Sumter

[Cock Diesel]

If Sumter wants to return to being an elite ALB program they need a new head coach. He is a nice guy but he is in over his head. They need a baseball guy not a politician. Going 0-2 in a State Tournament that you are hosting is not good, I don't ever remember that happening with Coach Jones or Johnson.

 

[COHAZE]

Refresh my memory, but did any of Johnson's teams win the state tournament?

 

[Cock Diesel]

No, Johnson didn't win a state tournament. I believe Jones won 9.

 

[spartanburgfan19]

Really hurt them not having Holliday or Sears on their team and heard their closer was on a week cruise

 

[COHAZE]

Hard to win titles when the best players in the district don't play Legion, or don't fully commit to the team. One of the many reasons Florence has been dominant of late is they have done a great job getting those players to play Legion. All of the tournaments and extra games they play translate to (1) development, and (2) exposure. The rest of the state could learn a lot from their model. Unfortunately, most of them won't.

 

[Cock Diesel]

Hard to win titles when the best players in the district don't play Legion, or don't fully commit to the team. One of the many reasons Florence has been dominant of late is they have done a great job getting those players to play Legion. All of the tournaments and extra games they play translate to (1) development, and (2) exposure. The rest of the state could learn a lot from their model. Unfortunately, most of them won't.

You are exactly right. Florence is the flagship program in the state. Their coach does an excellent job getting all of the available player to play for his team an commit their summer to his program. He knows what it takes to play at the next level and these kids know that.

The Sumter coach knows the in and outs of the slow pitch softball circuit but these kids are not interested in that. When Jones left the days of getting all available players ended.

 

[COHAZE]

Jones got all of the Sumter area players in his day. Could he do it now? I doubt it. Times change. Demographics change. Every year it gets harder and harder to keep kids in Legion. And frankly, many of the kids that are legitimate college prospects would be better off playing travel, especially considering the level of Legion ball in some areas.

The more metropolitan/affluent the area, the harder it's going to be. For example, Spartanburg Post 28 is always going to struggle to get the better kids from Dorman and Spartanburg High School. Most of those parents are going to put their kids on travel teams in hopes of getting them greater exposure. A few of the better Dorman kids played Legion this year, but only because they had already committed and had little to gain from another year of travel. Yes, there are things you could do to get a FEW kids back. Sponsoring/Playing in tournaments like Florence does could help. You could also have Regional Showcases just for the Legion kids. Anything that might get a few scouts out would help. (I probably went to 10-12 games this year and saw 1 scout, and he was just there because he was in town for a travel tournament). But in this area, most of the best players are gonna stick with travel no matter what you do, and no matter who the coach is.

How to get kids to TRULY commit their summers to Legion, I have no idea. Up here, most of the ones that play Legion really aren't committed to it. Derek must use some sort of voodoo on his kids. ;-)

 

[baseballfan155]

I think it is a combination of different things with Florence!

1. They have a winning tradition and I think it is a honor for those kids to get selected for Florence. For us it is like there is no way I could get cut for Legion attitude.

2. Derek has the reputation. He played at USC and played professional Baseball. He does it the right way!

3. He always gets his college guys back for the most part

4. Greenville, Florence, and Horry County have it made! They have over 10 high schools they could choose from when creating their legion team as long as staying under 5,000 enrollment. There should be no reason for those 3 teams not to make the state tournament year in and year out. Just a numbers game with this!

If you have guys going to play baseball at Clemson, USC, Coastal Carolina, UNC or NC State good look getting them to play legion! They all are required to be there July 1st! It's almost better to have d2 and Juco players as they won't have to report early!


I also heard Sumter got killed revenue wise from hosting 2 games. Rumor has it they won't host this year!

 

[COHAZE]

If Sumter wants to return to being an elite ALB program they need a new head coach. He is a nice guy but he is in over his head. They need a baseball guy not a politician. Going 0-2 in a State Tournament that you are hosting is not good, I don't ever remember that happening with Coach Jones or Johnson.

I just heard that Curtis Johnson has agreed to return as Sumter Legion Head Coach.