Monday, September 8, 2008

Ringgold hunting for new baseball coach

For the second time since the end of the 2007 baseball season, Ringgold High School is looking for a baseball coach.
Dan O’Rourke, a former pitching ace for the Rams who went on to a successful career at Ohio University, resigned to take a teaching position within the Upper St. Clair school district.
O’Rourke served as head baseball coach in 2008. Ringgold finished with a 6-14 record and a 3-11 mark in Section 4-AAA.
“Coach Dan O’Rourke did a great job for us last year,” said Lloyd Price, Ringgold’s athletic director. “He is a hardworking coach and put his all into the program. Ringgold will miss his dedication and commitment not only to the baseball team but also the school district.”

49 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would imagine that Steve Bucci and Joe Maize would both be interested in this position.

Anonymous said...

Interesting thought. I could see it only if either Bucci or Maize thought they could rebuild the Rams into a power. It would be a step down in class (From AAAA to AAA) so it wouldn't be likely unless Ringgold came to the table with some big cash.

Anonymous said...

Lloyd Price should call Steve Bucci and offer him the job. It is the only way to restore the Rams baseball program. Price has the ability to make a huge move here and secure the services of Bucci. What more could you want? The guy has a AAAA state title on his resume and I think made the playoffs every year at South Park and Canon-Mac. So with that said...

ATTENTION LLOYD PRICE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR AT RINGGOLD HIGH SCHOOL: DO THE DISTRICT A BIG FAVOR AND FIND A WAY TO HIRE STEVE BUCCI

mike_kovak said...

Call it a gut feeling, but I don't see Bucci or Maize going anywhere.

Anonymous said...

Mike I agree with you, however there is always a chance because $$$ talks.

Anonymous said...

there is no way bucci is going to leave cm. he has named his dog "mac" and i also heard he has a "cm 4 life" tatoo on his ribs

Anonymous said...

I think Bucci will leave. He just had a child and it is only a matter of time until some school offers him a multi-year contract for enough money to make it worth his while. Heck, some school may even offer him an athletic director's job on top of the offer to be their baseball coach. That would bring his yearly salary to around $60,000--- which is easily enough for him to leave CM.

Anonymous said...

Bucci is as good as gone to Ringgold. He has already reached the pinnacle at Canon-Mac (state title) and Ringgold is probably going to couple the baseball job with a director of student activities job and pay that individual around $65,000 plus full benefits. Bucci should be at the top of Lloyd Price's wish list and I would expect him to take the job.

Anonymous said...

Bucci may or may not go, but I do know one thing for sure. He didn't name his dog "mac" because of his love for canon-mcmillan. He named his dog mac because it is a tribute to his favorite college football conference: Mid-American Conference. Bucci is all about Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Temple, and Ball State.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was a tribute to Bernie Mac.

Anonymous said...

I hope Bucci does leave. That way the real baseball mind in canonsburg can take over: Bill LoNero. He shouldve been the coach in the first place and it is just terrible what was done to him.

Anonymous said...

To the above replier: Believe me, $$ talks, but Ringgold does not offer money. I am a student at Ringgold. More than likely, they will either bring up a JV coach and rehire someone inside the district who knows nothing about baseball to Assistant/JV. It has already been said that various teachers in Ringgold are trying to jump on the job, however none of them are qualified. But lets face it, thats where it will go.

And also, it has already been said that the new coaching job will not be named until close to the beginning of the season. Don't expect too much.

Anonymous said...

I thought his dogs name was Mac because Bucci has a ton of stock in Apple???

Anonymous said...

Bucci's wife is related to Lloyd Price. I think there will at least be discussions between the two parties about the position.

Anonymous said...

Timmy Mills has been quoted saying that there is no way he would coach the Rams due to their refusal of using Under Armour. Bucci without Mills is like a car without a steering wheel. It'll go, but it'll crash when a bend comes...


-Coach Freeman
"Open my eyes. Show me something."

Anonymous said...

Timmy Mills and Juicy J were spotted at an invite only Under Armour party over the weekend. Word is that they are going to sign with UA and endorse the new coaches line of clothing.

Anonymous said...

On a serious note, if Bucci left who do you think CM would offer the baseball job to? Someone in house (Juicy or T Mills) or someone from outside?

Anonymous said...

Timmy Mills and Juicy J would both make great head coaches in the future. They learned from the best...Bucci. They were both his players at South Park which says a lot about the programs that he's worked with. Yes he has made the playoffs all but one year in his coaching career and yes I heard Canon Mac pays their coaches no money...one of the lowest in W.P.I.A.L. so the true question is will Canon Mac offer more or will Bucci go somewhere else where the money is better.

I personally think he'll go somewhere else where the money is better and he can work full time in athletics for the district. His wife is pregnant again and is expecting Quads so with five mouths to feed I don't see him retiring anytime soon.

Anonymous said...

Canon-Mac definitely needs to pay up if they hope to retain coach juice and timmy mills. It is only a matter of time until either or both get flooded with head coaching offers at schools that "take care" of their athletic programs. CM baseball is coming off of a state title, so you'd hope that the commitment was there towards winning. I'm not quite sure who determines the pay scale for CM athletics, but I would bring those two guys in and offer them a king's ransom for their services-- they mean that much to the program.

Anonymous said...

Coaching salaries at CM are spelled out as part of the professional contract. Giving under the table raises to keep someone's assistants around in a non-revenue sport is highly unlikely.

Anonymous said...

Coach Bucci has been around for two seasons now and just like wine his team gets finer over time. I am a very satisifed parent of the program and I love what Bucci has done for Canon Mac. He has instilled confidence in our boys and put our program on the map.

I know parents from South Park and they say the exact same thing. Their boys are great players and fine men now thanks to the hardwork of Bucci. It seems that no matter where he goes and what coaches he has with him he achives success. I heard that older man on third base has been with him for awhile now...I forget his name, but not only does he turn out great players he too contribues to the development of great coaches. Two of his former assistants from South Park now have a WPIAL championship with North Catholic. Both coaches started out with Bucci and went to North when he went to Canon Mac.

I'm not so sure that money will influence Bucci. I think family life will have a bigger influence. I imagine that he will want to spend time with his new baby. I know that he works night time somewhere so he can't be home much. I know that I personally (as a father) wouldn't have missed my boy growing up for anything. That's why I think that we as parents should be grateful for all of our coaches...head, assistants, and volunteers. They put a lot of time in with our boys...they miss out on their own family lives which has to be hard. Heck Bucci almost missed the little guy being born for our team. Unfortunely, this year even with the success of our program there were a lot of negative parents. Rude comments were made at every game about Coaches and kids and then those exact same parents loved Bucci and the team when we won the championship.

So as parents, players, and fans we should just wait and see what the next few months bring to Canon Mac baseball. Patience is a virtue...enough with all of the rumors. I don't think his wife is having Quads either to whoever posted that. Just like in politics families should be off limits.

Anonymous said...

I think it is the assistants that make any head coach great. A head coach can be great on his own but because there are only so many hours in one day, he/she needs to have elite assistant coaches in order to get the most out of the team. In the case of CM baseball, I could not imagine having a better staff. All facets of the game were divvied up amongst the 4 coaches. Unlike many other teams, there were coaches specifically devoted to hitting and pitching and from what I've been told they did not cross over (each coach stayed in his own designated area of expertise). This was a big change from 2007 when one assistant coach insisted that he knew everything and proceeded to ruin that season. As you can probably figure out he was not retained for 2008 and I and my son are very thankful for that because we got a state title out of the deal.

Anonymous said...

I agree Famous Dave. Timmy Mills is a rising star in the coaching ranks and what he has done with the pitchers over the past two years is nothing short of amazing. I'm not saying he is a miracle worker, but he took "good" pitchers and helped make them great. I think we all remember the gem thrown by Chris Dittmar in state quarterfinals against PT. Dittmar even went so far as to praise Mills in the post-game interviews which is extremely rare to see in the world of high school baseball. I'm not sure if he has shown interest but I would have him lead ANY team because he is a winner, end of story.

Anonymous said...

Agree with the last two posts. I will go one further and say that Coach Jordan is also a rising star. He was able to get the most out of the CM offense. By the end of the year guys like Chris Douglas were looking like Albert Pujols. Unfortunately this was not the case in 2007. Famous Dave cited the 2007 assistant and although he (the 07' assistant) will tell you how "great of a hitting coach he is," the overall results were terrible. I give Bucci a lot of credit because he was willing to make the difficult decision to fire a member of his staff for the betterment of the program. Kudos.

Anonymous said...

Mike have you spoken to Steve Bucci regarding his plans to potentially leave CM for Ringgold? If you haven't, I think you should contact him to either put these rumors to bed or confirm them. There are a lot of CM fans that read the Observer and/or your blog and you are an A+ investigative reporter. I would think a high school baseball article, though the sport is not in season, would be a great fit for the O-R.

mike_kovak said...

No, we don't deal in rumor at the high school level because they rarely end up being true.

Case in point,

A local weekly last year went with a story of Ed Dalton telling his players that this was his last year coaching football at Trinity. The local weekly ran with it and the writer kept asking me why I hadn't.

Why? Well, where is Dalton today? Still coaching Trinity.

Sorry guys but it's not news unless he hands in a resignation and it's accepted by the school board. The world of high school athletics is filled with people looking for new or better coaching jobs.

Personally, I can't see Bucci leaving C-M for Ringgold. That's not a knock on Ringgold. I just don't see it happening.

And, finally, Birdman ...
"By the end of the year guys like Chris Douglas were looking like Albert Pujols."

Really?

Anonymous said...

Mike thanks for clearing that up. Hopefully we'll get something substantial from Bucci in the coming weeks regarding his decision.

I don't think Douglas looked like Pujols as was posted by the birdman, but we do have to give him some credit as he hit like a beast in the state title game (which I think should be partially credited to Coach Jordan)!

mike_kovak said...

Canon-McMillan's run to the state title was very, very impressive.

I just like to reel things in every now and again.

Anonymous said...

what the birdman meant to say was by the state championship game and the legion season he was hitting like albert pujols

mike_kovak said...

Sorry, but in my 12 years in this business, I have yet to see any WPIAL player hit like Albert Pujols or even come remotely close.

That's getting way too carried away, just as I believe this post got carried off track.

Anonymous said...

Mike how did this post get carried off track? The original post involved a baseball coaching job that had opened up and the discussion has been in regards to filling it. I don't see the disconnect.

Anonymous said...

If coach Bucci was to leave for Ringgold or any other job rumor has it that it's not the money, but the facilities. The indoor/outdoor facilities are at a class A level. The team doesn't have regular gym access at the school, had to pay to use the gym in the offseason, shares the field with colt league baseball thus shortening practice time and leading to equipment theft, and only has 4 paid coaches to cover 3 teams (freshman, jv, varsity). Additionally, there have been many naysayers that have tried to run bucci out of town. This no doubt has forced him and his staff to consider leaving. I know for a fact that one assistant likely will not return next season. I spoke to him recently and he expressed major frustrations regarding the program. Things must really be bad in canonsburg for a defending state champion to be frustrated. As a concerned parent I am not thrilled that our GREAT staff could cease to exist.

Anonymous said...

The baseball facilities do need major upgrades no doubt

Anonymous said...

Concerned CM Parent, we need names. Don't just say one assistant without naming him.

Anonymous said...

quick question for kovak: how many homeruns did you hit in you career?

Anonymous said...

Bring Coach Freeman back to CM

Anonymous said...

I think the assistant that won't be returning is T Mills. He isn't coaching us in the fall this year, and had coached us each of the last two years. Kind of seems like he may be transitioning out at CM.

Anonymous said...

Rumor is T-Mills might be heading to New York to take over for Joe Giardi

Anonymous said...

my husband is coming back to coach cm. So leave the topic alone!

Anonymous said...

The 3rd base coach at Canon-Mac should be the next in line to be head coach. Barnhardt is a crazy dude.

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Anonymous said...

2009 Canon-Mac Baseball Starting Lineup:

C- Josh Totterdale
1B- Alex Pihakis
2B- Justin Baker
3B- Jon Pozonsky
SS- Matt Pierpont
LF- Steve Roach
CF- Mike Hull
RF- Matt Parisse
DH- Rick Lonero
P- Mike Toward

This is the best lineup the 09' Big Macs will be able to put out there and it is the only shot they have to have a winning season.

Anonymous said...

Why are there so many deleted comments by the administrator?

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