A College Baseball Cinderella Story: UMSL's Legendary Coach Rivals Tony La Russa

Coach Jim Brady and the University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team is in the thrust of one of the most remarkable comeback stories since the Cardinals won the 2011 World Series.



Like former legendary big league manager Tony La Russa, Brady is considered one of the best baseball coaches in the country.  The Tritons, formerly known as Rivermen and Riverwomen, are quietly making a stir in the NCAA Division II world.  They have won 23 of their last 30 games, secured a spot in their conference's post-season tournament on the last day of the regular season (like the Cardinals) and are now two games away from an NCAA tournament berth.


But also like the 11 time World Series Champions, UMSL is one loss away from the clock striking midnight on their Cinderella story. If they lose this afternoon (2:30 PM central) to Great Lakes Valley Conference powerhouse and soon to be D-1 Northern Kentucky Norse their season could be in jeopardy.


Sound familiar?  


There is so much more about this team that would make even the most experienced writer a little dizzy with information and sources material. 


Brady does not sink under intense pressure.  He revels in it and seems to enjoy the pitch by pitch challenge that is college baseball coaching,  especially in one of the toughest conferences in the nation that annually fields a plethora of MLB prospects (about a dozen or more of Brady's player have been picked in the MLB amateur draft).


He has over 700 wins in his nearly 30 year coaching career, mostly with UMSL. The past several seasons were anything but noteworthy.  As colleague Cedric Williams has mentioned, Brady and his players have not played in the post season in nearly a decade.  


A lot of factors played into that. An age discrimination lawsuit against UMSL, a home baseball field torn down and many other factors resulted into the several season of losing campaigns.  Despite those variables, the longest tenured coach at the mostly commuter school  finally found a way to build another winning season, for the short term and in the future.  


It hasn't always been an easy road to success for Brady.  The lawsuit cost him his marriage, made him a pariah to the university's administration and almost ended his coaching career as reported in St. Louis' Riverfront Times.


With a new young coaching staff and a reunion with Brady's former coach, mentor and St. Louis college baseball's pitching guru Ric Lessman, UMSL is back to 2003 form, when they qualified for the NCAA D-2 College World Series. 2003 Rivermen Jay Barron and Greg Bierling with former Washington University in St. Louis and St. Louis Community College-Meramec legend Lessman  molded the Tritons pitching staff into one of the best in Division II.


The coaching staff took a common baseball and D-2 philosophy of recruiting mostly junior college players. Despite brining in some of the best local 2-year talent from a top program, Southwest Illinois College in nearby Belleville, UMSL did not receive any first place votes in the GLVC pre-season poll.  The league's baseball coaches picked UMSL to finish sixth in the west division thus missing the playoffs.


But the upstart and underrated squad manged to seal a sixth seed out of eight possible in one of the toughest conferences for baseball, basketball and soccer (at least for NCAA Division II).


Unlike La Russa, Brady does not seem to be slowing down with age.  With a crop of mostly sophomores and juniors, including SWIC tansfer, right fielder and GLVC homerun leader John Pilackas, Brady will not be retiring after this season, or anytime soon.


He eventually won a multi-million dollar settlement against former UMSL Chancellor Blanche Touhil, the same woman whom the campus' large and expensive performing arts center is named after.  With it, Brady won what appeared to be complete job security in a profession with little to none at best.


If this season is any indication that Brady is still as passionate as he was in 2007, which if you watch an UMSL baseball game you will understand he still is, Brady will most likely continue to coach until 1000 wins and beyond.


The 2011 Cardinals may be the best sports story in St. Louis, but the team playing on a small baseball field (newly built about three or four seasons ago) on Natural Bridge in St. Louis' north county have one of the best men to ever coach the game.  However the University of Missouri-St. Louis still does not appreciate what he has done for both his players and the college.


Perhaps a national championship would change all that.

A Case Study of Giuseppe Rossi and His Value to Villarreal

It is difficult to imagine any struggling company that would cite a valued employee's temporary but long leave of absence as a factor to increase the worker's value in hopes to eventually make the company better upon his or her return.

A top level Spanish soccer team's poor performance and it's impact on one of it's key players is the topic of the topic of the following case study regarding the previous scenario.

Last season breakout Villarreal C.F. striker Guiseppe Rossi scored 32 goals during his side's fourth place La Liga finish earning an eventual 2011-2012 UEFA Champions League group stage appearance.

Rossi's season came to a sudden halt when the New Jersey born Italian international suffered a horrendous early season  injury, sidelining him for the next few months. His absence coincided with a once potent attacking sudden slide into an at best mediocre offense.

The latest league table puts the Yellow Submarine atop the relegation zone with a minus 10 goal difference while also one point behind Racing Santander. That and an embarrassing Copa del Rey exit led to the Christmas week firing of second year manager Juan Garrido.

One player does not make a team, according to the timeless sports cliche, but with Rossi's particular situation it would be erroneous not to reconsider already rising value to Villarreal, even when he is not on the active roster.

Rossi's long time absence coinciding with his team's lackluster results strangely shows an interesting but plausible conclusion not often found in the business world.  His on the field performs seems to be a major factor in both goals scored and overall results.

Therefore, with mostly anecdotal research and intentional  non-scientific analysis it is my conclusion that the striker and goal scoring extraordinaire value has grown since his injury. 

When is healthy enough to play on a regular basis Rossi should be able to pick up where he left off with club and country while ultimately making him more valuable to Villarreal C.F.

Obama Plays Hardball

Today President Obama appealed to congress a plan to consolidate many federal business regulating and commerce agencies, including extending new presidential powers for the incorporation process.  Click here for story. 

The plan, according to the president, is designed partly to encourage more small business growth. It is one of several important proposals from Mr. Obama's 2011 State of the Union address.

The timing and message do not seem coincidental.  The administration's bipartisan attempts for long term economic stimulation  have been mediocre at best and current Republican presidential front runner Mitt Romney is slowly gaining momentum in national polls.

The president's strategic timing also puts the popular GOP's notion of Obama's big government policy failure to an applicable test.

Mr. Obama did not propose a series of big business tax cuts.  Instead he used a government focused cost cutting approach that Republican law makers have been asking for since he took office.

The White House also took a perceived aggressive and no-lose move.  Should Republicans agree and support the streamlining plan it will be major victory for the president's re-election campaign and Democratic law makers.  If not, congressional GOP's look more to blame for the poor economy, especially with the exponential rise in public corporate distrust and outrage.

The Obama re-election campaign, undecided voters and undecided moderates could be swayed by today's political game changing event come November, regardless of the eventual GOP nominee.

A Rational Hypothesis

A family member of mine has a radical solution to clean up big time college athletic programs.  Eliminate any and all athletics only based scholarships and adopt the NCAA Division III format.  This means no athletics based scholarships for any student-athlete.

His rationale is the idea that amateur student athletes and their full time, paid coaches actually put academics first and extracurricular activities, including but not exclusive to sports, second.

It's very much unlikely (if at all) NCAA big wigs will adopt the D-III model  for Division I and II sports.  However, it could eliminate big time college football, basketball, baseball and more recently soccer (MLS is the only soccer league that I know of that implementing an amateur draft) players from leaving school early for the professionals.  

Hypothetically speaking, removing sports scholarships would lead to more student-athletes finishing school with four-year degrees.  It may also make major drafts obsolete. Thus, creating the true student-athlete.

This Sports Illustrated story reported that Trent Richardson, Dre' Kirkpatrick and Dont'a Hightower declared for the 2012 NFL Draft, forgoing their senior seasons with BCS national champion Alabama Crimson Tide.

As of publish date and time of this post and according to this NFL draft website there are around 50 underclassmen (mostly juniors with a few sophomores) who have officially declared for the NFL draft.  Among those are Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III from Baylor and potential top pick Andrew Luck from Stanford.

Stanford University, a traditional Pac-12 powerhouse, is widely considered the Harvard of California.  By leaving early and therefore not graduating, Luck throws away a chance to finish with a degree from a prestigious and internationally acclaimed university.

The worst possible scenarios for NFL prospects like Luck is the possibility of career ending injuries or a not at best a "never-was"-esque pro career.  Regardless, by not taking true advantage of a free or less expensive education Luck and other like him are just another college dropout.

Agents, coaches, university administrators and the NCAA all make millions as a result of the current scholarship and draft systems. Under the mostly exclusive year-by-year, renewable scholarships athletic departments and coaching staffs pick and choose which players will be retained on scholarship and which ones are revoked or cut. The results are numerous transfers and young students leaving school entirely either ending their academic career or trying the pros crap shoot.

If you disagree or agree with this blog's premise, click this.

Defense Arrives at UMSL

University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball recorded 10 wins during the first 13 games of their season.  Not only are the Tritons off to their best start in over 25 years, it also seems head coach Steve Tappmeyer's team, in his second season with UMSL, is playing more akin to his defense heavy system.

From an exclusively box score view the Tritons are shutting down the opposition.  They have not conceded more than 75 points in a single game  heading into their Great Lakes Valley Conference road swing through Indiana.  They will face GLVC East Division (arguably the stronger division with several nationally ranked squads) St. Joseph's and Indianapolis .  They also have won nine consecutive and are perfect (5-0) to start GLVC play.

Looking at the score lines and overall game statistics this Tritons team is a defensive coach's dream, at least at this point in the season.  UMSL opponents are averaging a shade over 62 points per game.  Whereas, UMSL is averaging over 11 more points per game against all opponents.

Last season, UMSL got off to a quick start as well, but were blanked in the league tournament's first round by Division II and GLVC powerhouse Kentucky Wesleyan.  The Methodist school out of Owensboro, Kentucky scored over 100 points against Tappmeyer's first season squad.

After the seemingly embarrassing loss Tappmeyer and his staff, assistants Luke Crump, Dale Ribble and Chico Jones, recruited several new players to fill holes from an inconsistent defense.

It's difficult for me to judge the style of Tappmeyer's 2011-2012 defensive schemes.  I have not had the chance to see the team live or in person.  Last season his defense was mostly a man to man with a mixture of some 2-3 and 3-2 zone.  He would press usually late in the game under desperation or on full court inbound.

I doubt his schemes have changed much.  I'm sure he's using a same half court or three-quarter court man to man defense.  But with the overnight changes final scores while holding all teams to such a low average, it is hard to believe that it was a defense philosophy change.

The long time and nationally renowned Division II coach (he was formerly the coach at D-II basketball and football power-house Northwest Missouri State) seems to have recruited players that fit into and understand his system- the intense, in your face and hard nosed shutdown man to man defense.

So needless to say when UMSL returns from a tougher Indiana Division II road test I will most likely attend their games against GLVC west division foes William-Jewell and Rockhurst to see the type of players and defensive sets the coaching staff is running.

Maybe if the old sports cliche holds (defense wins championships) UMSL can make a run in the GLVC and the NCAA tournaments.

Note: I have also started a YouTube Vlog page. Here is the link. There aren't many videos yet, but I will update them every few days.

Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden

Rumor has it that President Obama will replace Vice President Joe Biden with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a running mate during the 2012 election.  The White House has denied any such allegations as mere rumor and exaggerated speculation.

My better half, a friend of mine and I discussed such a possibility, albeit rumor and speculation.  We all noticed that over the previous several months the well spoken (and the oft out spoken) President of the Senate seems rather quiet in the cable news and national media outlets.  Why is this?

My cohorts and I  agreed that we will believe it when concrete stories surface.  But my better half said something Democratic political strategist and campaigners have either considered or should very well consider, the true feminist vote.

We all remember John McCain's Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska.  The Palin experiment obviously failed for the GOP when Obama/Biden ticket won a historical election in November 2008.  Senator John McCain and his strategists (if they had any say in the matter) picked the exact opposite of what many American women see themselves.  Most women I know and love, either on both ends of the political spectrum, are more akin to an intellectual feminism.  Sarah Palin is the quintessential anti-(or counter-) feminist.

To find her more political, social and professional opposite in the cliche, "I am woman. Hear me roar," motif Hillary Clinton is the textbook example of a true modern, and maybe post-modern, feminist.  

I will not go into detail of her extensive political, legal or professional career.  We all know her maiden name, her family, her position in the Obama Administration's cabinet and her stance on issues ranging from feminism to international policy.  I will, however, speak of my own observations of Hillary R. Clinton's feminist demeanor- how she seems to be the envy of Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman and other  GOP women politicians throughout America.

The only issue I will discuss illustrating and exemplifying Clinton's real feminism is reproductive health issues, i.e. Planned Parenthood, HPV vaccines etc.

Michelle Bachman has stated in several debates and news outlets that she is opposed to an HPV vaccine.  HPV is a virus that can cause cervical cancer through skin to skin contact.  When Bachman was asked if she is in favor of such a vaccine in a GOP debate, she cited the, "innocence," of young, teenage girls- that it is better to not allow teenagers and other young women a chance to prevent a serious and debilitating disease.

Bachman and other GOP conservatives assume that such a vaccine would promote promiscuity in young women.  Researchers have shown, though, that HPV is most likely spread through skin-to-skin contact.  There is a lot of academic debate as to whether or not the virus is strictly or mostly sexually transmitted.

It's hard for me to believe, although I have not seen any media or other evidence proving either way, that Secretary Clinton would in any way disapprove of such a vaccine or most any type of reproductive or sexual health measures.  

Secretary Clinton, the Obama Administration and many other progressive leaders are supporters of one of the best things to happen to reproductive and women's health- Planned Parenthood.  The mere mention of the non-profit, educational and reproductive and sexual health organisation makes most GOP's and conservatives cringe.  

Women's health issues and LGBT issues are only one aspect of Hillary Clinton's views that I find appealing.  But since former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won in New Hampshire, and according to a recent Reuters poll only trails President Obama by less than 10 percent, the Obama/Clinton bid would be a deal breaker for many moderates.

Let's draw up a strictly hypothetical situation where the rumors and speculations end up becoming true.  Imagine, if only for a moment, that VP Joe Biden steps down at his position to give way to Hillary Clinton.  As a voter, and maybe one who leans more liberal than some, it is difficult for me to vote against an Obama/Clinton ticket over any GOP side.  

Golf coach under investigation for fraud

Two years ago I wrote an investigative piece on former University of Missouri- St. Louis golf coach Dustin Ashby.  During his tenure with UMSL, Ashby broke NCAA gambling rules while working as a part time, head men's golf coach when he hired three unnamed student-athletes to work for his company, Gridiron Fantasy Sports.  Click on this link for the story.

The Riverfront Times blog ran an article detailing Ashby's recent fraud investigation by the Missouri Attorney General's office here.

There are a few details of Ashby's business I remember when breaking the story for the The Current, UMSL's Student Newspaper.

As part of my reporting I tried calling and e-mailing Ashby's business and some of his associates several times.  The only response via e-mail I received was that he was no longer a public figure with UMSL.  After that e-mail a colleague and I drove to his office in Chesterfield, Missouri near the Chesterfield Airport.

The door to Ashby's Chesterfield office was locked and the windows were tinted so dark that my associate and I could not see inside.

A multi-million dollar gambling business, especially one featured on ESPN and in the Las Vegas gambling industry looked more like, both on paper and from closer inspection, a front for a poncy scheme.  At the time I was not privy to court documents or information regarding Ashby's financial records.  Without adequate, transparent information backed up by several sources I could not ask my editor (or any editor) to run a story regarding his businesses.

So when I read about the recent fraud investigation from the RFT blog I was not surprised.  I was also not surprised UMSL administrators tried to cover themselves after the NCAA sanctions.  While Ashby was the coach at UMSL his business was promising hundreds of thousands of dollars to would-be winners and holding drafts and other events in major Las Vegas hotels and casinos.

Discovering this information and the university's claims to the NCAA they did not know about Ashby's business seems far fetched, even for a starving and aspiring journalist like myself.

I'm sure the NCAA's investigation was thorough.  Ashby received a three-year show cause ban for lying and misleading investigators and UMSL athletics were placed on three years probation.  It's difficult for me to believe that when then UMSL athletic director Pat Dolan hired Ashby, a former UMSL student-athlete, they did not know he was running a multi-million dollar business, albeit an alleged poncy scheme.

UMSL has a long history of trying to get rid of supposed problems.  Look no further than this.