UK's coach John Cohen yesterday. He spoke at a sports banquet in Paintsville, KY. He's a great speaker and has two very well behaved daughters. He spoke about the recruiting process and what he expects from players that he hopes to give scholly's to. He also spoke to the HS athletes in attendance about respecting your parents and adults, and how to carry yourself during an interview.

I didn't get to speak with him very long, but did talk to him about Colin Cowgill. He's really impressed with this kid.

Anyway, it was a great speech and an honor to meet a great coach.

Tas - Cohen is one of the best speakers I've ever heard. He's very charismatic and charming. As far as Colin - he should be big on him! Colin is a very good kid and was a good recruit for Cohen. Unfortunate that he had to RS this year with an injury - they've missed his bat in the line up... especially since they lost some big bats this year.

tasmit,
I've only seen Cohen a few times (son played against KY). I don't know about his speeches but I know in the past he would get pretty vocal with his players. (maybe his cardiologist advised him to mellow out). I'm not at all surprised that his daughters are well behaved. From what I saw I would think anyone associated with Cohen needs to be well behaved.
Fungo

quote:

Originally posted by Fungo:
tasmit,
I've only seen Cohen a few times (son played against KY). I don't know about his speeches but I know in the past he would get pretty vocal with his players. (maybe his cardiologist advised him to mellow out). I'm not at all surprised that his daughters are well behaved. From what I saw I would think anyone associated with Cohen needs to be well behaved.
Fungo

He can get vocal with his players. My son's HS coach gets vocal with his players. And I'll bet you that those players don't make the same mistake again in the same ballgame. But, I know what you're saying. Some can take it too far.

Forgot to mention, he did show some of us what he uses to go over swings and pitches with his players. He likes to break down every at bat and every pitch. No, I'm sworn to secrecy.

quote:

Originally posted by tasmit:
He spoke about the recruiting process and what he expects from players that he hopes to give scholly's to.

Care to share?

quote:

I don't know about his speeches but I know in the past he would get pretty vocal with his players. (maybe his cardiologist advised him to mellow out)

Fungo - The man I responded about in above post is entirely different that the coach on the field that you and I witnessed together. You know my feelings on that sort of behavior in a coach.... not my cup of tea! However, as a speaker... he's very charming and pleasant... I enjoyed hearing him. I do not enjoy watching certain behaviors that you're referring to.... not then and not now. "Getting vocal" is one thing....

That's right. Lafmom was there when he threw one of his tantrums. I think everyone in the stands felt compassion for the players.

Tantrums are different. I don't like that side of a coach, if they have it.

As for what he expects from his players are respect for the game, the coaching staff, and your teammates. Grades are a must and talent. And he takes each prospective student-athlete into his office, w/o parents. He then asks them what they can bring to the team and where they see themselves after graduating and afterwards. All coaches go about recruiting differently. Most of us know about that.

It will be interesting to see what unfolds next year with some of the SEC teams. There are a number of teams that are down by SEC standards and you can bet the pressure is on for those coaches to produce (UGA, UT, LSU, AU, and UA). In the past years Kentucky athletics has accepted that they had one of the weaker SEC baseball programs and it didn't seem to matter but since Cohen had a great year in ’06, I wonder if UK athletics will expect him to turn things around from ‘07 and get it back to '06 form or will they revert to the old way of thinking of “if it isn’t UK basketball it doesn’t really matter?

Couple of things...

Fox sports has been showing many things from the SEC this past spring. On the John Cohen TV show, the man is articulate and impressive.

During their last game against Auburn, the TV camera showed him foaming at the mouth and dressing down his team in front of the dugout for the entire nation to see. Couldn't believe what I was seeing. To me, the behavior says it is all about "me" (the coach) and nobody else. Not sure if that is the way to build a winner in the long run.

Fungo, here's the other interesting thing going on....there's a baseball program about 90 miles away from Lexington at a school that wears red...and THEY are hosting a super-regional this week, while UK didn't make the tournament. That team wearing red has also been VERY aggressive in snaring Kentucky players this year, while Coach Cohen signed none. Now while I think that building a national program means recruiting from all over, not just the home state, some of these players are very highly regarded nationally. Yet, Louisville signed them and UK didn't. Hmmmmmmm, makes you wonder whether the Cohen Show is wearing out its welcome? Yes, there was a lot of success in 2006, and yes, one of those key players to that success was hurt this year, but I think that the tide may be getting ready to turn here in Kentucky.

I think the "fans" are very tolerant of an over aggressive coach if he consistently wins ball games. They probably look at it as “I don’t necessarily agree with how he’s doing it but its working”. On the other hand if they aren’t winning they just appear to be a frustrated coach taking out that frustration on his players which is not accepted by the fans. In my opinion KY has everything in place to be a great program. I also think they are located in a very good recruiting area and their pro exposure should be excellent with many pro scouts in and around the Lexington area. He has turned the program around --- now let's see how it plays out over the next few years.

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, Louisville signed them and UK didn't.

John, A coach that recruited Michael back in HS actually warned us that this would happen. I just thought it might be a bit of a paranoia that particular coach possessed about Lexington kids (that they would leave his program for UK in a year or two).... He told us that Cohen was signing (not necessarily recruiting) local kids heavily because he wanted to build that local fan/support base. He said that eventually Cohen would stop that behavior. Appears that has happened.

He may eventually be what is considered successful by most. However, my definition of success isn't narrow enough to only include "W"s. I may be a bit whacko though!

JohnLex,
Coach Delmonico of UT tried that method of recruitment and it didn't work in Tennessee. Kentucky like Tennessee is somewhat of a "fly over" state when it comes to recruiting. Lot of good local talent fails to be recruited by the SEC big boys and it comes back to haunt them. Best of luck to them Cardinals.

I'll be cheering for Louisville, one of my son's friends has signed with them for next year, and we and his parents have already planned on meeting at the Evansville-Louisville game in Louisville next year. The two teams play each other twice a year, and a note for my son's future team, the Purple Aces beat Louisville twice this year

While I can agree that UK doesn't recruit in state and that UL does, one look at both rosters can tell a story. Most of the Cardinals players are from the Louisville area. A couple from Owensboro, and a few others scattered around from N KY.

Morehead, who beat UK and had a very bad season and let go of long time Coach Jarnigan, have kids scattered from all over the state and a few from out of state.

The UK basketball team doesn't recruit in state, yet the old coach and new coach are revered for their abilities. Uk's football team gets kicked for recruiting in state. But if they had the program status that Georgia or Tennessee had, they'd get more players out of state. And I'm not saying that Kentucky athletes aren't on par with other states. Most are overlooked, while other programs find the gems within the state and get them, others (NAIA, JUCO, etc) get those players and they go on to have great careers. Anyone remember a boy named Simms?

While most of the kids that are signed to D1 programs in the state of Kentucky, most are from the Central, Northern, and the Western part of the state. East and Southeast KY kids usually go to NAIA, JUCO, or somewhere and not play anymore. Not saying it's a bad thing for our kids to go to an NAIA program, at least they are getting the chance to play beyond high school. The Eastern half of the state has a lot of great talent, especially in baseball. But they get overlooked because most places are hard to find. Take Jenkin's field or JBS's field. Both are on top of mountains. Tell me a scout is going to try and find one of those places to scout a player. They'll wait and see if his team is going to travel to the Lexington or Louisville area to watch him.

Anyway, if a program is to be successful, they have to find the talent that they need for their program and the best fit. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. And when it doesn't, the fans can be brutal.

While Cohen is a great speaker and not that bad of a coach, some of his ways I may not like. Like the dugout "dressing down" of the players. But, sometimes players need a kick in the behinds to get going. Are there other ways to motivate players? Yes. Sometimes you have to take the bad in order to get the good.

tas, I think you are right about the kids from the eastern part of the state not getting seen unless their HS team decides to play the Louisville or Lexington teams in Louisville or Lexington. I think that is where showcases can have a huge effect, because if they go to one of the biggies and do well, it can have a ripple effect in terms of being noticed.

The thing with UK's recruiting this year was just interesting to me, given the number of players from Lexington that are committed to play D1 baseball next year. Now I realize that the first response probably is, well, they might be able to play at a smaller D1, but UK is in the SEC. Yes, that is true. However, they could not get the best player in the state to come play for them, and he's one of the top 150 players, HS or College, in the country. A bunch of players from Lexington (and beyond) are going to play for schools that do play in the CWS and are good programs. I just have a tough time believing that there was not one player in the Commonwealth of Kentucky that was good enough at baseball to play for UK. I just can't and won't believe that.

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I just have a tough time believing that there was not one player in the Commonwealth of Kentucky that was good enough at baseball to play for UK. I just can't and won't believe that.

John - I don't believe it is an issue that UK does not believe that great players cannot be found in Kentucky. From my understanding, they like to recruit north of Kentucky (in some cases) because then they truly are the big fish up there. That way they don't have to go toe-to-toe with other SEC schools for recruits in state. I have heard them say that on more than one occasion.

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By the way, one of the best hitters in Kentucky is going to be coming to Coastal Carolina next year, and he's not a bad pitcher either.

That is if he does not wind up in the pros first! I heard that kid hit 27 homeruns as a junior last year He will be welcomed