BASEBALL MT baseball hires Marshall assistant
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
- Start date
not a story about Donnelly leaving marshall, but a story in the Huntington paper today...
'The Chicken Runs at Midnight'
'The Chicken Runs at Midnight'
Herald-Dispatch:
MU coach heading to Middle Tennessee
..."It's definitely bittersweet," Donnelly said. "It's tough leaving all the people and all the relationships I've made over the last 10 years. Waggs gave me the chance when I was 24 years old. He was the youngest head coach and I was probably the youngest third-base coach in this conference.
"It's time that I wanted to look at where I was in my career and try to get somewhere that I can have a nice facility to recruit to and see what I can get accomplished."
In 2016, Marshall traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and swept Middle Tennessee in a three-game series to jump-start an 11-game winning streak in Conference USA that catapulted the Herd near the top of the C-USA standings.
The Herd finished with a program record 34 wins while posting a 21-9 conference mark. Middle Tennessee finished the 2016 season 20-35 overall and 5-24 in C-USA play, just one season after winning 32 games and finishing 19-11 in C-USA.
While Marshall had the more successful season, Donnelly looked at the ability to sustain success in baseball prior to making the move, and Middle Tennessee's commitment to facilities and the baseball program got his attention.
"On the baseball side of it, anyone who has been to Middle Tennessee, they've seen the stadium," Donnelly said of Reese Smith Jr. Field. "It's always a place that when we were down there, I looked at the facilities and was intrigued by it. Never in a million years did I think I'd be coaching there in conference.
"In the end, in terms of a career move for me, it's definitely a place I think I can get it done recruiting." ...
MU coach heading to Middle Tennessee
..."It's definitely bittersweet," Donnelly said. "It's tough leaving all the people and all the relationships I've made over the last 10 years. Waggs gave me the chance when I was 24 years old. He was the youngest head coach and I was probably the youngest third-base coach in this conference.
"It's time that I wanted to look at where I was in my career and try to get somewhere that I can have a nice facility to recruit to and see what I can get accomplished."
In 2016, Marshall traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and swept Middle Tennessee in a three-game series to jump-start an 11-game winning streak in Conference USA that catapulted the Herd near the top of the C-USA standings.
The Herd finished with a program record 34 wins while posting a 21-9 conference mark. Middle Tennessee finished the 2016 season 20-35 overall and 5-24 in C-USA play, just one season after winning 32 games and finishing 19-11 in C-USA.
While Marshall had the more successful season, Donnelly looked at the ability to sustain success in baseball prior to making the move, and Middle Tennessee's commitment to facilities and the baseball program got his attention.
"On the baseball side of it, anyone who has been to Middle Tennessee, they've seen the stadium," Donnelly said of Reese Smith Jr. Field. "It's always a place that when we were down there, I looked at the facilities and was intrigued by it. Never in a million years did I think I'd be coaching there in conference.
"In the end, in terms of a career move for me, it's definitely a place I think I can get it done recruiting." ...
Looks like we are getting a very high quality assistant in Donnelly. The MU fans even think so. Maybe thats what we needed. When Coach Pete left and Mags move to head coach we lost that big time assistant coach/recruiter. Hopefully this will help turn the baseball program around.
