This is a continuation of and response to 69Aggie's inquiry in the Big West Conference folder. A lot of this is stuff I've talked about before, but it continues to be relevant.

There aren't really 1 or 2 main reasons for UCD regularly being at or near the bottom of the conference, but several factors, some of which I don't know about I'm, so broad strokes...

1) Indifference of the university and Davis community to the sport. The university's contribution to this involves not fully promoting or funding it. The program has for a long time made do with what it had and make what it needed. That helped them be an above-average program in D-II, but it doesn't quite hack it in the Big West. To their credit what they have in facilities they made it happen despite the university's indifference. They raised the money and built the ballpark.

2. Coaching. It's difficult to say how much of the struggles are really on the coaching staff. Yes, I've seen baserunning blunders, lapses in fundamentals, and questionable pitching changes, but those stick out because the failures are the ones you remember.

It's easy to point the finger at Vaughn because he got the job without any head coaching experience, but Rex Peters had the same number of complete winning seasons (1) n D-I despite having an excellent record at Chapman before arriving in Davis. So how much of it is the coach, and how much is the players ? And Vaughn has got some excellent results out of soft'-throwing pitchers in his time. I don't doubt the players like him. The couple of times I've talked to him he's been helpful and kind. If you had a long-time head coach at the helm I think they only do marginally better..maybe 5-6 wins.

3. Recruiting. This isn't to say that the players are of poor quality. It's more that from a player development standpoint UCD usually doesn't get many of the type of player who can hit the ground running in D-I and excel right away, like UCI and LBSU can get in bunches because of their track records. They are the typical UCD players who are perhaps a bit shorter, less athletic, or haven't built up their velocity (or control of their repertoire) or the upper body strength and bat speed to mash homeruns at Dobbins. They're often players that should redshirt except they're needed right away ready. By the time they're ready to really be huge contributors they're often upperclassmen and suddenly they're gone. UCD is in this seemingly endless cycle of re-building and replacing. There are rarely times when they have enough pitchers and position players firing on all cylinders, which is what they need to be a winning team. 2008 and 2015 were those two rare years.

And unfortunately that is something any team that is almost all high school recruits faces. Stanford can get away with it because it's Stanford and it gets those elite players UCD can't. You could say the same thing about a few Big West teams.

UCD is also not in the position as those elite teams to go out and recruit for the positions they need. It's not like when they need a center fieldee they are lucky enough to just go out and recruit a Garrett Kelly or a Cooper Morrison every year. More often than not they have to just recruit the best players they can and try to mold them into what they need like recruiting Alex Aguiar as a shortstop, moving him to third, transitioning him to the corner outfield, spots, and by the end he was in center field. In the 2021 season they had a shortage of center fielders (just Morrison and Smith, who was their primary third baseman), middle infielders and a surplus of catchers. There are a couple of positions I haven't the foggiest how they'll fill them in 2022. I'll talk about that team's prospects in a separate thread.

Another complicating factor is that UCD doesn't cast a very wide recruiting net compared to other conference teams. I have the feeling that this is due to a more limited recruiting budget. Look around CA programs and you see teams with players from AZ, NV, WA, and OR to name a few. Most UCD players are from Northern and Central CA, and almost none are from out of stateThat's a more limited talent pool. Now UCSD poses a real threat as a D-I program. It offers a similar academic experience, only in the SD area. They are going to be fighting UCD for the same players and can offer that SD experience to boot.

Now you might say this would be a good reason to recruit more JC players, but that's easier said than done for a few reasons

1) Remember, JC ball is just one level above high school. Succeeding there is not necessarily an indicator of success at a higher level. Those players just could be really good at that level. A JC team's best pitcher may have a Division III caliber repertoire but lead the league in wins because they're crafty and they control their pitches better. It's similar to high school in that respect.

2) There's a lot more competition for top JC players than you'd think. In general you'd think 4-year colleges would mostly raid their closest JC's but they cast an amazingly large net. In recent seasons the JC down the street has seen some of its sophomores transfer to the likes of Arizona, Texas Christian, Arkansas, and even Miami. And then you have the major leagues stealing top players.

3) Even if the Razorbacks and Hurricanes don't swipe the talent the ones who can actually make it into UCD are further limited. Junior college baseball teams do feature a couple not-so-smarties who are there just to get noticed by pro scouts because it's easier to get in. There are others who have no intention of going to a four-year school-they just need an associate's to get into their chosen career fields

So after UCD goes through the JC recruiting version of 1990's MTV dating show Singled Out (probably the last time Jenny McCarthy was relevant.) the Aggies are extremely lucky if they can find a good starting position player (such as Morrison) or pitcher (Nat Hamby). Mostly they just get bench players and relief pitchers, and two years is not enough time to let them develop to the point where they can assume greater roles. So mostly the JC yields supporting cast, not stars, for the Aggies.

I would say that since 2005 UCD has been getting further and further behind in the arms race. Yes, they are recruiting better players each year, but their opponents have really stepped it up. If UCD gets a HS pitcher who can throw 90-92 with control, Long Beach will add 6 of them and half of those will throw 94-96 when the Beach faces UCD.

And even with all of this taken into account UCD's seasons are still quite discouraging. Yes, baseball's main purpose is to enrich the academic and future professional lives so they become wildly successful and donate lots of money, but the Big West is the wrong league in which to be the just have fun team.