Another one bites the dust

[smidge34]

[smidge34]

[HoptownRacer]

Not sure I agree with this decision. Showed a little progress every year, not to mention an assistant up and left him right before school started.

[dropkick]

Would AW make this moved without having the replacement already picked out?

[A_1985_grad]

I'd like to believe this means that the athletic department is serious about having a top OVC baseball program and that the won-loss record was unacceptable. Seeing as how Moulder had about the same level of success as his predecessors, then, yes, it wasn't good enough.

I'm not sure if Moulder had more scholarships or recruiting budget than his predecessors. If so, again, not good enough if you want to be a top-tier OVC baseball program.

If he had everything at his disposal that the top OVC baseball programs have, then he should have done better and I can understand the move.

Of course, I don't know if any of the above is true.

[bred22]

Coaches
We have had difficulty keeping assistant coaches, not only in baseball but in football and basketball, as well, primarily due to the relatively low pay at Murray. The assistant coach referenced earlier was Grayson Crawford, who was our pitching coach. He left after fall practice when he was offered a similar position at Louisiana Tech at double his salary at Murray. That left Coach Moulder having to scramble to find a pitching coach. I think this is probably a problem at most of the OVC schools and is not unique to Murray. However, the same cannot be said about the head coaches salary. We finished the season ranked 7th in the conference. I believe that's about where our head coach would be ranked in comparison to other OVC head coaches salary. That will be as issue in searching for a new coach. One other thing. Coach Moulder turned down an assistant position at an SEC school this past summer to stay here and continue to rebuild. That offer would have doubled his salary. I know he thought he had more time and I believe that with time, he was going to move our baseball program to a level not seen for over 30 years.

Record
In his four years here, Coach Moulder was 99-128, a 43.6 winning percentage. By comparison, Rob McDonald, in his first four years, had a record of 78-141, a winning percentage of 35.6%. It is inaccurate to say that the program hasn't improved on the field. Last year we set a new school record for home runs in a single season. Offensively and defensively, we are a much better ballclub than we have been. What hasn't improved is our pitching. We were poised to have an exceptional pitching staff this year but injuries, two freshmen pitching recruits who were drafted and signed pro, and the gap in changing pitching coaches all contributed to this. BTW, to my knowledge, this is the first time that Murray State has lost freshmen recruits to the draft and is indicative of the high level of recruitment that Coach Moulder has done. The benchmark for OVC coaches has to be the job that Matt Bragga has done at Tennessee Tech. They won the OVC last year and are poised to win it again today and make their second straight NCAA appearance. They have also been ranked in the top 25 much of the season. It is interesting to note that Bragga, who has been at Tech for 15 years, didn't have his first winning season until his 6th year. It takes a while to build a winning program when you have been down as long at Murray has.

Resources-Facilities
The AD has made a major commitment to improvement in facilities with lights, the new grandstand, a new pressbox, and other smaller improvements. That said, we are still lagging behind some of the OVC schools. Tech just built a new indoor practice facility and other schools already have one. Starting the season in mid-February requires that the team have indoor facilities to get ready for the season. Several conference schools also have turf playing surfaces, another plus when starting the season in February. Jacksonville State just recently completed a new baseball stadium which is top of the line for OVC schools. EKU has sunk over 2 million in improving their facility. Others have made strides also, so while we have made a lot of improvement, I think we are probably at best about middle of the pack in terms of facilities.

Resources - Scholarships
All NCAA division one baseball teams are allowed 11.7 full-time scholarships and these can be divided among 27 players. However, Murray State also allocates a dollar amount for the scholarships and they are funded at in-state rates. So when we recruit an out-of-state player who is not from one of the regional tuition states, it is a budget buster and in effect reduces the number of scholarships available. In all fairness, this has also been a problem for football and other men's sports except basketball. Coach Moulder has done a masterful job in leveraging other financial aid available to recruit players but we have to stay away from baseball talent-rich states like Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida. From what I know other OVC schools do not have this restriction. That, by the way, is a University restriction and not an athletic department imposed restriction.

Resources - Misc.
We've done pretty well the past four years in terms of some of the other funding issues. Coach Moulder was able to strike a deal with Under Armor for uniforms and we are as well dressed as anyone else when we take the field. That is important and something that recruits look at. Travel budgets are an issue. We need to be able to go South in February and early March so we can develop and get ready for the conference play but our budget simply does not support taking the team to Florida, Texas, Arizona, or California for a week every year. Also, our spring break is in middle March after OVC play starts so we would have to take that warm weather trip and the players miss a week of school even if we had the money. Coach Moulder has done several fund-raisers and has been able to leverage private dollars to provide some support for things that he otherwise could not have gotten. AW has also kicked in some funds when asked.

The Bottom Line
We are about middle of the pack in the OVC in terms of overall support to baseball. The AD has been good to baseball with discretionary funds that he has available but those funds are drying up with budget cuts and other funding issues at the University level. I don't see resources improving in the immediate future and that will impact a coaching search. I, personally, am disappointed that Coach Moulder was not given more time to build the program.

[msuowns]

have former players organized to give money to the program? not just a few but many.

[A_1985_grad]

Coaches
We have had difficulty keeping assistant coaches, not only in baseball but in football and basketball, as well, primarily due to the relatively low pay at Murray. The assistant coach referenced earlier was Grayson Crawford, who was our pitching coach. He left after fall practice when he was offered a similar position at Louisiana Tech at double his salary at Murray. That left Coach Moulder having to scramble to find a pitching coach. I think this is probably a problem at most of the OVC schools and is not unique to Murray. However, the same cannot be said about the head coaches salary. We finished the season ranked 7th in the conference. I believe that's about where our head coach would be ranked in comparison to other OVC head coaches salary. That will be as issue in searching for a new coach. One other thing. Coach Moulder turned down an assistant position at an SEC school this past summer to stay here and continue to rebuild. That offer would have doubled his salary. I know he thought he had more time and I believe that with time, he was going to move our baseball program to a level not seen for over 30 years.

Record
In his four years here, Coach Moulder was 99-128, a 43.6 winning percentage. By comparison, Rob McDonald, in his first four years, had a record of 78-141, a winning percentage of 35.6%. It is inaccurate to say that the program hasn't improved on the field. Last year we set a new school record for home runs in a single season. Offensively and defensively, we are a much better ballclub than we have been. What hasn't improved is our pitching. We were poised to have an exceptional pitching staff this year but injuries, two freshmen pitching recruits who were drafted and signed pro, and the gap in changing pitching coaches all contributed to this. BTW, to my knowledge, this is the first time that Murray State has lost freshmen recruits to the draft and is indicative of the high level of recruitment that Coach Moulder has done. The benchmark for OVC coaches has to be the job that Matt Bragga has done at Tennessee Tech. They won the OVC last year and are poised to win it again today and make their second straight NCAA appearance. They have also been ranked in the top 25 much of the season. It is interesting to note that Bragga, who has been at Tech for 15 years, didn't have his first winning season until his 6th year. It takes a while to build a winning program when you have been down as long at Murray has.

Resources-Facilities
The AD has made a major commitment to improvement in facilities with lights, the new grandstand, a new pressbox, and other smaller improvements. That said, we are still lagging behind some of the OVC schools. Tech just built a new indoor practice facility and other schools already have one. Starting the season in mid-February requires that the team have indoor facilities to get ready for the season. Several conference schools also have turf playing surfaces, another plus when starting the season in February. Jacksonville State just recently completed a new baseball stadium which is top of the line for OVC schools. EKU has sunk over 2 million in improving their facility. Others have made strides also, so while we have made a lot of improvement, I think we are probably at best about middle of the pack in terms of facilities.

Resources - Scholarships
All NCAA division one baseball teams are allowed 11.7 full-time scholarships and these can be divided among 27 players. However, Murray State also allocates a dollar amount for the scholarships and they are funded at in-state rates. So when we recruit an out-of-state player who is not from one of the regional tuition states, it is a budget buster and in effect reduces the number of scholarships available. In all fairness, this has also been a problem for football and other men's sports except basketball. Coach Moulder has done a masterful job in leveraging other financial aid available to recruit players but we have to stay away from baseball talent-rich states like Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida. From what I know other OVC schools do not have this restriction. That, by the way, is a University restriction and not an athletic department imposed restriction.

Resources - Misc.
We've done pretty well the past four years in terms of some of the other funding issues. Coach Moulder was able to strike a deal with Under Armor for uniforms and we are as well dressed as anyone else when we take the field. That is important and something that recruits look at. Travel budgets are an issue. We need to be able to go South in February and early March so we can develop and get ready for the conference play but our budget simply does not support taking the team to Florida, Texas, Arizona, or California for a week every year. Also, our spring break is in middle March after OVC play starts so we would have to take that warm weather trip and the players miss a week of school even if we had the money. Coach Moulder has done several fund-raisers and has been able to leverage private dollars to provide some support for things that he otherwise could not have gotten. AW has also kicked in some funds when asked.

The Bottom Line
We are about middle of the pack in the OVC in terms of overall support to baseball. The AD has been good to baseball with discretionary funds that he has available but those funds are drying up with budget cuts and other funding issues at the University level. I don't see resources improving in the immediate future and that will impact a coaching search. I, personally, am disappointed that Coach Moulder was not given more time to build the program.

If all of this is true, and I have no reason to believe that it isn't, then it is a head-scratcher as to why Moulder was let go. That's why I wouldn't be surprised that this had more to do with something other than simply the won-loss record. We may never know for sure, but funding, support, scholarships at a seventh-place level usually gets you a seventh-place team.

Would have liked to have seen the pitching recruits show up and have seen what kind of team we would have had, but ...

[breds20]

have former players organized to give money to the program? not just a few but many.

I heard some money was promised when Moulder got the job. But don’t think the promise was kept. I could be wrong.

[bred22]

The Baseball program has actively solicited donations from baseball alumni for a number of years and Moulder embraced that effort and provided some incentives for giving. That said, maybe 50 of over 400 identified alumni actually made donations. Moulder also did a "friends and family" mailing from the current players. I think that got a good response. So he has had some discretionary funds available to him through the Racer Club.

[sparky]

Observations from the few games I saw. Fundamentally this team was weak.
Played with little emotion.
I would guess there is more to this than the won lost record.
Allen Ward did not make this move without good reasons.

[msuowns]

The Baseball program has actively solicited donations from baseball alumni for a number of years and Moulder embraced that effort and provided some incentives for giving. That said, maybe 50 of over 400 identified alumni actually made donations. Moulder also did a "friends and family" mailing from the current players. I think that got a good response. So he has had some discretionary funds available to him through the Racer Club.

wonder if Kirk Reiter ever dropped them a check?

[msuowns]

Jack Wolf of Louisville who grad from Murray in the early 70's could afford to build us an indoor practice facility. After he retired from managing a hedge fund he started starlight racing which owns Justify and many other horses. He does have partners in it tho. Wonder if he ever donates?

[msuowns]

A Chinese guy also is a big owner in Justify

[msuowns]

with Justify winning the triple crown, Jack Wolf could sure build us an indoor training facility.

[JessieWilliams]

Hearing Crawford is begging to get the job. I hope we can do better that him as he has changed jobs the last few years more than I change my underwear? He does not bring anything to the table that will improve this team or program. We need to demand better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fmftballmgr]

any word on a coach yet? Or is AW just going to promote from within like he has does lately with the coach searches

[smidge34]

We’re talking a firing here, won’t be a hire from within.

[A_1985_grad]

Bidwell shared a report on Twitter that the hire will be Dan Skirka, former MSU asisstant and current Walters State CC recruiting coordinator.

[75Fan]

Walters State is a tradition-rich program that has won 901 games against 228 losses since 2000 (79.8%).

Here's their year-to-year breakdown during that time.....

Code: Select all

YEAR 	WINS 	LOSSES	W-L PCT.
2018 	60     	8       0.882
2017 	44     	12     	0.786
2016 	47     	16     	0.746
2015 	57     	12     	0.826
2014 	43     	18     	0.705
2013 	37     	18     	0.673
2012 	52     	11     	0.825
2011 	43     	15     	0.741
2010 	40     	8       0.833
2009 	46     	11     	0.807
2008 	55     	9       0.859
2007 	43     	11     	0.796
2006 	61     	8       0.884
2005 	46     	16     	0.742
2004 	48     	11     	0.814
2003 	47     	13     	0.783
2002 	51     	6       0.895
2001 	44     	10     	0.815
2000 	37     	15     	0.712
________________________________
TOTAL	901   	228   	0.798

Dan Skirka - Recruiting Coordinator

He's helped the offense break 7 of 14 school offensive records.

He's had 4 players drafted in the MLB draft.

While at MSU, he helped guide an offense that set new school records for hits, runs scored, doubles, RBIs and total bases and had the 5th-best batting average in school history.

Walters State has had some pretty potent offenses often scoring 20+ runs in a game.

They are coming off a season in which they were the National Runners-up in the NJCAA World Series and finished the season with a 60-8 record.