New
Surroundings
Baseball team begins final trek through WAC

By Matt Stiver
Skiff Staff

TCU coaches have tabbed the 2001 baseball season as one of adapting. Adapting to a young pitching staff and a lineup of position players relatively short on experience.

However, the real adaptation will come next year when, along with all TCU athletic teams except soccer, the Frogs will move into Conference USA. Once there, TCU will have to adapt to new competition, a new media environment and a new travel schedule.

Not that TCU has not been there before. Fifteen-year head coach Lance Brown, who guided the Frogs into the Western Athletic Conference following the breakup of the Southwest Conference in 1996, said he anticipates the move.

Brown said C-USA’s commitment to improvement is what sold him on the league.

“The atmosphere is so much better because C-USA is determined to be one of the best baseball conferences in the nation,” Brown said. “The WAC sort of evolved into one, but I don’t think it set out to be. C-USA is determined to make TCU baseball big-time.”

Junior second baseman Erick Macha said he looks forward to playing in C-USA.

“The WAC’s a good conference, but we’re leaving for a better one,” Macha said. “It will be good to go to the East Coast.”

Along with TCU, East Carolina will join C-USA baseball in 2002. The conference will then field 12 baseball programs: Houston, Tulane, Southern Miss, North Carolina-Charlotte, South Florida, Cincinnati, Alabama-Birmingham, Louisville, Memphis and Saint Louis.

Houston, which joined C-USA as a charter member in 1996 after the SWC disbanded, has seen its baseball team thrive in C-USA. Head coach Rayner Noble, who led the Cougars to a 48-14 record last year, including the C-USA regular and postseason championships and a berth in the NCAA Super Regionals, said C-USA is slowly developing into a strong conference.

Shortstop Eric Macha

“C-USA is getting better, but it still isn’t quite as strong as some of the top leagues like the (Southeastern Conference),” Noble said.

Though now enthusiastic about the expansion, Noble said he did not like the idea initially.

“I was a little concerned with who would be invited,” Noble said. “I think (C-USA) will benefit, though. ECU is one of the premier teams in the nation. In TCU, I see a program that could evolve.”

During the previous two seasons, competition in C-USA has been tough. Noble said parity throughout the league has been the norm.

Last year, Houston and Tulane advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Tulane has made four consecutive NCAAs, and last year Houston became the first C-USA team to advance to the Super Regional round.

Since forming in 1996, C-USA has averaged two berths in the NCAA Tournament and all 10 schools have posted at least one winning record.

The WAC, however, has three College World Series berths while C-USA is still looking for its first. San Jose State advanced last year, and Rice in 1998 and 1999. Houston came within a game of the CWS, losing to San Jose State.

Noble said C-USA plays a traditional style of baseball, one rooted in pitching and defense.

“We’re not a flashy league,” Noble said. “We don’t try and reinvent the game. Personally, I think that’s the way the game of baseball should be played.”

When TCU accepted a bid from C-USA in October of 1999, officials said increased media coverage would be one of the primary benefits. C-USA has schools in media centers like Chicago, New Orleans and St. Louis.

Noble said C-USA has increased Houston’s national media exposure and has benefited the program.

“It gave the program a breath of fresh air,” Noble said. “We got out from under the shadow of Texas and Texas A&M. Once we put together a strong schedule and won, it put us on a national stage.”

Brown and TCU anticipate a similar reaction, primarily in recruiting and exposure.

“It’s hard for us to (compete east of Texas) because no one wants to go to a school they’ve never seen play,” Brown said. “Maybe now we can get a kid from Mississippi or Alabama because they’ll have seen us play or seen teams in our conference.”

The hardest part of the transition for the Frogs will come in having to learn an entirely new set of opponents. Brown, who guided TCU’s transition into the WAC, said the Frogs will spend more time this year scouting C-USA teams. TCU will play C-USA members Houston and North Carolina-Charlotte this season.

“The WAC plays a little more of a California-style of ball: bunting and hitting,” Brown said. “We’ll be watching to find out what styles they play in C-USA.”

Brown said players tend to worry more about bad hops and wind when playing in new ballparks.

“Each field is different: how the wind blows, how the ball carries, if the park is deep or small,” Brown said. “The more you play there, the more comfortable it becomes. Then the worries become about the other players, not the field.”

Getting to those fields proved difficult in the WAC. With teams on the Pacific coast, the WAC’s most consistent complaint became travel.

Noble said travel in C-USA is not much better.

“It’s serious travel, especially being on the southwest edge of the conference,” Noble said. “(Travel) is probably the biggest negative about C-USA. It’s hard for our fans to come see us.”

Brown said the C-USA travel schedule would be an improvement over the WAC in several areas. Brown said the Frogs would make five trips (six counting the conference tournament), which is the same number they make in the WAC. However, Hawaii will not be on the list.

While Macha lamented the loss of the annual trip to Hawaii, Brown did not. Brown said the trip to Honolulu and Hilo — the WAC schedules games against Hawaii and Hawaii-Hilo during the same trip — costs $40,000 and takes 11 days.

Any financial savings will be offset by having to travel to the C-USA tournament, Brown said.

“Things will almost balance out,” Brown said.

While the C-USA travel schedule does not include Hawaii, Brown said the biggest convenience will come in reduced delays.

The closer proximity of C-USA schools will allow TCU students to attend more class, Brown said.

“A lot of times, we can’t get flights out on Sunday night, so we have to wait until Monday morning,” Brown said. “The WAC is a travel mess.”

Moving to C-USA could also impact the proposed baseball facility. TCU and the baseball team have been attempting to raise funds for a state-of-the-art facility that would be on par with Rice’s Reckling Park.

C-USA Commissioner Mike Slive cited TCU’s recent upgrades to its athletic facilities (John Justin Athletic Center, Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium and the Lowden Track Complex) as a major reason why the C-USA board voted unanimously to offer TCU admission. Construction of the proposed baseball facility would fit under TCU’s upgrade plan, Brown said.

Macha said TCU needs updated facilities.

“It would be huge for the program,” Macha said. “With a first-class facility, we could better compete.”

While entering C-USA will not ensure the completion of the proposed facility, Brown said he hopes it speeds the process.

“The university said if we’re going to go into C-USA, we’re going to compete at the highest level,” Brown said. “We’re going to have to have the facilities if we want to compete with the Tulanes and the Houstons.”

When TCU entered the 16-team WAC in 1996, concerns existed about how the Frogs would adapt and how rivalries would build. While many of those same questions exist this time around, at least TCU will see a familiar face inits new surroundings.

“Anytime you have the chance to rekindle a rivalry with an old opponent, I think is a good thing,” Noble said. “I think TCU and Houston could grow into something.”

Matt Stiver
m.r.stiver@student.tcu.edu