Post by Babyboomer on Jun 7, 2008 10:03:43 GMT -5
University of Kentucky baseball has, in recent years, been on an upward arc.
So when the program lost its architect yesterday, UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart moved quickly to try to maintain the Wildcats' upward mobility.
UK introduced Gary Henderson yesterday as the 25th baseball coach in school history just hours after John Cohen resigned to take the same job at Mississippi State.
Henderson has spent the past five seasons as Cohen's pitching coach.
"We're not going to miss a beat," Barnhart said. "We're going to keep moving along the way we want to go -- continue to go to (NCAA) regionals, continue to compete for championships. And we feel like we didn't have to look very far to find the guy that can lead our program."
After arriving in Starkville, Miss., Cohen told The (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger that the decision to return to his alma mater was "absolutely a no-brainer."
Barnhart put up a fight to keep Cohen in blue and white, saying that UK offered to make a "significant" commitment to its former coach in finances and long-term security.
Cohen's previous UK contract would have paid him a base salary of $200,000 in the contract year beginning July 1 and $95,000 in radio, television and endorsement deals, plus incentives.
"Had John accepted our offer, he would have, in my opinion, had one of the top five contracts in the country for a baseball coach," Barnhart said.
Instead, Cohen moved on, and Barnhart moved quickly to name Henderson, whose first task will be attempting to keep a recruiting class that features nine players who were picked in this week's Major League Baseball draft.
Henderson said he and recruiting coordinator Brad Bohannon, who will remain on UK's staff, already had made contact with Cats recruits.
"We've just signed a top-five recruiting class, and we're in the middle of keeping them," Henderson said. "Brad and I were on the phone until midnight last night and again early this morning. We're working on it."
Henderson's contract was not available, but Scott Stricklin, UK's associate athletic director for media relations, said Henderson will be paid $250,000 next season and his five-year deal will have an average value of $275,000 per year.
Missing from Henderson's contract, Barnhart said, will be the most famous clause in Cohen's.
The former UK coach had a clause stating that if by July 1, ground had not been broken on a new stadium or major renovation on Cliff Hagan Stadium, the buyout in his contract -- currently $600,000 -- would be void.
Because Cohen left before July 1, UK is working with his new employer to iron out the details of the buyout, Barnhart said.
But Henderson was comfortable without any specific stadium language in his contract, saying he's confident that UK is committed to building a new ballpark.
"The University of Kentucky and what we offer kids is outstanding," Henderson said. "A baseball stadium will improve that, obviously.
"But what we have is plenty to offer. It's worked in the past, and we're going to make this thing work whether we get a stadium in two years or four."
Cohen made it work in his five seasons at the helm, to the tune of a 175-112-1 record.
When he took over in 2004, Cohen inherited a UK program that hadn't reached the NCAA Tournament since 1993. In 2006, he led the Cats to their first Southeastern Conference championship and the first of two appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
The second came this season, when UK tied its 2006 record for wins in a season with 44.
Henderson, who spent the 1993 season as head coach at Chapman (Calif.) University, has had assistant coaching stops at San Diego State, Fullerton State, Riverside Community College, Pepperdine, Florida and Oregon State.
Departing Mississippi State coach Ron Polk expressed anger over Cohen's hiring, saying he felt "punched in the stomach" that Polk assistant Tommy Raffo was passed over. Polk said he wants his name taken off the school's baseball stadium.
www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080607/SPORTS03/806070533
So when the program lost its architect yesterday, UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart moved quickly to try to maintain the Wildcats' upward mobility.
UK introduced Gary Henderson yesterday as the 25th baseball coach in school history just hours after John Cohen resigned to take the same job at Mississippi State.
Henderson has spent the past five seasons as Cohen's pitching coach.
"We're not going to miss a beat," Barnhart said. "We're going to keep moving along the way we want to go -- continue to go to (NCAA) regionals, continue to compete for championships. And we feel like we didn't have to look very far to find the guy that can lead our program."
After arriving in Starkville, Miss., Cohen told The (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger that the decision to return to his alma mater was "absolutely a no-brainer."
Barnhart put up a fight to keep Cohen in blue and white, saying that UK offered to make a "significant" commitment to its former coach in finances and long-term security.
Cohen's previous UK contract would have paid him a base salary of $200,000 in the contract year beginning July 1 and $95,000 in radio, television and endorsement deals, plus incentives.
"Had John accepted our offer, he would have, in my opinion, had one of the top five contracts in the country for a baseball coach," Barnhart said.
Instead, Cohen moved on, and Barnhart moved quickly to name Henderson, whose first task will be attempting to keep a recruiting class that features nine players who were picked in this week's Major League Baseball draft.
Henderson said he and recruiting coordinator Brad Bohannon, who will remain on UK's staff, already had made contact with Cats recruits.
"We've just signed a top-five recruiting class, and we're in the middle of keeping them," Henderson said. "Brad and I were on the phone until midnight last night and again early this morning. We're working on it."
Henderson's contract was not available, but Scott Stricklin, UK's associate athletic director for media relations, said Henderson will be paid $250,000 next season and his five-year deal will have an average value of $275,000 per year.
Missing from Henderson's contract, Barnhart said, will be the most famous clause in Cohen's.
The former UK coach had a clause stating that if by July 1, ground had not been broken on a new stadium or major renovation on Cliff Hagan Stadium, the buyout in his contract -- currently $600,000 -- would be void.
Because Cohen left before July 1, UK is working with his new employer to iron out the details of the buyout, Barnhart said.
But Henderson was comfortable without any specific stadium language in his contract, saying he's confident that UK is committed to building a new ballpark.
"The University of Kentucky and what we offer kids is outstanding," Henderson said. "A baseball stadium will improve that, obviously.
"But what we have is plenty to offer. It's worked in the past, and we're going to make this thing work whether we get a stadium in two years or four."
Cohen made it work in his five seasons at the helm, to the tune of a 175-112-1 record.
When he took over in 2004, Cohen inherited a UK program that hadn't reached the NCAA Tournament since 1993. In 2006, he led the Cats to their first Southeastern Conference championship and the first of two appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
The second came this season, when UK tied its 2006 record for wins in a season with 44.
Henderson, who spent the 1993 season as head coach at Chapman (Calif.) University, has had assistant coaching stops at San Diego State, Fullerton State, Riverside Community College, Pepperdine, Florida and Oregon State.
Departing Mississippi State coach Ron Polk expressed anger over Cohen's hiring, saying he felt "punched in the stomach" that Polk assistant Tommy Raffo was passed over. Polk said he wants his name taken off the school's baseball stadium.
www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080607/SPORTS03/806070533
