Former Alabama Pitcher Lance Cormier Assesses the State of Crimson Tide Baseball [Audio]
Earlier this week, Alabama Director of Athletics Greg Byrne fired Greg Goff after one season on the job as the Crimson Tide’s head baseball coach.
In his only season in Tuscaloosa, Goff finished with a 19-34-1 record including a 5-24-1 mark in the SEC. The Crimson Tide failed to qualify for the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2012 and will not participate in the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season.
While Alabama has appeared in Omaha five times and participated in college baseball’s national championship game twice, the program has not gone to the College World Series since 1999.
One of the players that helped Alabama achieve their most recent CWS appearance surveyed the state of Alabama baseball on Friday’s edition of The Gary Harris Show.
Lance Cormier pitched for Alabama from 1999-2002 and was an instrumental part of the 1999 squad that made it to Omaha. Cormier recorded 11 saves as a freshman in 1999.
As Greg Byrne takes on the task of finding Alabama’s third head coach in three seasons, Cormier examined the Tide’s constant state of transition as an issue for the program.
“Being in constant transition is something that no program can handle no matter how good your infrastructure was and how good the recruits were, no matter how good the season was.” Cormier said.
The former star pitcher for Jim Wells elaborated on how the turnover of coaches impacts recruiting.
“Now you’re at a point where you got to figure out how to keep the kids because, now they’re going to see all this transition and turmoil going on, and now do we want to put ourselves, as a dad and a mom, do you want to send your kid to a program that a coach resigned and another coach just got fired? Is that a thing where, are you going to get those players? If you don’t, then how are you going to react to that?” Cormier stated.
Cormier later looked at the challenges of Alabama’s scholarship situation compared to other SEC schools, the talent level in Tuscaloosa, the challenges for the Alabama’s next baseball coach and the potential of Crimson Tide baseball as a competitive program.
The Gary Harris Show airs every weekday from 9-11 AM on Tide 102.9/100.9 and the radioPup app.