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opinion:
Weathers, a positive
replacement for Snow
I was listening
to a sports-talk radio show Friday night when I heard the
news: Dave Snow, the long-time Long Beach State baseball coach,
was retiring.
Dave Snow retiring?
Say it ain't so, Snow.
How could the most
successful baseball coach in LBSU history leave the program?
And how could I, a supposed crack reporter, act more like
a reporter on crack and not hear about this story until Friday
night?
Anyhoo, this is
one of the biggest stories, sports or otherwise, to hit our
campus in awhile. Some may see the negative. I, however, see
the positive -- Mike Weathers, a top Dirtbag assistant for
several years, will replace Snow effective Aug. 1.
Weathers has head
coaching experience at the University of Utah and Chapman
College, a familiarity with the LBSU program no newcomer could
bring, plus Dirtbag assistant Troy Buckley will stay on as
a part of Weathers' staff.
Sure, Snow will
be missed, and naysayers will nay-say Weathers' moves throughout
the season, grumbling how Snow would have done it differently.
But remember this:
Snow was once a first-year coach here, and I'm sure a few
folks questioned his moves, claiming that Snow's predecessor
John Gonsalves would have done it differently. (This is baseball,
and fans always make the right calls from the stands.)
I'm also sure few
expected Snow to win his first 18 games and lead LBSU to a
College World Series appearance that first season, or that
his gutsy teams would soon carry the moniker "Dirtbags,"
a nickname that still sticks.
It won't be easy
sailing for Weathers at first, and an 18-game winning streak
out of the gate is probably too much to ask -- though we'll
take it, Mike. But everything is in place to insure success.
LBSU is already a national power, and Weathers is a top-flight
recruiter who should safeguard that distinction.
Looking for a correlation
in this? I present an example that may shock and disturb you:
the Cal State Fullerton Titans.
Under the direction
of Augie Garrido, the Titans won three national championships
and made several postseason appearances.
Garrido decided
to leave the Fullerton program in 1996, and instead of the
team floundering under Garrido's successor, George Horton,
it kept winning. In fact, Cal State Fullerton entered this
year's College World Series as the top-ranked team in America.
Of course, that
didn't stop the Titans from losing two games in Omaha and
make an early exit from the series. Hey, I didn't say everything
was perfect over there.
And it won't be
here, either. In Snow's 13 seasons at the helm, the Dirtbags
never captured the national championship. But they did win
six Big West titles, made the postseason 11 times, including
four College World Series appearances, and won the hearts
of many a fan -- gaudy numbers for Weathers to follow.
But he is lucky.
He inherits a solid program that will contend every year.
With a break or two, they could eventually hoist the national
championship trophy.
Or not. The interesting
part will be finding out.
Mike Haubrich
is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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