Oak isn’t going to be a guy you wheel into the dugout and stand up in the corner because he’s still coaching when he can’t move around without help.
He still wants to win championships before he hangs it up and that requires resources. UVA isn’t willing to invest at the level commiserate to do that and Miss State will invest whatever is necessary to win big in baseball. Beyond the player investments, we won’t invest in somewhat minor stadium upgrades and don’t always treat the baseball program maybe as well as we should given its status on the national landscape.
It’s not necessarily a desire for Miss State specifically. But the timing is right because that job opened and the other top SEC programs look pretty stable at the moment. If he was going to make a move, then the timing dictated it happen now.
According to the Miss State 247 insider, Oak was set to turn them down as we had finally stepped up on the scholarship asks to match the standard of other top programs going forward but Miss State came back with a counter offer that was beyond that and we appeared to have been caught flat footed. Anecdotally we tried to get back in the game yesterday afternoon when there became serious smoke.
Fundraising is still ongoing but doubtful it changes any minds.
Unfortunate to see the vitriol within the fanbase directed at one person. It’s a crappy sign of the times and a reminder that UVA is not going to be able to compete financially across the board. This isn’t a new development really, but UVA used to be a place that had other great things going for it to retain the best people in college athletics. This sucks.
I feel like it’s career survival for Oak. He wants to stay here but Mississippi State is offering what he needs to continue to be successful in today’s college professional environment. Unless UVA can pony up to at least be close to what SEC schools are investing, I can’t blame him one bit for bolting. He can coach for another 15 years, then retire and live comfortably wherever he wants with an incredible legacy. I hope he stays but, like I feel about Tony Bennett, I feel blessed that we had him as a coach.
Oak won a title in 2015 at UVA… next 4 seasons 2 NCAA regional appearances (no advances) and 2 no tournament seasons. Gained incredible backing and had some pretty freaking sweet upgrades to the dish.
Lemonis won a title in 2021 at State… next 4 seasons 2 no tournament seasons, 2 NCAA regional appearances (he was fired mid season, State is in tournament now). Obviously unceremoniously shit canned.
Over-simplifying things, this is what the facility and financial investment in football is for. UVA absolutely needs a healthy football program for the next round of conference musical chairs. Is it going to be a 9-10 win program? Probably not. Does it need to be one that has a commitment from administration? Absolutely. Stanford and Cal are cautionary tales here. They messed around and got left.
Right now, getting doubled up by the SEC and B1G in tv contracts is the reason Miss St is able to promise Oak the world and UVA has to scramble for donations all year to even come close. The ACC is not viable moving forward.
Preach. The ACC is a walking corpse. I hate to see Oak go, I love baseball, and being able to say our program was one of the top in the country was a great point of pride. That being said, if we have to sacrifice baseball (and it sounds like we tried an emergency hack to retain Oak) in the short term to bolster football and MBB for the next round of conference shifting, so be it. (Please Tony Elliott, do something good with all the resources you’ve been given).
Losing an elite coach, HOF’er, who brought our program out of the ashes is awful, but it’s also not all that surprising given what we know about the ACC vs. SEC, NIL, UVA administration and facilities, etc. Not easy at all for me to say this but it would appear the unfortunate reality of today’s version of college athletics. The ACC has become a concrete block on our feet that is dragging us to the bottom of the sea. Instead of being an entity that can support a very successful athletics department, it’s an entity that is chopping us off at the knees. It is true that we have some self-inflicted wounds with football coaching and scheduling decisions, as well as facilities degradation (or lack of modernization) over the last two decades so we are not absolved in the situation.
Been a rough spring for us UVA fans. Here’s to hoping we start seeing ROI in 3.5 months and can start to position ourselves well for the future. I appreciate the LRA fam and all the conversations we have, as well as information and insight.
Tom Walter? Saw Kendall Rogers float his name out there. I think he’s done a pretty good job with the Wake program. They’re at least consistently making the tournament and developing first round picks.
