I agree. The facilities are not the biggest problem.

Posted on: June 4, 2023 at 11:35:00 CT

1st, forget the stadium. MU isn't coming close to filling the smaller (by SEC standards) stadium they have. The problem is the location. Cold wind, low student turn out because of the far walk, all are problems, but a new stadium in a better location is super expensive and a long way off. They need to turf the outfield so they don't have half turf, half grass, which has been an embarrassment for several seasons now. That's it for now. The rest of the facilities (locker rooms, batting cages, etc.) are fine. The biggest and most fixable problem with the program is spending on things like travel and meals. For those of you that don't know, MU is the only SEC program taking a double digit hour bus ride home from Hoover after the SEC tournament. Why would any recruit choose to put up with that if they don't have to? They wouldn't. That's what's hurting this program the most. Student athletes talk and the baseball players know how the football and basketball players are treated, what they have available to them for training and on game days, what they're eating and how they travel. Until MU puts in the spending so baseball isn't treated like a C or D tier at the school and certainly compared to the the rest of the conference, things won't change. They don't need flashy giant expensive projects to start to improve things. They need to start with simply getting rid of long bus and rides giving the players the same attention, equipment, etc. other SEC baseball programs have. It's cheaper and quicker than facility upgrades and more important/impactful.