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Mainieri Quote 😡

Fried Chicken

Fried Chicken

All-Conference
Oct 9, 2006
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“I think the fans and the media, everybody here was pretty impatient.”

John Whittle says it was bold of Mainieri to blame others when he took over an NCAA team to the most losses in history in his first year, then come out the next year and be worse.

You can tell Whittle can’t stand Mainieri and I have a lot of respect for how Whittle sees the program. Sounds like he played nice guy while he was leaving in Columbia, but as soon as he got back to Louisiana he’s being a douche.

Everything around this program is so much better / healthier without him there. So thankful he’s gone.
 
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Bubba Fett

Bubba Fett

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I am trying, trying really hard, to give Coach Paw Paw some grace on his way out, but he ain't making it easy. You don't hire a 66 year old, now 68 year old, supposed championship level coach, for him to take years to figure things out. He was supposed to right the ship ASAP. Certainly we should expect very positive signs in the second year, instead we got worse, and we look like a massive dumpster fire. Sorry Paw Paw, you took the money, you take the heat. Bye.
 
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bayrooster

bayrooster

All-American
Aug 21, 2003
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Bubba Fett said:
I am trying, trying really hard, to give Coach Paw Paw some grace on his way out, but he ain't making it easy. You don't hire a 66 year old, now 68 year old, supposed championship level coach, for him to take years to figure things out. He was supposed to right the ship ASAP. Certainly we should expect very positive signs in the second year, instead we got worse, and we look like a massive dumpster fire. Sorry Paw Paw, you took the money, you take the heat. Bye.
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Was he really brought in to fix anything?
 
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PeeCock78

PeeCock78

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“Unfortunately, that goal (Omaha) has not materialized as quickly as I would have liked and will take more time than I had anticipated and that is time that I just don’t have at my age.”

But yet he didn’t think he was given enough time, even though he knew he’d never reach that point because of his age. 🤨 Make up your mind!
 
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Bubba Fett

Bubba Fett

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bayrooster said:
Was he really brought in to fix anything?
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Supposedly, yeah, but I guess you do have to ask the question, "What would the AD have done differently if he was trying to destroy the program?"

The same thing? Hire a tired, 66 year old, who's been out the game for years, and was pre NIL?
 
bayrooster

bayrooster

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Bubba Fett said:
Supposedly, yeah, but I guess you do have to ask the question, "What would the AD have done differently if he was trying to destroy the program?"

The same thing? Hire a tired, 66 year old, who's been out the game for years, and was pre NIL?
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Leave pitchers in when they're getting clobbered, don't try to fix hitting, etc.
 
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sclawman77

sclawman77

All-Conference
Jun 27, 2011
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The old fart thought he was too legendary to be fired. Don't go away mad, just go away. He's a good bit richer too for accomplishing nothing.
 
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Gradstudent_rivals30147

Sophomore
Feb 11, 2006
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bayrooster said:
Leave pitchers in when they're getting clobbered, don't try to fix hitting, etc.
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Dont forget fielding

 
J

JohnnySolo

Junior
May 6, 2011
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Should have been fired when he said the kids were too tired to take BP before a game. And yes he got a bag for doing nothing of use for USC. So he can shut up and go fishing.
 
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sclawman77

sclawman77

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gamecockengineer2011 said:
Ray Tanner's greatest achievement as AD was keeping Dawn Staley happy. Everything else he did here should be considered organizational malpractice. How he is still a university employee right now after costing the university tens of millions of buyouts for all of his hires is puzzling.
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And the second longest tenured AD in our school history
 
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Fried Chicken

Fried Chicken

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JohnnySolo said:
Should have been fired when he said the kids were too tired to take BP before a game. And yes he got a bag for doing nothing of use for USC. So he can shut up and go fishing.
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And not just before any game…it was the 2nd day of the season!!!

Only thing I disagree with you on is that he should’ve never made it that far. Everything “nice” Mainieri said in his letter we knew last May. He wasn’t going to be around long enough to fix this thing. We should’ve parted ways after 1 season.
 
atl-cock

atl-cock

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gamecockengineer2011 said:
Ray Tanner's greatest achievement as AD was keeping Dawn Staley happy. Everything else he did here should be considered organizational malpractice. How he is still a university employee right now after costing the university tens of millions of buyouts for all of his hires is puzzling.
Click to expand...

Yes, in the hiring of coaches area of his duties, retaining Coach Staley was his greatest achievement. And in no way am I belittling it, but outside hiring was a bust, and retaining Staley did not make up for it. Similar to USC accepting an invititation to join the Southeastern Conference, retaining Staley was a no-brainer.

What do many of you think about Founders Park in general? RT apparently had a major hand in its design. Of course, that did not involve hiring a coach.

But of course, there's many more, less visible, duties which come with the job. I'm curious if anyone knows how competent RT was at these other job responsibilities?
 
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atl-cock

atl-cock

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Let Mainieri vent. Let's let it go and move on. Time will heal at least some of this. I imagine he'll be around Columbia for the next week or so wrapping things up for his move back to Baton Rouge.

I doubt he'll be at the Box for USC's visit in early May. Somewhat similar to Holbrook's departure. And, to the best of my knowledge, this year's game with CoC will be the first at Founders Park since Holbrook became the Cougars' coach.

Donati knows that whoever he hires as the next baseball coach is critical. Agreeing to part ways with Mainieri well before the season ended was, in retrospect, the correct move, as Donati can now take his time to "identify and research" viable candidates.

How many of us who felt that USC should have parted ways with PM at the conclusion of last season would have advocated parting ways with Lou Holtz after his first HC season at USC? Football showed improvement in year two, but not baseball.

The fan base needs to let Donati pick up the pieces in a fiscally responsible manner.

Onward to Athens.
 
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gamecockengineer2011

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atl-cock said:
What do many of you think about Founders Park in general? RT apparently had a major hand in its design. Of course, that did not involve hiring a coach.
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I think it was fine at the time but since then (2009) about half of the rest of the SEC has renovated or totally rebuilt their stadiums. It might be time to start thinking about renovating here to improve the fan experience.
 
L

Legal_fowl

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Bubba Fett said:
I am trying, trying really hard, to give Coach Paw Paw some grace on his way out, but he ain't making it easy. You don't hire a 66 year old, now 68 year old, supposed championship level coach, for him to take years to figure things out. He was supposed to right the ship ASAP. Certainly we should expect very positive signs in the second year, instead we got worse, and we look like a massive dumpster fire. Sorry Paw Paw, you took the money, you take the heat. Bye.
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RT thought he was hiring the baseball equivalent of Steve Spurrier.
 
R

RL09

Senior
Dec 29, 2025
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Blues man said:
We must put an end to having the reputation as a last stop to boost pensions.
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The other two worked out pretty well in my opinion, the Late Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier were awesome here! But Tanner was not involved in hiring either of them.
 
Bubba Fett

Bubba Fett

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Legal_fowl said:
RT thought he was hiring the baseball equivalent of Steve Spurrier.
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If he thought that, then he's got colossally bad judgment. Spurrier was 7 or 8 years younger, and looked and acted 10 to 15 years younger. Spurrier did wear out but before he got to that point he gave us the best years of our football program.

PawPaw was wore out from day one.
 
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18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

Heisman
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Getting run ruled in your first 2 SEC series of the year will do that to a fan base.
 
G

gamecockengineer2011

Freshman
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Legal_fowl said:
RT thought he was hiring the baseball equivalent of Steve Spurrier.
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Not a good equivalency, Steve Spurrier left college football at the peak of his tenure at Florida (2001) to try his hand at the NFL. Paul Maineri didnt leave LSU to run an MLB club, he got forced out by LSU because his program had become stagnant. Why the **** Tanner thought it was a good idea to bring that elderly has-been here should be a case study for all athletic directors. I dont think Tanner could have ****** this up any worse than he did.
 
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Blues man

Blues man

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RL09 said:
The other two worked out pretty well in my opinion, the Late Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier were awesome here! But Tanner was not involved in hiring either of them.
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When you count the assistant coaches we have brought back from the dead over the years I'm not sure I would call the pension padding program we had been offering a success. That said, yes the two you mention were great to have here. Would I do it again, probably not.
 
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