Will Bolt Named New Husker Coach

Back when Christy played for Nebraska the coaching staff let him call his own games.   He also handled a couple of A&M games when Childress wasn't there and did well.  I think he will do fine as far as pitch calls and staff management.   The part that is harder to guess about for me would be pitching mechanics & development.   I do  not know much about baseball but maybe coaching pitching is more about how to recognize when mechanics are off and correcting those flaws and not as much about developing pitches?   So maybe it takes a good eye  vs practical experience in throwing pitches?  Maybe there is someone on the board that can speak to this as I am  guessing.

Time will tell on that.  Catchers generally make good coaches.  I think folks agree on that. 

It should be noted that Bolt, Christy and Silva were all on staff together at Nebraska so Bolt is familiar with what  Silva brings to the table.  As far as letting Silva go, part of the decision could have to do with chemistry or perhaps it has to do with recruiting.   Guessing again.   Bolt is reportedly bringing in Harvell a top notch recruiter with Southern ties and he will probably be the recruiting coordinator.   Maybe that was something Silva didn't want to give up?  Just spit balling here.   Maybe he wanted a local guy to recruit locally and a national guy?   

The Huskers.com interview seems to indicate it's all about chemistry and recruiting. 

Also I saw somewhere that  people thought 300K was low.  I am not sure if it was on this board.   I do not think that it is low.   I saw an article dated 2017 that baseball head coaches in the B1G made an average of $245K (or something close to that)   The author said he couldn't find 2 Head coach salaries (Erstad and one other) but this is a decent guideline.  So $300K for a first time Head Coach in the Big ten two years later sounds about right to me.   

 
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flatwaterfan said:
Back when Christy played for Nebraska the coaching staff let him call his own games.   He also handled a couple of A&M games when Childress wasn't there and did well.  I think he will do fine as far as pitch calls and staff management.   The part that is harder to guess about for me would be pitching mechanics & development.   I do  not know much about baseball but maybe coaching pitching is more about how to recognize when mechanics are off and correcting those flaws and not as much about developing pitches?   So maybe it takes a good eye  vs practical experience in throwing pitches?  Maybe there is someone on the board that can speak to this as I am  guessing.

Time will tell on that.  Catchers generally make good coaches.  I think folks agree on that. 

It should be noted that Bolt, Christy and Silva were all on staff together at Nebraska so Bolt is familiar with what  Silva brings to the table.  As far as letting Silva go, part of the decision could have to do with chemistry or perhaps it has to do with recruiting.   Guessing again.   Bolt is reportedly bringing in Harvell a top notch recruiter with Southern ties and he will probably be the recruiting coordinator.   Maybe that was something Silva didn't want to give up?  Just spit balling here.   Maybe he wanted a local guy to recruit locally and a national guy?   

The Huskers.com interview seems to indicate it's all about chemistry and recruiting. 

Also I saw somewhere that  people thought 300K was low.  I am not sure if it was on this board.   I do not think that it is low.   I saw an article dated 2017 that baseball head coaches in the B1G made an average of $245K (or something close to that)   The author said he couldn't find 2 Head coach salaries (Erstad and one other) but this is a decent guideline.  So $300K for a first time Head Coach in the Big ten two years later sounds about right to me.   
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Could be NW's due to being a private school, I don't think they have to release that type of information. Could be entirely wrong though.

From what you stated though it does make a bit more sense, but will be interesting to see if he'd still handle mechanics and what not, and spending so much time as a catcher does lend itself to seeing things a normal fan/non-pitching coach can't see.

 
As a former D1 pitcher, and current youth pitching coach, I love the pitching coach selection.  Pitching coaches need to be mentors/therapists 80% of the time.  I'm not sure anyone gets that quite as much as a catcher would.  Development doesn't take a back seat but strength conditioning and the how to's are much more concrete and can be taught by grad assistants if necessary.  The mental development is the tough one...    

 
I bet you are right Hskrfan4life about the Northwestern coach's salary being unavailable.   That makes sense.

It certainly will be interesting to see how this turns out.  I do not think there will be a big culture change so that's not something they have to overcome.   Erstad  and Bolt both promote a gritty & hardnose approach to the game.  Batting approach will probably change.  I think the biggest change will be in the recruiting from reading articles.   Harvell will open up some southern ties and sounds like they will recruit the Kansas Jucos and  Nebraska.   Probably a little less in the Big ten states that don't border Nebraska with the exception of Wisconsin maybe.   Just a guess.   Sounds like Harvell recruited speed at SHS.  Maybe we will see more of that?   (Of course I thought we would see that under Erstad and we didn't.  Maybe that ended up being dictated by  the areas  recruited.)

Our lineup for next year is going to be experienced and tough I think.  We could probably use another top SS but the positions are fairly well stocked IMO.   

Weekend pitching will be another  story since we have to replace the 3 guys.     I think they need to get a few more pitching recruits.   I think Palket, Perry, Stroh, Curry and Luensmann will be in the mix for weekends.  If we can get 3 inning eaters out of that group that would be great.  Would like to see Schwellenbach do some spot relief like Gomes but we would need another SS for that.

 
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Hilltop said:
As a former D1 pitcher, and current youth pitching coach, I love the pitching coach selection.  Pitching coaches need to be mentors/therapists 80% of the time.  I'm not sure anyone gets that quite as much as a catcher would.  Development doesn't take a back seat but strength conditioning and the how to's are much more concrete and can be taught by grad assistants if necessary.  The mental development is the tough one...    
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I'd honestly prefer if we left the mental development and the physical development/mechanics (when necessary) to a proven, experienced commodity (e.g. Silva). Seems like a poor hire, especially considering you have a first time head coach (at this level).

The hitting coach I'm fine with--that's a good pickup, and he's someone that's been listed for openings in Big XII and SEC schools before. But a pitching coach that never pitched...I get that Christy is a great catcher. I just don't see that translating well when we're trying to coach up/improve kids and their pitching mechanics that first year or two of school. 

 
VectorVictor said:
I'd honestly prefer if we left the mental development and the physical development/mechanics (when necessary) to a proven, experienced commodity (e.g. Silva). Seems like a poor hire, especially considering you have a first time head coach (at this level).

The hitting coach I'm fine with--that's a good pickup, and he's someone that's been listed for openings in Big XII and SEC schools before. But a pitching coach that never pitched...I get that Christy is a great catcher. I just don't see that translating well when we're trying to coach up/improve kids and their pitching mechanics that first year or two of school. 
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It translates very well because catchers know just as much or more about the pitchers they catch than the pitchers themselves. And during games it is the catcher who goes to the mound to talk to the pitcher first usually.

 
VectorVictor said:
I'd honestly prefer if we left the mental development and the physical development/mechanics (when necessary) to a proven, experienced commodity (e.g. Silva). Seems like a poor hire, especially considering you have a first time head coach (at this level).

The hitting coach I'm fine with--that's a good pickup, and he's someone that's been listed for openings in Big XII and SEC schools before. But a pitching coach that never pitched...I get that Christy is a great catcher. I just don't see that translating well when we're trying to coach up/improve kids and their pitching mechanics that first year or two of school. 
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One thing that I hope that continues and needs to continue is tough non-conference scheduling. I know we are returning the favor with Arizona State next year, but in the Big Ten which doesn't have a high conference RPI as ACC, Big XII or SEC we will need it.

 
VectorVictor said:
I'd honestly prefer if we left the mental development and the physical development/mechanics (when necessary) to a proven, experienced commodity (e.g. Silva). Seems like a poor hire, especially considering you have a first time head coach (at this level).

The hitting coach I'm fine with--that's a good pickup, and he's someone that's been listed for openings in Big XII and SEC schools before. But a pitching coach that never pitched...I get that Christy is a great catcher. I just don't see that translating well when we're trying to coach up/improve kids and their pitching mechanics that first year or two of school. 
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I can understand you viewpoint for sure.  I believe it will translate to some great results but time will tell.  

 
desertshox said:
It translates very well because catchers know just as much or more about the pitchers they catch than the pitchers themselves. And during games it is the catcher who goes to the mound to talk to the pitcher first usually.
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True. But as a former catcher, I would be loath to try and help a pitcher with their mechanics. Strategy, yes. Pep talks, yes. Fundamentals and mechanics, no way. 

Cdog923 said:
One thing to think about with this new staff: they will recruit Texas much harder than the previous staff did. 
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True that.

 
VectorVictor said:
True. But as a former catcher, I would be loath to try and help a pitcher with their mechanics.
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MLB catchers do that all the time when they have a really good relationship with a pitcher and know him well.  They see one little thing in their pitch that's causing a problem and mention it.

 
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