`Good Guy' Cardieri Ignores The Whispers

[achiever1911]

TAMPA - Eddie Cardieri, good guy Eddie, turned 50 three months ago, during this, his 20th season as head baseball coach at the University of South Florida. Last month, he won his 700th game at USF.

Saturday, his Bulls ended the regular season with a three-game sweep of Cincinnati at Red McEwen Field, earning the sixth seed in the upcoming Conference USA Tournament.

But the 32-29 Bulls probably have to win the conference tournament to make the NCAA field to stop the whispers about Cardieri's job security. Whispers about 32-29 not being enough after 31-24 last season and 31-27 the season before that. The Bulls haven't made the NCAA Tournament since 2002.

Note: USF has never been to a football bowl game, men's basketball hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1992 and women's basketball has never been.

But there are whispers about Cardieri as USF prepares for the Big East. Whispers about where he stands with USF athletic director Doug Woolard. Cardieri has heard them.

``We've always done the best we could,'' he said.

I agree.

Friends Rush To His Defense

I'm not alone. Cardieri has made many friends. Good guys do that.

``I think Eddie has done a great job,'' said Louisville coach and former Tampa Spartans coach Lelo Prado. ``He has won, produced good kids. He doesn't have the facilities. We just opened an $8 million stadium. What does Eddie have?''

Not much.

Chicago White Sox player Ross Gload, who played for Cardieri, was similarly stunned when told of the whispers.

``When I was in the minors, the man called every team in the majors to put in a good word for me,'' Gload said. ``Eddie always stuck by you. And he always stuck by USF. It'd be crazy if anything happened.''

Cardieri has been coach of the year in three conferences. The Bulls have appeared in 10 NCAA Tournaments. Cardieri has been the head coach in nine.

He has been incredibly loyal to USF. He has produced those good kids while working on a shoestring. His facilities are a joke. I wouldn't hold a high school tourney at USF's home field. Cardieri's base salary of slightly more than $60,000 is modest by conference standards. By the way, there's a Big East men's crew coach who makes more.

But there are whispers.

This season has both helped and hurt. The Bulls have been all over the road. They beat top- ranked Tulane, but lost to Army. Two weeks ago, USF beat 11th- ranked Florida on consecutive nights, only to be immediately swept at Southern Miss. It didn't help when a USF assistant coach and a player were arrested on DUI charges last October. Or that Cardieri's sons play for him, reportedly inspiring some playing-time sniping from other parents.

Which leads us to Woolard, a tough read. He congratulated Cardieri for beating Tulane and Florida. ``We need to be at that level,'' Woolard told a reporter. ``I think we can be at that level.'' Then he said something he needs to remember.

``We need to step up ourselves.''

High Standards Needed All Around

You can't demand that your coaches step up unless you do the same. USF wants to go big-time, but balks at footing the bill. Cardieri has no recruiting budget, abysmal facilities, but is expected to compete with Florida, Florida State and Miami? Even UCF has sweet baseball digs. How do you beat that?

USF doesn't provide its non- revenue coaches or sports enough to be holding anyone's feet in the fire. Want higher standards? Hold yourself to them first.

I think Eddie Cardieri has done fine by USF. Maybe the Bulls could have won a few more games with someone else. Well, they could have lost a few more games, too. At these prices, never underestimate the value of a good guy.

There are plans for a new baseball facility. Down the road, of course. I'll believe it when it opens. Eddie Cardieri knows just one thing.

``I want to coach in that new stadium.''

I hope he does.

[CyberBull]

``I think Eddie has done a great job,'' said Louisville coach and former Tampa Spartans coach Lelo Prado. ``He has won, produced good kids. He doesn't have the facilities. We just opened an $8 million stadium. What does Eddie have?''  

Not much.  

The fashionable thing to do on this board is to bash our skipper. Nobody, including myself has said that he is not without faults. HJwever when you have no facilities to speak of and now even the cross town Division III team has better facilities......WTF do you expect?

Some of you guys may get your wish and get a new manager next year.  I'd doubt he or anyone else will be able to take USF to the next level with the ghetto like- baseball diamond USF is going to make them recruit with.

[bulls96go]

boo hoo

let's all cry in our milk for poor eddie.

and...good guy's finish last!

[CyberBull]

boo hoo

let's all cry in our milk for poor eddie.

and...good guy's finish last!

thanks for your intelligent response.

Let me bottom line it for you: you could get Casey Stengel to coach USF, but without facilities we are not going to get a consistent winner.

USF last made the NCAAs three years ago b/c EC was able to get lucky on a few players who wound up not getting drafted as high in the draft as they thought and wound up going to USF.

[MatRatUSF]

last time i checked, i don't think Casey is avaiable, but i can make some calls and find out.

[Metro_Retro_Bull]

Ive' talked many times with Eddie. This story is right on.

[Brad]

I'm glad Martin brought up the fact his son plays for him...I didn't want to bring that up.  I'm not the parent of a player, but that tells me something is rotten in the state of Denmark (especially when the son hits around the Mendoza line).

Bad facilities, not enough salary?

"At these prices, never underestimate the value of a good guy."  

::sick::

Wrong Answer!

Have the good guy go out and fund raise instead...just get someone that is not willing to buy into the whole underpriveleged ********.

He seems like a nice guy, I don't know - but nice guys belong elsewhere, kick him up to Paschal's old job or something.

Woolard put it best:

"We need to step up ourselves.''  

There can be no excuses.  Improvements in performance need to be made today...and not wait until tomorrow, or next decade.  

For anyone else holding a job (even a "real" job), resources are usually limited and you do not have everything you wished you could have.  Sometimes you just have to quit sobbing and overcome the obstacles.

If we bump the salary, we get a new coach...For any coach or player to make any excuses is a sign that guy has already lost.  We've been too soft for too long.

[MatRatUSF]

There was some fundraising going on. The trip to the Hawaii tournament was paid for all by fundraising money. Just a tid bit of information.

[Brad]

Excerpts from the Oracle:

"Getting the tournament was a relief," said coach Eddie Cardieri, who has only missed the conference tournament -- in the Sun Belt, Metro and C-USA leagues -- three times in his 20 seasons as head coach. "It was a real monkey off our back."

"Like (pitching) coach Nelson (North) said, it was a gorilla -- not a monkey -- we had to get off there," said Hierlmeier who set a new Bulls record for being hit by a pitch with 20 on Friday night. "It was good to get that win out of the way and get the pressure off."

"This was just a big weekend," North said. "When it all shook down to the last series again ... yeah, I called it a gorilla biting my head off, and I was glad to get it off. It was motivation for me and everyone."

"I still may not be over last year against Louisville. I'm just glad that gorilla is gone," added Hierlmeier.

"Bulls in conference tourney after wins

"  Story Link

---

I'm not sure these guys even know which primate they should be concerned about....

What have we come too?  Like basketball, the goal is to make the conference tournament?  I understand the rebuilding the "new coach" is undertaking in basketball (and I believe we are progressing) - I do not know what a 20-year veteran baseball coach means by the pressure being off and the relief experienced in making a C-USA baseball tournament...

The pressure should still be on and very heavy - no one should be talking about feeling relieved.  Those words alone should warrant a meeting in the A.D.'s office.

[Guest Basebulls1]

Coach Rupp (former U. of Tampa skip) from University of Maryland will be our next manager.