Time for a change at UMSL

The UM-St. Louis baseball team has got to be at rock bottom. The Tritons just finished up their third consecutive losing season with an abysmal 14-32 record, and were 7-20 in Great Lakes Valley Conference action. The once mighty Rivermen baseball program has been led by much maligned coach Jim Brady for 23 years, and for 19 of them he did a fantastic job, but the last few years to put it kindly, he just hasn't gotten the job done.

Brady, who won a $2 million payout from the University of Missouri system based on an age-discrimination suit he filed in 1997 and then another in 2004(the links to two articles in the RFT detailing those suits are here and here). Brady has yet to see any of the money, but obviously suing your boss and having them fight the ruling to the supreme court isn't good for business.

All signs point to conditions being ripe for a change at UMSL, and I think that the job would be a great one for a multitude of reasons.

First off, it is a great place for any college coach to sell recruits on. With campus being located within 15 minutes of the city, there are tons of things for guys to do. This is a great selling points to out-of-town recruits who may be from smaller towns and want for the big city experience. Also, the St. Louis area has been turning out a surplus of great talent the past few years, and not all of these kids are going division I. With SIU-E going to division I, UMSL is now the only established division II program in the metro area, and there are plenty of kids in the area looking to go to a 4-year and have a chance to play right away.

Secondly, the campus is nice. The student population is at about 15,000 which is attractive to an 18 year old kid choosing his school based on the two B's(baseball and boobs). Also, the student center is really nice, and the opportunity to be involved in Greek life and other on campus groups is prevalent all over.

Third, it's an exciting time in the athletic department at UMSL right now. The teams just got a new nickname, the website got a full make-over, making it look like a legitimate professional site as opposed to the old, plain one. And the crown jewel of the athletics turnover at school....A BRAND NEW BASEBALL FACILITY.... this is absolutely the biggest player in how you can recruit to UMSL right now. The facility will be top of the line, and include a locker room and indoor hitting cages.

The GLVC is a very solid conference, however Drury is in it's second year of existence and they won the conference last year and finished .500 this year. Their roster is St. Louis heavy....why isn't UMSL's?

The program needs a new direction. It needs an energetic young coach to usher in the new era that will begin at their beautiful on-campus facility. Jim Brady has been a great coach at UMSL, but his time has passed. The program is in shambles, but it could be a relatively quick reclamation project with the right planning. Grab some juco players, recruit quality young men, and change the stagnant aura that surrounds the program. Jim Brady is a good guy, and was a quality coach who built a strong program, unfortunately, it has deteriorated beyond anything that he can control.