New HC being announced

[Ranger12]

http://blog.al.com/trackingtigers/2008/06/pawlowski_is_frontrunner_for_a.html

John Pawlowski from the College of Charleston to be announced as the new HC.

John Pawlowski has been named Auburn's baseball coach.

Pawlowski, head coach at College of Charleston for the past nine seasons, accepted an offer from Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs on Friday afternoon. He replaces Tom Slater, who was fired on May 17 after four seasons.

Pawlowski was a standout pitcher at Clemson, pitched for eight seasons in the major leagues and was an assistant at Clemson before moving to College of Charleston.

"This is a tremendous opportunity and I'm looking forward to helping bring the Auburn baseball program back to national prominence," Pawlowski said. "There is a rich history and tradition here at Auburn and I plan on working tirelessly to make this a national contender."
 

Pawlowski posted a 338-192-1 record during his tenure at College of Charleston, including a 180-67 record from 2004-07, the most wins in school and Southern Conference history for a four-year span.

Pawloswki led the Cougars to three consecutive NCAA Regional appearances from 2004-06, while winning Southern Conference regular season titles in 2004 and 2005. His 2004 squad set a then-school record with 47 wins and bettered that mark in 2005 with 48 victories. The 2004 conference title and NCAA appearance were both firsts in the program's history.

Pawlowski, 44, led Charleston to unprecedented heights in 2006. Charleston, which posted a 46-17 overall record and a 20-7 league mark, finished ranked as high as 12th nationally after winning the school's first Southern Conference Tournament title and the NCAA Lexington Regional championship. The team also made its first-ever Super Regional appearance before bowing out to Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

"We are very excited to have John Pawlowski as our next baseball coach at Auburn University," Jacobs said. "Coach Pawlowski has experienced a tremendous amount of success as a head coach and has led several championship ballclubs. We look forward to him returning the Auburn program to national prominence."

In 2007, the Cougars won their fourth conference title in as many seasons after winning the Southern Conference regular season title. This past season, the Cougars posted a 39-20 overall record and an 18-9 league mark. The Cougars set Southern Conference records for homers in a season (130), runs (627), RBI (587), total bases (1,304),slugging percentage (.607) and walks (329).

Pawlowski was Southern Conference Coach of the Year in 2004, 2005 and 2007.

Prior to his arrival at College of Charleston, Pawlowski was the pitching coach at Arizona State in 1999 and served as pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Clemson from 1994-98. During that time, the Tigers made five consecutive NCAA regional appearances and two trips to the College World Series (1995 and 1996).

While an assistant at Clemson, Pawlowski's staff led the country in earned run average in 1996 with a staff that featured the No.1 and No. 4 overall picks in the MLB draft that year in Kris Benson and Billy Koch. In his five years at Clemson, the Tigers had 15 pitchers drafted, while the recruiting classes ranked in the top 10 nationally each year.

[Kaos]

Hope I'm wrong, but I think Jacobs has screwed another pooch.  He's the worst AD in all of college sports.  What do we have to do to get rid of this ruddy-faced hack?

[Jumbo]

Hope I'm wrong, but I think Jacobs has screwed another pooch.  He's the worst AD in all of college sports.  What do we have to do to get rid of this ruddy-faced hack?

It's possible, the sad thing is it will take years to know if made a bad hire.

[Kaos]

It's possible, the sad thing is it will take years to know if made a bad hire.

Given the choices he had -- the guy at Jax State, Casey, etc... -- he went and hired a guy that seems, to me at least, to be a carbon copy of Slater even in appearance.  I don't know that the guy will be a bad hire and I hope he isn't, but Jacobs bungled the process if you ask me.

I hope Jacobs eventually learns how to do the job if we're stuck with his incompetent ass, but I don't have a lot of confidence in it.  He's an outright chump. 

[Jumbo]

Given the choices he had -- the guy at Jax State, Casey, etc... -- he went and hired a guy that seems, to me at least, to be a carbon copy of Slater even in appearance.  I don't know that the guy will be a bad hire and I hope he isn't, but Jacobs bungled the process if you ask me.

I hope Jacobs eventually learns how to do the job if we're stuck with his incompetent ass, but I don't have a lot of confidence in it.  He's an outright chump. 

He could have made a more attractive hire thats for sure.

[Aubie16]

a carbon copy of Slater 

At the time of the hire:

Slater was 37
Pawlowski is 44

Slater is a hitting coach.
Pawlowski is a pitching coach.

Slater had 3 years of experience as a head coach.
Pawlowski has 8 years of experience as a head coach.

Slater had never been to a NCAA regional, super regionals, or the CWS as a head coach.
Pawlowski has been to 3 NCAA regionals, one super regional, and no CWS.

Slater has never played professional baseball.
Pawlowski had a 9 year professional career.

In his ONLY 3 years as a head coach in the Southern Conference, Slater had a record of: 50-100.
In his last 4 years as a head coach in the southern Conference, Pawlowski had a record of: 180-67.

Tom Slater never won the SoCon Title.
Pawlowski has won 4 consecutive SoCon Titles.


Sorry Kaos, but I could not disagree more about these guys being from the same mold. They aren't even close. Your hatred of Jay Jacobs is getting in the way of seeing what actually happened. He made a good hire. This guy has experience as a head coach, and has had lots of success in the past.

You wanted to go with Casey Dunn instead of a guy with these credentials?   

[Ranger12]

I am not jumping up and down about the hire either. I do not understand why in-state guys like Pierce, Dunn, and Lowe were all mentioned at first, then seemed to be forgotten about. Pierce and Lowe are proven winners with tons of coaching experience. Even though Dunn was still young in his head coaching experience, he proved he could coach against and beat other SEC teams, including us. They all have experience recruiting inside the state and even in our neighboring states. Why did Jacobs and the PTBs keep looking further away? I am not to thrilled about how the process was done either. I have to wonder what happened during the interview process for these guys to  have been pushed aside.

With that said, I do not think Coach Paw is a bad hire either. He was not my first three or four choices (Pierce was my #1) and we could have done much worse. On paper, he is a much better hire then Slater. Aubie16 did a good job pointing out the difference in the hires. I have to admit that even though I would have liked to have seen Dunn and I was pulling for him also, Coach Paw's resume was much better then Casey's, so I guess I can't let my bias of Casey being a former player get in the way. Yet, like I said, Casey has SEC experience on top of in-state recruiting experience, which is something Coach Paw will have to start from scratch on. However, if Coach Paw can do here what he has done at CoC, I think we will be just fine.

I do think that Jacobs job should be on the line if Coach Paw does not work out. However, for the sake of the baseball program, I hope that does not happen.

[Aubie16]

I don't think they got "pushed aside" as the interview process went on. In my opinion, they were never serious candidates.

The fans were the reason that we heard their names mentioned early on in the search and that was all pure speculation. Fans know and like to talk about the local guys or the alumni of the school but when it came down to it, they just didn't have the credentials of the serious candidates.

I'm sure some contact between Auburn and those two guys took place, but it was all very preliminary and I think it was so we had some backup candidates if the others were to fall through. (like what happened when we had to hire Slater because of the SACS mess and the fact that we didn't have a President at the time.)

Anyways, I feel that the search was handled great and we offered our top choice in Gary Gilmore from Coastal Carolina but he turned us down for a couple of reasons that were all very reasonable. We then made a serious move for our 2nd choice and we got him. I'm personally excited about this hire and ready to see what he can do. He has had success everywhere he's been and has experience at a great baseball school in Clemson.

[Ranger12]

Have to disagree, with you. They were pushed aside. They were mentioned as candidates in numerous fishwraps early on. As a matter of fact, Lowe and Dunn were the first two mentioned in newspapers around the state. Keep in mind that Jacobs never released anything that made anybody an official candidate, so you can try to play the "they were never a candidate" card all you want. Everything released comes from inside sources, so I tend to go with that. Here is one link from earlier in the search about Lowe and Dunn just in case you think I am making things up:
http://decaturdaily.com/stories/11174.html

Here is another newspaper speculating about the candidates from:
http://www.dothaneagle.com/dea/sports/college/auburn/article/auburn_officials_mum_on_baseball_coach_search/19248/

So, as you can see, it was just not "fans" bringing those names up. However, think about what you said, that they were never candidates to begin with. Wouldn't that make Jacobs look even dumber if he did not even consider two proven in-state coaches like Pierce and Lowe? I mean, come on, look at Tom Walter's credentials, who was a rumored to be a candidate, and tell me how he has better credentials then Pierce or Lowe? Please explain to me how you do not think these guys did not have the credentials to be "serious candidates".

[Kaos]

jay Jacobs is an assclown. While I hate to see baseball sucking, I would rather the new baseball coach flame out so spectacularly that it costs Jacobs his job before he has to conduct the eventual inevitable search for a football coach.

[AUChizad]

jay Jacobs is an assclown. While I hate to see baseball sucking, I would rather the new baseball coach flame out so spectacularly that it costs Jacobs his job before he has to conduct the eventual inevitable search for a football coach.

You realize what a bammer you sound like for this, right?
I think it's a great hire. Here's hoping it pans out.

[Snaggletiger]

I'll admit, I was pulling for Pierce from the moment Slater was canned.  I heard an interview with him and Phil Paramore (Local sports talk guy who used to call Troy football games) just before this season started and Pierce all but said, if offered he'd be packing and moving to the Plains in a heartbeat.  Has anyone actually been to Troy?  Holy crap.  I'm VERY familiar with the place and have a friend who coaches there.  If you can win at Troy....you're good.  Pierce is a good coach.

But, water under the bridge.  That was just my choice.

This guy sounds like he has good credentials.  Slater brought absolutely NOTHING to the table when he was hired.  50-100???  What the fucking fuck???  Why was he ever hired at a place like Auburn with a rich baseball tradition and some of the best facitlities in America?  He set Auburn back 10 years.  But, this hire looks solid on paper.  You can't argue with his work to this point.  He's the type of guy that you look at and ask, "If he had the right facitities and the right situation......?"

Well, he's got it.  No excuses.  He's our guy and let's back his ass big time and help get this program back on the map. 

[Ranger12]

I'll admit, I was pulling for Pierce from the moment Slater was canned.  I heard an interview with him and Phil Paramore (Local sports talk guy who used to call Troy football games) just before this season started and Pierce all but said, if offered he'd be packing and moving to the Plains in a heartbeat.  Has anyone actually been to Troy?  Holy crap.  I'm VERY familiar with the place and have a friend who coaches there.  If you can win at Troy....you're good.  Pierce is a good coach.

But, water under the bridge.  That was just my choice.

This guy sounds like he has good credentials.  Slater brought absolutely NOTHING to the table when he was hired.  50-100???  What the fucking fuck???  Why was he ever hired at a place like Auburn with a rich baseball tradition and some of the best facitlities in America?  He set Auburn back 10 years.  But, this hire looks solid on paper.  You can't argue with his work to this point.  He's the type of guy that you look at and ask, "If he had the right facitities and the right situation......?"

Well, he's got it.  No excuses.  He's our guy and let's back his ass big time and help get this program back on the map. 

You said it. Though our choice was not the guy that got the job, it is hard to argue against Coach Paw's credentials either. I think we will be okay and as much as it pains me to say it...Jacobs may have gotten it right this time. I do admit that I was starting to get a bad feeling and thought Jacobs was about to screw this one up big time. Nothing is a done deal yet though. The guy still has to prove himself in the SEC, which the CoC is not in. So, I'll give him his year, maybe two year, learning curve and to get his team situated, but with what I have seen on his resume, I expect results fairly quickly after that. As much as Jacobs has disappointed me in the past, I never would wish any of the programs to do bad just to get rid of an AD or a coach. First, it would make the university look bad, but most importantly, our players don't deserve that.

[Kaos]

You realize what a bammer you sound like for this, right?
I think it's a great hire. Here's hoping it pans out.

I sound like a Bammer for being terrified that when (not if but when) Tuberville eventually leaves or retires, I don't want Jay Jacobs in charge of finding his replacement?   That given the choice of baseball suffering a little longer and exposing Jacobs for the chump he is or letting him stick around and then completely botch the football hire, I'd choose a little more suffering -- that makes me sound like a Bammer?

[Aubie16]

I don't understand the fascination with local guys.

Also, if you would like to trust Colin Mickle or the Decatur guy rather than Mark Murphy and Jason Caldwell, be my guest.

Mickle was just scanning the state and region for up and coming guys and mentioned them as "possible candidates". Believe it or not, those guys get a lot of their ideas and info from message boards like the Bunker and ITAT which are all just fans posting their opinion. Notice that he never said "according to sources" (at least that I saw.) I couldn't read the Decatur article because I am not a subscriber.

Is there anything besides newspaper speculation that leads you to believe Pierce, Dunn, or Lowe were ever serious candidates and not guys that were reached out to in preliminary searches?

I like the idea of a regional search and not being tied into hiring an Auburn guy or an in-state guy. Too many times you end up hiring the wrong guy for the wrong reasons. Hal Baird was an ECU guy if I remember correctly.

[Buzz Killington]

Think about the in-state guys for a second.  Pierce has done a great job at Troy, but he's a Bammer.  I know that shouldn't get in the way necessarily, but it did.  Lowe is what, 85 years old?  He may be the greatest coach ever at the level he's on, but that level doesn't even compare with the Southern Conference IMO.
Dunn was my choice from the beginning, just because he is a fiery kind of guy that would probably get results.  However, he is working on either his 2nd or 3rd year of head coaching experience.

I really wanted them to go after the guy from the College of Charleston, Gilmore.  However, in looking at their resume's, I believe Auburn has a better shot with Pawlowski.

[Aubie16]

I really wanted them to go after the guy from the College of Charleston Coastal Carolina, Gilmore. 

[Buzz Killington]

Oops...thanks.