Michigan's search for its next head baseball coach continues this week in a process that athletic director Warde Manuel said would take "1-2 weeks," ideally, given the July 1 transfer portal deadline and the state of the recruiting class.
With the recruiting class in mind, we'll start there and go through a few bullet points on what I've been hearing regarding the search.
Disclaimer: things have gone quiet these last few days, though I expect it'll heat up as this week progresses.
- Michigan's recruiting classes are in serious trouble. We spent the bulk of the spring boasting about the amount of legitimate national talent* rolling through Ann Arbor in the next couple of years. Of those names, 2023 SS Jarren Purify stood out as one of the best. He's a draft prospect junior playing with the Indiana Bulls Black in the summer circuit, one of the ten best teams in the country, which rosters the No. 1 player in the class, OF Max Clark (Vanderbilt). Losing Purify is enormous in and of itself, but it sounds like he's the first domino to fall. Others will follow soon unless Manuel makes a swift hire and he does some miracle work. The bottom line is that Michigan had no business bringing this caliber of players into its baseball program, given their opportunities down south. They committed because of what EB was selling them on this program, permanently taking that step into the national scene. Of course, Bakich didn't get the upgrades at the scale he thought would provide the program the resources to take that next step, and now he's at Clemson. Without Bakich, the immediate reaction from in-state recruits who are national draft prospects is that Michigan won't be a national program without EB. I'm not sure anyone can retain a class with that in mind.
* "national" is a term to describe a prospect as a guy recruited by schools in multiple conferences across the country. Draft guys are a step above that. They're national prospects who are getting draft looks, projections, etc.
- Multiple sources told me that Bakich began recruiting for Clemson three days-plus before it went official. It was at least a day before we broke the news, too. Talk about getting right to it.
- Here's a list of current Michigan commits (I know of) that Bakich is working on getting to Clemson: Purify, Nolan Schubart ('22, immediate starting 1B/RF, high-round draft pick but projected to go to college first), Jack Crighton ('22, fringe draft prospect, starting IF immediately), Jasen Oliver ('23, legit two-way, up to 94 on the mound with a sharp, late-breaking slider, flawless in spring as OLSM's closer, hit somewhere north of .700 in MHSAA playoffs, draft prospect)
- There's a chance Michigan falls off the national recruiting scene almost entirely, or close to it if they don't make a hire capable of recruiting at that level. It took EB a LONG time to make this happen and build a reputation for U-M that allowed them to recruit like this. Without him, they may not do it again.
Coaching search
- I'm hearing Tigers' pitching coach Chris Fetter is "probably not" going to be the guy. Multiple sources from all sides of things in baseball are telling me he's electing to stay in the pros. The fact that EB couldn't get things done at U-M to improve development resources likely kept Fetter from finding any deep-rooted interest beyond the surface-level interest we reported last week.
- The two candidates that seem to be the primary options in the early stages of a "quicker hiring process" are UCONN HC Jim Penders and Padres hitting coach Michael Brdar. These are polar opposite candidates. Penders has been at UCONN for nearly 20 years. He's proven he can recruit the same regions as EB did and develop them at a similar level, though few can touch Bakich in the development skill-set. Not to mention, Panders has head coaching experience, and lots of it, something Brdar has none of. However, Brdar is the second-youngest hitting coach in the MLB, and his rise to that position speaks for itself, regardless of prior accolades. I advocate for young coaches, and it works more than it doesn't in baseball, given how vastly different the approach is from a young coach compared to an older one.
- Brdar, at 28, would need to be committed to the long-term in Ann Arbor. Something you'd hate to see is him enjoy a few years of success and take a job down south or even out west, and he's from California. However, what makes Brdar all the more intriguing is that he played at U-M as a transfer in 2017, became a program assistant in 2018, and became the volunteer assistant coach in 2019. Brandon Inge was Brdar's replacement after leaving to work for the Giants before taking the Padres job the following season. So you'd have to think that hiring an alum who's a hitting coach for a successful franchise should end well. On paper, hiring a 28-year-old with no head coaching experience but a plethora of experience is a bit of a massive risk with a ridiculous amount of upside and potential reward. The more you look into his time here, how well he knows U-M, and when you consider his age, you have to think he will have a natural ability to recruit. He's proven he can develop hitters. He'll need to bring a pitching coach with him, given that's U-M's unequivocal flaw heading into 2023.
- Penders, meanwhile, is much more of a sure thing and should excite many people within college baseball. He's proven at a school with ultra-similar geographical disadvantages in recruiting, weather, etc. Despite all of his years of experience, he's now 50 years old and likely has a dozen-plus years of coaching left in him.
That's everything that needs to be known for now. The shortlist should/could grow, and interviews will follow. I'll keep you all posted.
With the recruiting class in mind, we'll start there and go through a few bullet points on what I've been hearing regarding the search.
Disclaimer: things have gone quiet these last few days, though I expect it'll heat up as this week progresses.
- Michigan's recruiting classes are in serious trouble. We spent the bulk of the spring boasting about the amount of legitimate national talent* rolling through Ann Arbor in the next couple of years. Of those names, 2023 SS Jarren Purify stood out as one of the best. He's a draft prospect junior playing with the Indiana Bulls Black in the summer circuit, one of the ten best teams in the country, which rosters the No. 1 player in the class, OF Max Clark (Vanderbilt). Losing Purify is enormous in and of itself, but it sounds like he's the first domino to fall. Others will follow soon unless Manuel makes a swift hire and he does some miracle work. The bottom line is that Michigan had no business bringing this caliber of players into its baseball program, given their opportunities down south. They committed because of what EB was selling them on this program, permanently taking that step into the national scene. Of course, Bakich didn't get the upgrades at the scale he thought would provide the program the resources to take that next step, and now he's at Clemson. Without Bakich, the immediate reaction from in-state recruits who are national draft prospects is that Michigan won't be a national program without EB. I'm not sure anyone can retain a class with that in mind.
* "national" is a term to describe a prospect as a guy recruited by schools in multiple conferences across the country. Draft guys are a step above that. They're national prospects who are getting draft looks, projections, etc.
- Multiple sources told me that Bakich began recruiting for Clemson three days-plus before it went official. It was at least a day before we broke the news, too. Talk about getting right to it.
- Here's a list of current Michigan commits (I know of) that Bakich is working on getting to Clemson: Purify, Nolan Schubart ('22, immediate starting 1B/RF, high-round draft pick but projected to go to college first), Jack Crighton ('22, fringe draft prospect, starting IF immediately), Jasen Oliver ('23, legit two-way, up to 94 on the mound with a sharp, late-breaking slider, flawless in spring as OLSM's closer, hit somewhere north of .700 in MHSAA playoffs, draft prospect)
- There's a chance Michigan falls off the national recruiting scene almost entirely, or close to it if they don't make a hire capable of recruiting at that level. It took EB a LONG time to make this happen and build a reputation for U-M that allowed them to recruit like this. Without him, they may not do it again.
Coaching search
- I'm hearing Tigers' pitching coach Chris Fetter is "probably not" going to be the guy. Multiple sources from all sides of things in baseball are telling me he's electing to stay in the pros. The fact that EB couldn't get things done at U-M to improve development resources likely kept Fetter from finding any deep-rooted interest beyond the surface-level interest we reported last week.
- The two candidates that seem to be the primary options in the early stages of a "quicker hiring process" are UCONN HC Jim Penders and Padres hitting coach Michael Brdar. These are polar opposite candidates. Penders has been at UCONN for nearly 20 years. He's proven he can recruit the same regions as EB did and develop them at a similar level, though few can touch Bakich in the development skill-set. Not to mention, Panders has head coaching experience, and lots of it, something Brdar has none of. However, Brdar is the second-youngest hitting coach in the MLB, and his rise to that position speaks for itself, regardless of prior accolades. I advocate for young coaches, and it works more than it doesn't in baseball, given how vastly different the approach is from a young coach compared to an older one.
- Brdar, at 28, would need to be committed to the long-term in Ann Arbor. Something you'd hate to see is him enjoy a few years of success and take a job down south or even out west, and he's from California. However, what makes Brdar all the more intriguing is that he played at U-M as a transfer in 2017, became a program assistant in 2018, and became the volunteer assistant coach in 2019. Brandon Inge was Brdar's replacement after leaving to work for the Giants before taking the Padres job the following season. So you'd have to think that hiring an alum who's a hitting coach for a successful franchise should end well. On paper, hiring a 28-year-old with no head coaching experience but a plethora of experience is a bit of a massive risk with a ridiculous amount of upside and potential reward. The more you look into his time here, how well he knows U-M, and when you consider his age, you have to think he will have a natural ability to recruit. He's proven he can develop hitters. He'll need to bring a pitching coach with him, given that's U-M's unequivocal flaw heading into 2023.
- Penders, meanwhile, is much more of a sure thing and should excite many people within college baseball. He's proven at a school with ultra-similar geographical disadvantages in recruiting, weather, etc. Despite all of his years of experience, he's now 50 years old and likely has a dozen-plus years of coaching left in him.
That's everything that needs to be known for now. The shortlist should/could grow, and interviews will follow. I'll keep you all posted.
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