I would think that if they planned to have a 2022 season for sure they could appoint a neutral party to handle administrative matters. It is unfair to prospective opponents, however, to be in a position where they don't know whether or not UCD will honor its commitments, and this will put a real roadblock in the way of scheduling non-conference games. Conference games too. Since there's an odd number of teams it's not like they can just plot out games in advance with UCD as a placeholder. If they're still investigating this in the fall they miss the opportunity to schedule alternate opponents.

The players cannot enter the spring 2022 season with a severely reduced practice schedule. They miss their fall practice and that's it. Aside from reduced competitiveness it's also a situation where more injuries could happen.

We do have a few facts.

1. The team is suspended, as are the players and coaches.

2. The parties conducting the preliminary investigation believe it will continue well into the fall.

3. Until the investigation is completed no one is competing, coaching, or practicing for the UCD baseball.

4. The university felt the need to highlight safety and inclusion in its statrment. They also emphasized that it is the team (as opposed to the department) that is accused of the misconduct.

It may very well be that the program is done. If it had been more succesful it would have greater staying power after a challenge like this.

Now in all these discussions of baseball getting cut for financial reasons we've talked about what women's sport would be cut to compensate, but there's one angle we haven't discussed-what if they decide to replace it with another men's sport ? The numbers of potential student-athlete spots doesn't quite match up, but perhaps they're considering adding men's volleyball, which is a Big West sport ?

I feel sympathy for the student-athletes directly impacted by this. What do you do ? If you chose UC Davis for the academics and athletics and the latter is taken from you, do you stick around ? Or do you transfer out and go to a lesser school ?

I don't really see a Title IX connection here. The reason I think that is because that's more of an athletic department-level issue- the team and coaches are being suspended. The coaches only control the money and facilities they are given; they aren't involved in the distribution of resources, aside from scholarships.

I guess I could see a Title IX connection if a female or transgender student-athlete wanted to compete and was denied the opportunity to at least get a fair try-out (coaching-level problem) or the team members made them feel unwelcome and they quit (player-level problem, but coaching problem too if they knew and did not resolve the issue or at least escalate the issue to the university through the proper channels). This is reaching a bit though. Unfair fundraising tactics would be a coaching'-level problem.

Now I can't get the buzz words out of my mind. Inclusion, misconduct, safety. This could be a smokescreen, but this really makes it seem that players were the ones committing the acts of misconduct. May be nothing, but the coaches being placed on administrative leave seemed almost an afterthought since it wasn't mentioned first. Ii kind of see it like big brother getting punished for something little brother did because they weren't doing a good enough job of babysitting him.

A couple of points to consider. One is that you know there will be a diversity and inclusion probe into this. College baseball is predominantly white (in terms of total players on each team, not quality of the athletes) and then to a lesser extent-Hispanic, but UCD has a less diverse team than most, despite being affiliated with a university that prides itself on diversity. But how do you explain the lack of African-American and Asian-American participants ? I don't think you can without bringing up stereotypes, so I won't address that directly.

I'm thinking overt discriminatiion is perhaps not involved here, but disparate treatment might be. In other words, if you're doing the majority of your recruiting in affluent areas the pool of players may be much less diverse. Now you may be recruiting free of racial bias, but you eliminated many potential student-athletes by narrowing your area of focus to such an extent. If disparate treatment is in any way involved here the university and how it funds the program may be partially to blame.

The other thing to consider is that these players are usually on their best behavior at games (moreso than their opponents usually) but at fall practice games Vaughn (Acosta too I think) is not allowed to attend they can be pretty rowdy, and they rip on each other a lot. It is possible people went too far and whichever assistant was running the show (typically the volunteer I think..they don't even have umpires) dropped the ball in addressing the issue. This seems like more of an in-season problem though involved here.

I agree. I believe there was a storm brewing this year because of COVID-19 and the miserable season.

The timing of the allegations suggests to me whoever made them was waiting for when they wouldn't be facing retaliation, such as some outgoing seniors or students transferring to different colleges. Of course they could have known about this earlier and chose to release the information after the season in order to not distract those who weren't involved while they were still playing.

One thing it's tough to get your head around is that any players or team representaives would engage in any improper behavior, that they're mentally and morally superior and above doing such things. Intelligence, however, is not a guarantee of good citizenship. Just look at the capitol riots. That wasn't just a collection of dumb, slack-jawed rednecks.

The allegations came out not so long after the topic of the problems with UCD baseball was started. It's a longshot, but could it be that the accusers read the posts on aggiesportstalk, and became emboldened to speak up ?

And I've heard rumors of player impropriety in the past casually dropped at games before, like a player (in the late 80's or early 90's-don't recall the name) who had a big gambling problem and whispers of raunchy American Pie-style parties.

I got from the article that the investigation is starting now but that it could last well into the fall quarter. This tells me that they have lots of people to interview, maybe even going back to coaches Peters and Swimley.

The most likely implication in my opinion is that there's unlikely to be a 2022 season. They can't put together a schedule with the coaches on leave
. Prospective opponents will have moved on.

If you're referring to me I'm good. If there's something wrong with the team they need to find out and take care of it. If there is a toxic culture on the team right now that may have contributed to why the team sucked so much this year. In 2009 Rex Peters cited a toxic culture (although he didn't mention hazing, mostly big egos) and that was the worst D-I season...until this one.

One detail I wonder about-there was a veteran player named Alejandro Lara who I recall being mentioned as a starter in Bruce Galludet's ((Davis Enterprise) season preview. Now Galludet's article was based on an interview with Vaughn so he wouldn't have just assumed Lara would be a starter. I seem to recall that Lara was on the first draft of the roster this year, but was not on the final draft. At the time I thought he may have graduated early or his health situation (he's a recent cancer survivor) had made it more sensible to sit it out.

Now he was a 5th year senior this year, but on Senior Day he wasn't mentioned at all, and they even honored the 2020 seniors whose Senior Day was cancelled. Now you would think they would honor him no matter what the situation, unless he left on poor terms or is planning to come back next year as a grad student. This may be grasping at straws, but it seems strange for a player to go from a prospective starter to a non-mention on Senior Day. I wonder if Lara's situation is somehow tied up in this in any way ?

I have noticed on several occasions the fielders seem not to be in synch. I had always attributed that to a lack of practice time, but perhaps some of the players legitimately don't like each other and it reflects in their play ?

There was a large portion of the schedule with no fan attendance so something could've happened that very few people would've seen.

This is pretty serious. Based on the wording of the article and its use of the buzzwords "safety", "inclusion", as well as the suspension of both players and coaches, my guess is this might be related to hazing. You'd like to think that in these times that young men are above sexual misconduct and discriminatory acts. Hazing is something that can get coaches fired if they turn a blind eye to it.

And we have the Band-uh precedent as a frame of reference.

If this is the last year of Vaughn's contract this may be it. Guilty or not the University will want to distance itself from the allegations.

And we will hear about what happened. Unlike with Chima Moneke's suspension it involves the team, and that's too big to sweep under the rug.

They would just admit more women to the school so they could keep all the women's sports.

Good. Glad to see Team USA defeated. I'll leave the politics out of my post, Every Olympics they assemble a bunch of huge egos, put them through a minimum of practices, and expect to steamroll over the competition. The team hasn't evolved since the1990's. The game is much more global now and other countries have their own stars in the NBA learning how to compete against U.S. stars. The other countries are hungrier and they work harder. They deserve it. I'd say these contests should serve as a wake-up call, but I know they won't.

Well I don't want it to be cut either, but the program was on the list of considerations the last time programs were cut so the idea is floating out there, although it's not clear how likely it is they will act on it.

Regardless of what happens to the baseball program nothing will happen to Dobbins Stadium. They can't demolish the baseball portion in my opinion, because that would have consequences for the soccer stands, and although you could play soccer on the baseball field the sight lines would be terrible for fans. You wouldn't be able to see half of the game clearly. And if you demolished the entire structure and removed the diamond to build a soccer-only stadium that would be ridiculously expensive and unnecessary. Soccer attendance at UCD is like Sac State basketball-the crowd fills the current seating capacity but more would be a waste.

What would likely happen if UCD eliminated baseball is they would open it up to the community more (since it used to be called Community Stadium especially). I've seen it used for adult baseball leagues, a high school scouting showcase, and even a minor league exhibition game. They also have the option to open it up to other universities for tournaments (Remember the Capitol Classic they co-hosted with Sac State ?) or as an alternate site for neutral competitions, like the CCAA tournament or if St. Mary's College ever hosts a regional. To put it in perspective I went to a couple of games at Loanmart Field (home of the Dodgers' Low-A affiliate-the Rancho Cucomonga Quakes) over the weekend, and there were a few adult softball fields behind the stadium. All of them had better seating than Guisto Field. I'm just saying. And Sac State too would be unlikely to be able to host a regional or super-regional as well due to its low capacity. Active baseball program or not I could see UCD being willing to host a Sac State regional if they get paid.

Losing the program would not necessarily preclude the addition of lights either. Phil Swimley had visions of bringing minor league baseball in. If they have aspirations of bringing in college summer league games or an independent minor league team it could happen. Have you seen Bryant Field in Marysville ? It has hosted both and the only things it has on UCD are lights. Dobbins also boasts a larger capacity than Valley Strong ballpark in Visalia (Single-A affiliate of the DBACKS) and the independent Pecos league plays a great deal of games on HS fields. So Dobbins will not go to waste under any circumstances

The new AD might not have to formally dismiss Vaughn if he's inclined to make a change. Vaughn supposedly signed a four-year contract after the 2017 season. If 2017 was the last year of his previous contract then 2021 would have been. the last year of that contract extension The announcement came in December of that year, so maybe that's when we can expect to hear about it ?

Money may.play a huge role. Due to the financial hit UCD has taken in the pandemic (to beat a dead horse) eliminating the program may be on the horizon if the Big West will allow them to remain a member. UCI still doesn't have a softball team. If baseball and softball are considered equal until Title IX then that's an indication that full participation in Big West sports isn't as important as it used to be, especially now that it has 11 baseball-playing, whereas before UCD joined I believe it only had 8. 10 could be the sweet spot.

Now, suppose they don't cancel it the ability to attract a new coach could be seriously limited due financial constraints. Vaughn may be the cheapest option they can find who has any head coaching experience unless there'a JC coach (who would have been paid less) who wants to take on a huge challenge.

The ideal candidate would be Tyler La Torre. Aggie alum with professional experience as a catcher. I'm given to understand he also wore several hats as Tony Schifano's only assistant at SF State. Speaking of the Golden Gators (I just got that pun) I read they are eliminating their baseball field to replace it with a green space for meditation or some crap. Their team will go on, but they'll just squat at HS fields instead.

His status as an assistant at Sac State is not a big impediment. Reggie Christiansen has been very supportive of his assistants finding advancement opportunities. The questions are whether he even wants to do it and if UCD can afford his services.

There's also the lingering question of whether a new coach would make a lasting change. When Rex Peters took over he inherited a team that was good already from Phil Swimley, and it fizzled when it had Division I competition. Then after the the 2008 peak the team tanked, and after 2011 he quit to be a UCLA assistant. Frustration with the program had to have played a role in that.

They have already instituted a pitch clock for MLB and it has trickled down to the college level. There's even a clock behind the plate at Dobbins. That has seemed to speed things up a bit . They also need to institute a limit on how many times a batter can stay out of the box.

The only things they can effectively speed things up are eliminating the deliberate time-wasters by managers and players. The other things, like moving the mound...are only minimally effective, and only for a short time because players adjust. It's like if you were trying to lose weight but all you did was cut out your daily bowl of ice cream. You might lose a lb.

And here I thought you were just a fan of "Glee". LOL.

It goes back to winning, which this program hasn't really done. UCD is only a destination for student-athletes whose primary goal is to get a top-notch education. However, those same student-athletes could go anywhere and get an excellent education and have a great time, even Sac State. It's all about what you put into it.

So why do the football and basketball teams succeed at recruiting facing the same recruiting obstacles ? They win. Women's basketball speaks for itself. Football and men's basketball win enough to still draw top recruits, even if they don't finish first. Not to mention that football has fewer competitors for recruits. There are more schools in the western part of the country that have baseball and not football (most of of the WCC and Big West) than the other way around (more than half the Big Sky). I believe in CA there is no football playing D-I school that doesn't also have baseball.

I think you also have more feeder high schools for football, whereas baseball is almost a forgotten sport in some locations. You hear about Grant football but baseball ? The HS programs sometimes suffer from a lack of students who even want to play baseball at all or facilities. I remember reading somewhere that when Aggie alum Ryan Royster played his HS field (want to say it was McClatchy, but that may not be right) didn't even have outfield fences.

I believe the Aggies are recruiting better and better players, but that might be more because the pool of players they would normally recruit from has raised its game, not that UCD necessarily is recruiting better. With all the extra training resources out there for kids whose families have the money it's very possible. Meanwhile the more athletic players whom they can't recruit have improved by a greater amount.

The San Jose Giants are the Giants' low Single-A affiliate. The Giants' organizational ladder looks like this:

Sacramento River Cats (Triple-A)
Richmond (VA) Flying Squirrels (Double-A)
Eugene Emeralds (High-A)
San Jose Giants (Low-A)
ACL Giants Orange (Rookie League in Scottsdale)
ACL Giants Black (Rookie League in Scottsdale)
DSL Giants (Rookie League in the Dominican Republic)

Generally speaking the further you go down in the org chart the younger the players are, the less in the way of fan amenities you'll see, and the smaller the stadium will be (In the case of the rookie leagues they often don't play in stadiums and if they do there are no amenities for fans) There's a wrinkle in this particular chart though because the Emeralds share U. of Oregon's PK Park which, having been built for college ball, has been deemed unsuitable for minor league ball after 2025. The Emeralds'old park burned down; I believe they said it was arson.

You asked fugawe about Excite Ballpark, where the San Jose Giants play. This is technically still on the original topic because San Jose State also plays there. I have seen 4 games there now.

The ballpark was built in the 1940's as a public works project, so it has a pleasant, old-timey feel to it. Despite being old it's actually aging quite a bit better than the Oakland Colliseum. Lots of old memorabilia throughout, like images of major league alumni. It's across the street from a few SJSU athletic facilities and right next to an ice rink.

It has I believe about a third the seating capacity of Raley Field. Maybe a bit less. No grass seating. In fact there's no outfield seating at all, as it only extends about as far down the lines as each dugout.

As far as fan amenities they do have a fun "beer batter" promotion and some other contests. Also they have a new, big, and clear video scoreboard.

I liked how close the seats were to the action.

There are a couple of things I didn't like. One of them is that there's not that much selection when it comes to concessions, and I didn't think the hot dogs were that great. There is a big BBQ area down the third base line called Turkey Mike's. I've never eaten there because I'm rarely hungry enough at the ballgame to want an entree and sides. I'm given to understand they close the BBQ area for SJSU games

The other thing I didn't care for was the wide aisles between sections with a lack of handrails- and deep steps like you have at Dobbins.

The stadium has a peculiar design feature in the seating bowl. There are bleachers and box seats, without any real physical separation between the two seating types. In normal non-COVId-19 times you could be sitting in a box seat at the end of a row and the person sitting in the adjacent seat would be on the bleachers.

Still, a fun place to watch a game. It's worth going at least once.

Yes, I also thought Merced was an unusual place to put a UC.

Just for fun I looked up their athletics page and noticed their men's basketball team was undefeated in 2021 (all the games played from March to April due to COVID-19). They went 9-0 combined against La Sierra University and Pacific Union College and that was it.

I have to wonder what they'll do if the university ever decides to add football or baseball. I guess they would squat at Merced College. Despite the fact I attended some summer classes at Merced College as a kid I don't believe I ever saw the Blue Devils' football or baseball fields in person. They would probably be adequate for NAIA. A baseball game at Merced College is on my short list of places to see a college game that I haven't done yet, with Stanford, Nevada, Cal Poly, San Diego State (or University of San Diego-but likely not both). Have been to all but Cal Poly, just no games.

The Hornet's nest is ok for basketball. A couple of minor annoyances.

One is that there's very little space to walk between the court and the seats on the home side. They make this announcement about staying off the court but it's impossible to do so if some idiot is standing. A number of seats and rows are not clearly labelled. And when going always spring for the more expensive seats because metal bleachers would actually be an upgrade to the GA seats. They're not so much seats. It's kind of like they said. "Hey let's make it look like we care about people who can't pay $15 for a seat by selling them tickets to sit on those poorly-designed wide steps we built into the wall for no reason."

An interesting case in basketball gyms would be UC Merced, which basically has a newish gym with only pull-out bleachers and not a lot of them, smaller capacity than your average HS probably. And it's just part of a multi-use P.E. building. And it's a nice-looking building from the exterior. I know UCM is only NAIA and they are not likely to ever be a big sports school. I just find it interesting that with the opportunity to build a state-of-the-art facility from scratch less expensively they decided to put the ceiling at HS gym, which is likely what their conference opponents have.

The Hornet's Nest is a great place to watch a game......of volleyball. It's fine for the crowds they usually get, but it was nuts when they hosted Oregon State. I remember it was a very rainy day. Maybe the Beavers were there to build a dam.

Sac State has a good teacher education program. Back when I was a student I took some basic education courses at UCD and there were a couple of professors the two universities shared.. If you want to be a teacher you might as well go to CSUS. Cheaper and a better selection of credential options. In fact I seem to recall a couple years ago UCD was considering eliminating theirs to save money. I remember at a Sac State baseball game once a a guy sitting a couple rows up noticed my UCD t-shirt and said he played baseball there.

As someone who's gone to both schools I will say I had good but significantly different educational experiences. At UCD I had more lecturers, and it was more on you how much you wanted to participate and what you wanted to get out of it. Sac State doesn't really have the big lecture halls and the professors will call on you every class: you can't hide in the back. No people eating bags of microwave popcorn like I saw in Psych 1.

Sac State has more problems than UCD getting students to attend athletic events. Go to a bball game and it's pretty much old white townies. The Causeway Classic is just a social event for the schools to hate on each other. The game is secondary.

I agree with the students on this one-to the extent that they were charged in order to provide a very specific set of benefits that are being taken away from them while the money continues to be taken. The classes themselves-I could take them or leave them-I'm most upset about the misuse of funds. Perhaps the university is doing this intentionally to prepare them for when they have real jobs and the government screws them over ? Kind of an expensive lesson.

Now, the replacement services are short-term benefits that fewer people will take advantage of. Self-defense is not like you're studying karate or some other discipline where you learn to truly neutralize your attacker. They teach you some basics and let you practice but then its over. in the end you're only being taught how to get away from inept assailants. There will also be a fair amount of short-sighted reluctance to take the courses. "Why would I need self-defense in Davis ?" "I'm a man. Why do I need to take a course on how to scream and kick guys in the testicles ?" I guess the point I'm trying to make is that while useful, self-defense courses are not promoting long-term wellness, more of the safety card in the airline seat in case you crash into a mountain wellness.