El Jefe Speaks
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MORRIS UNHAPPY
A candid Jim Morris addressed the state of his UM baseball program Thursday, amid this backdrop: Miami has one College World Series appearance in the past five years (in 2008), after making it in 10 of Morris’ first 13 seasons here, with national titles in 1999 and 2001. The program still wins -- Morris has made the NCAA Tournament every year -- but not quite at the level of his first 15 years.“It’s not acceptable for me, my standards. I feel worse than anybody,” said Morris, whose team enters this weekend’s series against Wake Forest at 30-17 but just 12-12 in the ACC. “Everybody else in the country thinks we’re great, being ranked 21. Down here, we’re all spoiled, including me.“It’s very frustrating being 21 and not going to the World Series in three years [after going 11] of my first 15. It was like automatic. We made hotel reservations for Omaha before the season started. We’re working as hard as we’ve ever worked as a coaching staff. Our players are working equally as hard. We’re trying to get better players, better everything. We have such high expectations in baseball and football that if you’re not mentioned in the national championship picture, something’s wrong.”Four reasons for the program’s slight falloff:### “We’ve been killed by the draft the last two years.” UM lost five first-rounders (including the Marlins’ Christian Yelich) and one second-rounder in the past two drafts. “Last year, our recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the country before the draft. When all your juniors sign and you don’t get a break in the draft, it makes it pretty tough."Morris said “we’ve got a great recruiting class signed” heading into the draft June 4-6. He said he still “wants to sign the best players” and won’t pursue lesser prospects because he doesn’t want to miss out on top players who don’t turn pro.“Alex Fernandez, Charles Johnson, Kenny Henderson went to school as first-rounders. The highest pick I’ve ever had go to school was an eight-rounder, Jemile Weeks. I’ve never had the luxury of a first-rounder. I’d like to experience that one time before I die… I’ve heard scouts say, ‘Who does Miami have signed?’ Because they know we have the best players.”### Moving to the ACC. He said it’s tougher to win now than as an independent in baseball because “you have to travel more, and it means in a regional or super-regional, normally we’re going to play an SEC team, and that’s tough.”### More parity in the sport. “There are a lot more teams that are good. It’s gotten tougher and tougher to go to the World Series.”### High tuition at UM, which makes it difficult to compete with less expensive schools (such as UF and FSU) for some players.UM undergraduate tuition is $39,654 annually and will increase to $41,220 this fall. Students must pay another $16,132 annually in housing, food and meals. UM must split 11.7 scholarships among 33 players, so it’s essentially like a salary cap.Southern California and Stanford – who also have storied baseball programs at expensive private schools – have made one CWS in the past 10 and eight years, respectively. “If Major League Baseball stepped in and we had 25 scholarships, we would absolutely kick butt,” Morris said. “I’d be the happiest guy in America. Florida is $15,000 and [has] grants.”(FYI: President Donna Shalala is raising a ton of money for an endowment fund, and Morris is hopeful baseball players will get some of that. “That grant money doesn’t count as scholarships,” he said.)There has been some grumbling among some Board of Trustees members wondering why baseball isn’t as dominant the past few years. But a prominent trustee said, “We’re good with Jim. Every program has ups and downs.”Athletic director Shawn Eichorst, who doesn’t like to speak on-the-record much, declined to discuss his level of commitment to Morris, who has several years left on his contract. Morris, 62, wants to coach for for a lot more years; “I enjoy it. This is all I’ve done.” He said he feels he has support from Eichorst.“I don’t need anybody to put any pressure on me,” Morris said. “I put enough pressure on myself.”### Morris said UM needs to win four of its last six and two ACC Tournament games to host a regional. “We’re out of the possibility of hosting a Super regional.” After hosting Wake, UM closes the regular season next week at Georgia Tech…. Morris is confident that top Westminster Christian prospect David Thompson will eschew turning pro and will enroll at UM to play football (quarterback) and baseball (first base, third base or left field). Thompson’s father, Ed, said Thursday, “I can’t tell you 100 percent, but he’s planning to go to UM."
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