International, and an un precidented 0-6 sweep from our feathered friends from the midlands, 0-6 in a single season. now i realize that dabo lost five in a row to the chickens in football, but 0-6 in baseball in one season?????? is that even forgivable?

Clemson was not ranked in the final polls between 1981 and 1986, fyi Leggett has finished in the top 25 in all but four seasons, total.

i guess my point here is squelching the fact that Leggett has "run a traditional Power into the ground" i get that it is in different eras, but my point is that leggett has still done an amazing job with the program. i get that we are struggling this season and and a case can be made for moving in a different direction. but throwing leggett under the bus and claiming that he ruined what Wilhelm built is comical.

the frustrating thing about being a leggett basher started in 2006 when we lost the final games in the cws. i was in attendance in the first two games and Clemson could not have played any harder or been well coached. the final game against fullerton or whoever sucked, but how could you fault the team for being within one game of the final four? i feel like Clemson fans are entitled to win a championship, and those are unrealistic expectations. has leggett made mistakes, absolutely! but in my opinion there are at least a hundred teams would would trade places with Clemson baseball.

both Leggett and Wilhelm have been to Omaha six times, with leggett coming away as twice as many wins in the CWS as Wilhelm. Leggett has caught crap for not performing in the CWS, but remember Bill Wilhelm NEVER won more than one game in Omaha, despite finishings seasons nine times in the top ten in the final polls. Leggett has only been 0-2 once and has won at least two games in Omaha three times. Wilhelm never had to deal with back-to-back champions from our hated rivals. had sc been average, my feeling is that Leggett would be riding high and have had the support to be a power again.

I travel to as many baseball games i can, but i can tell you without a doubt that Clemson is behind SCAR, UNC, NCSU, Coastal, Va, VPI....and the list goes on when it comes to facilities. it's not about the stadiums, its about the player ammonites and we are sorely lacking. - i know that beautiful tiger field is the best for fans, we are lacking when it it comes to player support. this is being addressed, this is all well and good, but we are playing catch-up to so many other teams both within and without the ACC.

neither coach has had a lost in record. though Wilhelm came within one game of having a %500 record or worse, three times, Leggett has come within four games of a %5000 once. Wilhelm

i guess my thing is that Clemson baseball is a premium, we are/can be as well as any other team in the country. ill be honest, i wonder if it is wise fire leggett or or ride it out like we did Wilhelm. i am providing information, not an opinion. bottom line is that we all whats best for Clemson and the Clemson Baseball Program.

GO TiGERS!

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

ALL IN!!

fired Wilhelm in 1985, the same year marty mcfly warped thirty years in the past and later the future. though the eras are different,

- i get there were not as many teams in the tournament those days, but the fact still remains clemson won ZERO games in the ncaa tournament between 1981 and 1986. Leggett has had two years total, that he did not win at least one game in the tournament.

- i get that Wilhelm is a legend in his own right, but why is Leggett held to a higher standard than the legend himself?

- i get that Clemson was the class of the ACC for so long, but why does the program get bashed since so many teams have put buckets of money into their respective baseball programs, while clemson has simply watched.

- i get that clemson has been down in baseball the past few years, but we've been to the CWS twice in the past 10 years. Wilhelm only made the CWS once in his past 13 years or so.

- i get that wilhelm won a bucket of acc tournaments, how many of those were outside the state of south carolina?

i guess there are two sides to every story, but i am on the side that had the chickens not won the two back-to-back,
leggett's seat would be warm at worst, nowhere close to the bashing he's taken since the mid 00's. . he would have not however been trashed like he is on tigernet after each and every loss and sometimes wins. i do think we need to take a long hard long look at where the program is headed, but i feel like leggett has done at least enough to earn the respect of tiger fans everywhere. it saddens me that he has been trashed like he has.

Hop into you DeLorean, if you please. answer me this..(long)

I don't think it's so much Jack

Keep in mind

Re: Keep in mind

Re: Keep in mind

Yes...but

See my post above.***

Re: This crowd does not take that into consideration.***

Re: Hop into you DeLorean, if you please. answer me this..(long)

I do understand the comparisons but my complaint is I see

Re: I do understand the comparisons but my complaint is I see

Re: I do understand the comparisons but my complaint is I see

Teams also used to pad their win totals in early games

Re: I do understand the comparisons but my complaint is I see

He's also far and away the leader in walks/hbp and runs

The arguement that playing more ball creates worse defense is stupid.

Re: You did not have to come from an upper middle class

I also get very tired of the "destroyed what Bill built"

Re: I also get very tired of the "destroyed what Bill built"

Re: New blood has been needed for several years. This old

No TigerNet during Wilhelm's era.***

Re: No TigerNet during Wilhelm's era.***

I think that is my biggest point of all

Not choosing sides

love the feedback but answer the question.....would you have

Impossible to answer in hindsight

How were the fundamentals and what direction was the trend?***

TigerBoard POTD