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After spending 19 seasons as an outfielder, making two All-Star teams and helping the Los Angeles Dodgers win the 1981 World Series Dusty Baker began his managing career in San Francisco. In his tenth year managing his first team the San Francisco Giants, he went to seventh game in the World Series but lost to the Angels. After compiling a long distinguished possibly Hall of Fame coaching career  leading all five of his teams to division titles, in 2022 after 25 years he takes home the biggest trophy of his storied career.

His playing career started in Atlanta in 1968 at age 19 as an outfielder where he played with the legendary Hank Aaron. Aaron had called Dusty’s mother to encourage him to sign with Atlanta despite reservations about playing in the south as an African American. Baker had admitted praying to not to be drafted by Atlanta where he would have to play in the south with all the civil rights and war protests causing turmoil at the time. He later said  “that was the best thing to ever happen to me, because I wouldn’t have met Hank Aaron.”

After a long a successful 19 year career in the majors Baker was working as a stockbroker until 1987 when he got a phone call from Aaron, who wanted him to help players find jobs after their playing days. Shortly after this led him to coaching in the minor leagues. In 2003 he led the Chicago Cubs to the National League Championship Series, but lost in Game 7 to the Miami Marlins in the infamous game where Cubs fan Steve Bartman got in the way of a fly ball that cost the Cubs dearly.

In 2012 his Cincinnati Reds won 97 games, but lost in the National League Division Series to the San Francisco Giants. 2016 was another successful year for Baker as a coach, but it ended in Game 5 of the NLDS to the Los Angeles Dodgers. 2013 brought more success for the Reds until losing the Wild Card game to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Astros postseason frustration, until now

In 2020 while coaching the Houston Astros he took the team to the ALCS, but lost in Game 7 to the Tampa Bay Rays. 2021 was another great season for the Houston Astros, the second season for Baker after taking over for A..J. Hinch in the wake of their cheating scandal and Baker took them all the way to the World Series, where they ended up losing to the Atlanta Braves in Game 6. In 2022 he became the oldest coach to ever win a World Series.

Cool as the California breeze where he resides in the offseason Baker has been appreciated by taking time to connect on a personal level with players, coaches and staff. And the good new is he will back at the helm managing the Astros Spring training kicks off next month in Florida.

He has survived prostate cancer and a stroke. After many close calls Baker, who went 29-31 in his first year as manager of the Astros in 2020  came within a win of reaching the World Series. After winning the pennant in 2021 and  falling short yet again  at 73 years old, Baker was already the oldest manager to reach the Fall Classic and the first black manager to win 2,000 games. Now he has that elusive title and is back for more in 2023.

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Since Moneyball, have we seen a book so dedicated to the inner workings of a major league baseball organization?

Mostly Winning is about the dysfunctional rags-to-riches story of one of baseball history’s least proficient teams losing over 100 games three consecutive seasons than a turnaround amidst scandal no less of a win-at-all-costs strategy that involved the two-time World Champion Houston Astros. Who had previously never won a pennant until Jeff Luhnow arrived.

Evan Drellich, who has penned many sports articles and even a few books, is a Houston native who seems slightly betrayed.

While Drellich spent three years as the beat writer for the Houston Chronicle, he now resides in New York and works as a writer for The Athletic. Drellich has a real problem with how the Astros owner and his GM rebuilt the Astros to win over the long haul. There is a deep dive into the initial hiring of General Manager Luhnow and team President George

Postolos. The former Rocket boss and the man who spearheaded and later secured Crane’s efforts to assemble a team of investors to buy the Astros. Postolos and Crane exhibited “truthfulness” in letting people go that had been there for years. The author speaks glowingly about former owner Drayton McClane and how he treated Astros employees as a family business. Also, he implies how his loyalty led to the mammoth payday of a nearly 500 million dollar profit upon selling to Crane and Company. 

Crane is written about at length and very little positive without the winning, which is the reason for the tile itself. Luhnow is the main character among the cast of many who had a hand in all the good, the bad, and the ugly. To give you an idea of why is to know about the initial meeting with Luhnow and Crane, where Luhnow had prepared a 25-page report on the overall strategy of building the team and organization from the bottom up. Before the report, he had asked Crane what my restraints are, and Crane handed him a blank sheet of paper. Crane is criticized heavily for his money penchant ways. One idea Crane had that backfired was when he filled an enormous part of the outfield with large signs involving a partnership to provide money to build youth facilities. Still, actually, most went into the Astros’ coffers as adverting. The signs were repositioned after much backlash. The author alludes to the premise that Crane’s earlier business discrimination lawsuits predated social media, therefore, skating sharp criticism that may have precluded him from an ownership position among MLB owners. His previous episodes of employee discrimination suits by blacks, Hispanics, and women and by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, according to Drellich, had “predated the ubiquity of the internet and did not dissuade MLB from letting Crane into the fraternity.”

During the first few years of cost-cutting and implementing the changes, it was Luhnow who was working with his people a crazy amount of hours and replacing others and encouraging all others to be held accountable and to get rid of the worst performers in the scouting and player development. It was three painful years, but five years in, the writing was on the wall. The Astros were good, and the farm system was great, and all was going according to the plan Luhnow had laid out with the help of his old employee Mckinsey and company consulting. To build from the bottom with the draft and focus on players that could develop based on their advanced Mckinseyan system of evaluating talent. 

While the book describes in fascinating detail many of the staff and players and sometimes reads like a soap opera, the cheating scandal is covered more briefly than one would expect but does offer some highlights. It reiterates the denial by Luhnow that he knew about the elaborate sign-stealing camera/trash banging and offers scant evidence to the contrary. The players were scared to be whistleblowers. Alex Cora and ring leader Carlos Beltran forged ahead despite some pushback by some older players, most notably Brian McGann. 

While it may not make a movie script, aka Moneyball, Winning Fixes Everything is a must-read for Astros lovers and haters.

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Currently, Ellie is an analyst on the Houston Rockets broadcast team.

Elie is married to Gina Gaston, a journalist, and anchorwoman for Houston’s Channel ABC13. Elie and Gaston have triplets.

ESPN 97.5/ESPN 92.5. hosts Jeremy Branham and Joel Blank caught up with Ellie to talk Rockets basketball and reminisce about those Rockets glory days in the ’90s. 

Jeremy Branham: Mario Elie is with us. Thanks for coming in! What do you make of these Rockets?

Mario Elie: Crazy, JB, but very excited. I’ve been going to a lot of the games covering them. I just got to give credit to Coach Silas; after losing 15 games, you can usually lose a young team. But his voice was consistent, and he’s been waiting 20 years for this opportunity to coach, so he wants to do it his way. So now I think the guys are buying into what he’s selling, and it’s looking good. 

Joel Blank: But ‘Rio, all your years and you’ve been in multiple different positions. But as a longtime coach, you know the best success comes when they play as a team. 

Mario Elie: Yes, and I think Jalen needs a little help. He’s a two-guard and is very explosive. When the ball moves side to side and guys are attacking. I’m sure we will talk more about Garrison Mathews, who’s just added a nice edge to the team. I love his story and love the toughness he brings to the squad.

Jeremy Branham: Shockingly, you like the toughness, considering that was kind of what you used to do for the Rockets when they were winning titles, with you as the Junkyard Dog.

Mario Elie: I think those guys are pieces. We still need our stars to be stars. You know, we picked Jalen Green second, we got Kevin Porter. You know, Christian Wood is playing some really good ball. But I’m just liking what I’m seeing right now. Now guys are taking charges. That’s an underrated stat. 

Jeremy Branham: Mario Elie is joining us in the studio at ESPN 97.5/ESPN 92.5. Whenever you hear that name, you think Kiss of Death. Houston Rockets beating the Suns trailing in the Series three to one at the time, the first team ever to be down three one with only one home game to win the series. What do you remember about that play? And how often do people come up to you and talk about that?

Mario Elie: All the time. Great play. I remember just a group of guys I was in the bunker with being down three one, us laughing down three one flying down to Phoenix, not seeing panic in that group. That was a fantastic group of men that fought with us, and we’re confident that we would come back. It was just something about that group. But, you know, we were blowing kisses and started Game five and Joe Klein blowing kisses. He’ll make a bucket, blow a kiss, and it was all in fun. So I felt once we won that game five in overtime, I knew we were going to kill him at home. We did that, and then I thought it in Game seven. I got Hakeem Olajuwon on the road in a game seven at the time, the best player in the league. You know so that I would take my chances, and it’s because of him that I could get that three. Once I let it go and went in, that first guy I looked at was Joe Klein. And you know what happened next? I blew him the kiss of death, and he was turning red as an apple.

Joel Blank: But even in the moment, Rio, the thing is, is that you don’t fathom it was a big shot for your team at that moment because I was there every step of the way. I sat behind Rudy for that game because there wasn’t TV, and I knew Rudy was like, Run the clock, run the clock, right? And he saw you. And he was like, No, no, no. And then everybody went nuts. But you don’t think about the long-term ramifications at the time. It just had the vote the other night on AT & T Sportsnet, and they said the most, the most monumental play in Rockets history, you would think, Dream with that on David Robinson, and here comes the kiss of death because that is the Houston Rockets during that run.

Mario Elie: Absolutely. I mean, like you said, being down three one, having the hardest road, I know they polled, and the toughest championship road was in 95 No home court. US winning nine road games against Shaq, Barkley, Robinson, MVP, Karl Malone, Stockton…

Joel Blank: I’m not happy that you’re not coaching, and you know that, and I thought you got a raw deal when you were one of the hottest commodities going a few years ago. You’ve made the transition to broadcast. I don’t know how you got to start, who gave you a look, but how do you like the broadcast side of things?

Mario Elie: Enjoying it, getting to enjoy time with my wife. You know, I’ve been on the road a lot, raising triplets. Yeah, Everybody’s out of the house now. So life is really good right now. We sold our home, so we downsized. And the wife & I enjoy living in the city, life in Houston, and working with Murph and Kevin, and Cayleigh, just a great group of people. We’re having a blast.Jeremy Branham: Rocket legend Mario Elie stopping by. Thanks for joining us, Mario.

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Jake Asman: We waste no time as we introduce our next guest, former Texans Pro Bowl quarterback, Matt Schaub. Matt, it’s Jake, BK, and Cody, appreciate you making some time for us here on a Friday and hope all is well on your end.

Matt Schaub: Hey, thanks for having me, guys. Glad to be here.

Cody Stoots:  David Kelley after a recent game was talking about the game and maybe they kept sort of the training wheels on, for lack of a better term, on Davis Mills a little bit longer than they should have as a quarterback. How frustrating it is at the QB spot, sometimes you’re  like, let me go out there and sling this thing a little bit.

Matt Schaub: Yeah, it’s definitely tough, I mean, you know, it’s also hard as a coach when you have to manage a situation where you have a guy who hasn’t played, and is fresh out of college. But at the same time, you’re a football player that’s played a lot of football so you’re not a stranger to throwing the football and going through progressions.  OK, here’s my play: what are my coverage indicators and where the football can go? Take the snap. Okay, confirm those things and then make a decision. Is that number one or number two and get the ball out your hand on time.  And all the while not keeping things within ten yards on a scrimmage, You’ve got to give them an opportunity just to loosen those things up and show you’re going to go and attack them.

Brad Kellner: Matt,  If I’m not mistaken, you had a total of two starts in your first three years in the league and you ended up having a really good career. Obviously, you look at a guy like Tom Brady who didn’t start right away. Hall of Fame career. Patrick Mahomes, maybe the best quarterback in football right now, didn’t start right away. In a perfect world, would you like your quarterback to rest, maybe sit and learn a little bit from the sideline before being thrust into the action?

Matt Schaub: You know, that’s it, every situation is different, every player, every, you know, staff, everyone has their own philosophies and everyone needs to be treated somewhat differently.  Are you coming into a team that has a top 10 defense, a top rushing offense view  How is your team built? What’s around you? You know, how is your play caller, you know, taking care of you, but all at the same time, understanding you as a player. what your strengths are playing to those strengths,  Peyton Manning wasn’t so lucky and fortunate in his first year in the league. Look, what happens now? Sometimes it’s good to have those storms and you’re hardened and callous to those tough situations and that adversity. But not everyone can weather that storm who who has that mental capacity and mental toughness to do that

Jake Asman: Matt, what do you remember about your first start? Because, of course, Davis Mills had to be thinking a lot of different things on three days’ notice that he was starting his first game.

Matt Schaub: Yeah, it’s tough when things kind of happen that quickly.  So having to get ready with minimal full speed reps for a young quarterback,  It’s hard to translate over to game planning throughout the course of a week.  You know what you’re working on, the game management side of it and situational football. And so to just get thrown in there. That can be a lot for a rookie quarterback. And you know, for me, my first start, I got one at the end of my rookie year with the Falcons. We had secured our playoff seeding and so they rested Mike Vick and I was able to get a start against the New Orleans Saints that year. It didn’t go well. We lost the game, but it was something I learned from and I was able to grow from it. So I think that the important thing is to keep going and keep things in perspective and stay within yourself.

Jake Asman:  Matt, looking back to your career with the Texans, you were here seven years. You were a part of some really good Texans teams. What’s the thing that stands out the most?

Matt Schaub: You know, I think all encompassing turning the Texans into a winner, you know? You know, winning the division championship for the first time back to back years in 11 and 12, you know, turning that organization from one that had been struggling into one that was to be reckoned with and was a force in the AFC South. And you know, that was something that was a goal when I got there, you know, to turn into a playoff team, and win the division. We were able to do that. And, you know, that was something that you know, I always take pride in.

Brad Kellner: Matt, you brought up Andre Johnson  who was a big part of the 2011 team, the 2012 team and a lot of your career down here in Houston. Do you think he is a  first ballot Hall of Famer?

Jake Asman: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I don’t get a vote, unfortunately, but Dre definitely deserves it. And you know how those things work, sometimes with how long some guys wait. You know he’s going to get in, but he should be a sure fire first ballot. But you know, we’ll see how the voters, you know, vote. But one way or another, he’s going to get in. No question about it.

Jake Asman: Do  you have a favorite story from playing for Gary Kubiak?

Matt Schaub: We saw the game through such a similar lens that we just, you know, we related really well to one another. As you know one thing with Kube is his playbook from week to week was so large after having played for some other teams, you know, our game plans are probably twice as big with Gary But for me, just being a guy that was programmed to memorize the game plan, so Kube would come in and he would have a list of 20 questions that he wanted to know about from the quarterback. And he would go through every short yardage on third down and Red Zone Pass play. And you’d have to memorize the formation, give them the formation, give them your read, give them your coverage tips.  You stressed but when that meeting was over it was  such a relief like I could take a breath of fresh air and, OK, now we can just go play the damn game. So that was the hardest part of the week.

Jake Asman:Certainly, you’re well appreciated by Texans fans and thanks again for coming on.

Matt Schaub: Thanks for having me on, guys. Appreciate it.

The post The Game: Interview with Matt Schaub appeared first on Best of Heights.

Joel Blank: The man, the myth, the legend, the man that is long overdue going to the Hall of Fame very soon has decided to block out some time for us. He is sitting in boxer shorts and a tank top, no doubt somewhere in Florida. Coach, always great to catch up with you. No better time than coming up on the heels of this massive moment with you finally getting into the NBA Basketball Hall of Fame. Congratulations and your thoughts as we get closer to that day.
Rudy Tomjanovich: Joel, it’s always a pleasure for me to be with you and on your show, but if it’s OK, I don’t have the boxers on.
Joel Blank: Hey, coach, whatever makes you comfortable, it’s retirement years.
Rudy Tomjanovich: That’s right. That’s right. Well, I didn’t know I’m back working again, so.
Joel Blank: That’s right. The Timberwolves.
Rudy Tomjanovich: That’s right.
Joel Blank: Everyone in Houston from the organization itself and all the players, Bull and Mario and so many of the guys lobbying for you. When you finally got that call and knew that that day was coming.
Rudy Tomjanovich: Yeah, you know, waiting for this to happen was very interesting because I didn’t really think about it until, you know, that time of the year when I would start getting calls about how I felt and things like that. But all the people who spoke up for me. I cannot thank them enough for making me feel so good. And, you know, my players. But then the brotherhood of coaches, Coach Mike D’Antoni, Scotty Brooks, and Jeff Van Gundy, as you know, spoke up for years. And I have a lot of gratitude for those guys.
Joel Blank: Now, Rudy, back in the day we were a family. You let Worrell and myself and guys sit in with the team on the meetings. And I remember you grilling me about Clyde because I had worked with him before you made that trade and said to me I’m thinking about making a move that’s going to affect my team.
Rudy Tomjanovich: Well, absolutely. Chemistry is so important, and if you wind up bringing in somebody that you’d never know if guys have a past with somebody that usually you do, but, you know, anything can happen with a big trade like that. You got to talk to your main guy. And of course, Clyde was just a perfect fit.
Joel Blank: Because you now have time to reflect and we did it back when we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the titles are there certain things that happened that stick into your mind and say, if that doesn’t happen, maybe we don’t win that one or we have as much success?
Rudy Tomjanovich: Yeah, there were things like that, you know. You know, I thought a very pivotal situation was the first game in Orlando. During the regular season, they had owned us. They pretty well took care of us easily. And then they were doing it again. And we hung in there. We hung in there. And if Kenny doesn’t make that shot, put us in overtime, you know, we might not be talking about, you know, back to back. And we love the kiss of death shot from the corner with Mario. But that shot that Kenny made was just as big. And a lot of people don’t talk about it now.
Nick Sharara: I don’t know if you’ve heard the news, but long-time broadcaster of the Houston Rockets Bill Worrell will call his final game this season. Your thoughts on Bill Worrell and B, should Vernon Maxwell take his spot?
Rudy Tomjanovich: Could what could what
Nick Sharara: Could Vernon Maxwell take his spot as the broadcaster?
Rudy Tomjanovich: Could take his spot? Yeah. Oh, cool. I thought you said kick his butt.
Joel Blank: We already know the answer to that coach.
Rudy Tomjanovich: Yes. Bill’s a tough hombre. I’m telling you, I love Bill. He’s had a great career. I’m looking forward to seeing you and I’ve seen him a couple of times when he comes to Austin. I’m looking for the future to having a lot of fun with old blue eyes.
Joel Blank: That’s what you call him. You had nicknames for all of us.
Nick Sharara: Coach, do you have an angry moment from the Dream that you’re willing to share with us that perhaps nobody else knows about?
Rudy Tomjanovich: Yeah, not that I can think of, I mean, he was very competitive. He did not like to be out of the game in the fourth quarter. And, you know, I had to rest some because we are going to him so much. So he was always anxious to get back in there, you know, and I hear him and he’d be talking to the assistant coaches, you know, “come on. Come on.”
Joel Blank: Now, with Ramadan wrapping up, the other thing that I always say that’s ironic that people don’t realize is the fact that Hakeem he wouldn’t take water, he wouldn’t take quench gum, he wouldn’t do anything to help him through. And he’s putting 40 minutes in and he’s putting 30 and 15 on good teams. And we were just in complete awe of what he was able to do.
Rudy Tomjanovich: Yeah, you’re absolutely right. I have to admit, I took him for granted in that kind of situation. What he did was truly amazing. And, you know, I’m feeling even luckier when I think about all the obstacles he had to go through to get this stuff done.
Joel Blank: So, Coach you grew up in the University of Michigan and all of that, but now you are going to be a legendary son of the city of Houston, Describe the love affair between you and the city of Houston which is pretty amazing.
Rudy Tomjanovich: Yeah, it truly is, and I didn’t know what the state of Texas was about before I got here because I was one of those Yankees, you know, saying y’all and how’s your mom and them down here? And it was different. But it took a week for me to find out how warm the people in Texas and Houston are. It’s my home. I’ll always be connected there. But I really want to thank the fans for being there for us. You know, we went through Choke City and we still had fans pulling for us. And when we pulled to the airport and there were thousands which surprised the hell out of everybody, it was a feeling I cannot, I don’t have the words and we just couldn’t let those fans down. And when I’m up there, you know, receiving this honor, they are with me, it was a complete community and, you know, just a fantastic experience for me to go through the whole Houston experience.
Joel Blank: Well, thank you, buddy. And we’ll have to do this more often. Hit ‘em straight. Take care of the dogs and the family. And again, you’ve done us all proud.
Rudy Tomjanovich: Always my pleasure.

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Ed Orgeron:  We’re playing. We’re ready to go. We’re going to have 10 games in the SEC, which is going to be very challenging. We’re going to go as planned. We plan on having a great season.

AJ Hoffman: Coach obviously, you know, the thing that’s looming over this entire season right now is this COVID-19.  Have you talked to your players about how different the actual season will have to be in order for the guys to keep playin

Ed Orgeron: Yeah, you know, first of all, we have to follow the COVID rules, Shelly and Jack, our trainers, I think are on the forefront of this. They know that they’re safe when they do get it. I think they know they get proper care, they get quarantined. We have a lot of information. You know, we wear our mask at practice, which is different. But you know what? They get used to it. They tried their shields on one time. Some of them say it’s hard to breathe. You know I said we’ll find a solution to that. Whatever it is, we want to put our kids safety first. No question. But at LSU, we want to play football. Our kids are eager to play football. They worked all year. And I do believe we have a chance to have an excellent season.

AJ Hoffman: You know, you had a quote earlier, I guess probably three or four weeks ago, where you said college football is, you know, the lifeblood of our country. And there’s a lot of people,  particularly people in California or New York, who thought it was a silly comment. A Maybe they don’t understand what college football means to especially places like Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Like is it tough to explain to people outside of big time college football towns like how important college football is to certain parts of the country, particularly that southeast part of the country?

Ed Orgeron: Yeah, you know, I understand their point of view and I get it. And people have different views. And that’s what makes this country great. But I do believe you come Saturday night in Death Valley and LSU is playing Florida, LSU ‘s playing Auburn, and LSU’s playing Alabama, the town is, the restaurants are full, the hotels are full and everything is hopping. You see why football is so important to our area of the country. Now, I want to say this again. our safety of our players is most important, but if we can do it, we need to do it.

AJ Hoffman: Coach obviously, you know, the thing that’s looming over this entire season right now is this COVID-19.  Have you talked to your players about how different the actual season will have to be in order for the guys to keep playing?

AJ Hoffman: Now, the big thing that happened with this, and there’s been a lot of these games canceled with teams playing only their conference schedules, so you guys lose out on the home end with Texas. Should we assume that that’s going to be rescheduled at some point?
Ed Orgeron: I would think so. Well, obviously, we’d love it. Texas is a great matchup for us, it was a great game last year. Houston’s a big recruiting area for us. So, yes, we want to play Texas.

AJ Hoffman: And obviously, you guys missed out on that Rice game, too. But how big of a deal is it for you guys to recruit in Texas?

Ed Orgeron: Huge. You know, some of the best players come from Texas and especially in the Houston area and Dallas. We’ve done very well. We’re doing very well right now. We’ve got great players from Texas, they come to LSU and they enjoy it. Some of the best players have been from the Houston and  Dallas area.

Fred Faour: Coach when you go into a season like this where everything is uncertain, if you don’t know how many fans you’re going to have; how much does that affect your team on the field and your coaching?

Ed Orgeron: Well, we’re not going to let it affect us. We got to block out the noise. Whatever happens, we’re going to have to deal with it. And it’s going to be the same with a lot of teams. I think the team that has the mental toughness, I think the team that deals with the task at hand is going to have success. Now obviously I want the stadium full at LSU. It’s a home field advantage, as you guys know. But I do believe we’re going to have fans in the stadium. That’s not much my decision, but I’m looking to have a Tiger Stadium almost full and hopefully, hopefully we can do that.

AJ Hoffman: When you look back at that season and, you know, you mentioned beating Texas and really the SEC West just as a whole was great last year. Is there I mean, do you really believe that that was the greatest college football season ever for a team?

Ed Orgeron: Yeah, it was a great year. You know, that’s not my decision. But I’ve seen some great teams. We all have. I think that’s just a matter of opinion. But I do believe when you look at all the top 10 teams that we’ve beat and how we beat them, that is going to be mentioned as one of the greatest, if it’s the greatest, who ever knows, but I think it needs to be mentioned as one of the greatest teams.

AJ Hoffman: You mentioned Joe Joe Burrow and what he was expected to be.  I didn’t see it in Joe Burrow before last season. Then really the truth is on tape, if you watch tape of Joe Burrow before last season, there was reason to question him. When you met Joe, when you saw Joe, did you know that there was something special and you just had to find a way to get it out of him?

Ed Orgeron: Here’s the thing that I knew about Joe. We had a meeting. Joe didn’t want to talk any recruiting. He wanted to eat crawfish and talk football. So, OK, we got a lot of crawfish and we can talk football. And we had a meeting and there was about six of us in that meeting as a football meeting. And I was in there. And it took me about five minutes to realize that Joe Burrow was the smartest guy in there, including me and his football IQ is off the charts. I’ve been around a lot of great football players, a lot of smart football players, but I knew then that he was going to be special. Now, his first year, Joe had to develop and then we got into the spread, which was really Joe’s offense, because he could make the decisions at the line of scrimmage and he had all that talent around him. But, you know, the balls that he threw, the decisions that he made, and some of the plays that he made, that’s why he won the Heisman. What a phenomenal year.

Fred Faour: You recruit great coaches and you see your players develop as Burrow did. How important is it to get a staff of guys that can help you develop the players the way you want to see it done?

Ed Orgeron: It’s key. When I took over LSU, I knew that recruiting, you know, that’s one of my strengths, when I took over LSU I wanted to get coaches that not only could recruit, I wanted to get coaches that knew the game of football, that studied the game of football. And we got you know, we got guys who have been in the NFL. We got guys that are 60 years old, still some energy. But they’re football coaches and they’re good men, I think we talk about development. We talk about ongoing skill development, about getting better, about character, about grit, and I think you see these five stars come, they’re great athletes, four star, it doesn’t matter. And they develop and they get better.

Fred Faour: Coach, what was it like having a guy like John Robinson around and how much how much was he involved? Because, I mean, he just he’s got to be just a treasure trove.

00:14:34
Ed Orgeron: Oh, my God. Every day, thankful. You know, Coach Robinson and I created a great relationship at USC and I just love him to death and when I found out he was available, his wife, Beverly, graduated from LSU. So she wanted to come home. And I told Coach Robinson, who’s 82 years old, I think he is, he never tells me his real age, I said Coach we get in the office at 6:00 in the morning and we get out at 10:00 at night, I do not expect that from you. Come whenever you want. Coach Robinson is in the office at six o’clock in the morning and leaves at ten o’clock at night at 82 years old every day. He’s just been a treasure, man, what a great guy to have.

AJ Hoffman: Is there anything you want to say to the kids out here in Houston? Maybe there’s some recruits listening.

Ed Orgeron: First of all, I want to say hello to all the great LSU fans in Houston. When I go to the schools, there’s more LSU fans there and they support us, I want to say hello to all the players that have worn the purple and gold in Houston. all the great players. I can’t say anything to recruits, but I’m coming. We’re going to be there and go Tigers.

AJ Hoffman: All right. Hey, Coach, appreciate you man.

Ed Orgeron: Alright, man.

Interview By AJ Hoffman of ESPN Radio 97.5

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John Granato:
So this is a tough one because I don’t want you to compare it (to West Virginia), but what’s the talent level here at the University of Houston? What did you walk into here?

Dana Holgorsen:
It’s very similar to when I walked into West Virginia. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot of difference in that football and with the University of Houston, with Central Florida, with Memphis, with Cincinnati, and with South Florida football. I mean it’s, it’s good football, you know, so it’s just a very similar situation. I think Houston recruited pretty well coming off that, that Peach Bowl, you know, when coach Herman was here the first time. I’m looking at some seniors on our, on our roster, like D’Eriq King and, and Josh Jones and Patrick Carr, Keith Corbin, uh, Courtney Lark. We have seniors due to the success that Tom had when we first got here. I think we got some depth issues just like I had at West Virginia when I first got there. And I think that’s what our goal is, is to make sure that we do a great job with recruiting on not just filling roster spots, but by getting the best local talent, we can get, and I feel like we can recruit against anybody here.

Lance Zierlein:
So the big concern used to be with heavily recruiting JUCO guys, and you relied too heavily on JUCO you’re not building from within.

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Dana Holgorsen:
I think everyone’s different and you have to figure out what your needs are. We got a corner in Damarion Williams that is going to be a starting corner for us. He’s got a redshirt year, but he’s going to start so we get two good years out of him. Kyle Porter’s a grad transfer, but we’re getting two years out of him so, you know, he’s a smart kid that picks up things very well. Gio Pancotti from Episcopal is a grad transfer that has two years. So I view those guys no differently as a safer JUCO guy.

John Granato:
We’ve talked about your recruiting class before and the fact you’re never ranked as a top recruiting school, but nobody ever takes into consideration all the transfers that you bring in.

Dana Holgorsen:
Yeah. They don’t count that, which I don’t care. I mean, I’m not one that’s ever really worried about what the recruiting rankings are. There are specific places there that need to dominate recruiting rankings, and their jobs depend on it, and we’re not one of them. The bottom line is you get guys that want to be at your place, and you get guys that want to develop into contributors and doing whatever they can do to be able to help the teams win. I was always very frustrated on signing day. And I’ve always been at a place, whether it was Texas Tech, University of Houston, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, where we were going to lose guys on signing days to some of these, quote-unquote more high profile places.

Raheel Ramzanali: Are there any recommendations you would make to the NCAA about fixing the transfer portal? (College football’s offseason is now dominated by transfers and the NCAA’s transfer portal.
Starting Oct. 15, 2018 student-athletes were allowed to enter their names into a transfer portal, which will enable schools to initiate contact with them. While a player entering their name in the transfer portal does not mean a player intends to transfer, the portal’s presence has given athletes options they didn’t have before. Athletes can pursue and talk to other schools without restriction, all the while remaining enrolled at their present school.)

Dana Holgorsen:
There’s continuous talk about immediate eligibility, and I think if we get to the point where there’s immediate eligibility, we’re going to have some issues. What I’m concerned about is guys are going to enter that portal, and they’re not going to have anywhere to go.

Lance Zierlein: You’re giving a generation of players a chance to say, I’m not going to fight through the adversity, or if things get a little tough I’m onto the next, right, I’m onto the next program if you make me upset. And that’s the way it’s going to be.

Dana Holgorsen:
Yeah, and some of that happens right now. We had one guy in the portal since I’ve been here, you know, so, you know, I think Houston is a place that people are going to want to be at, and they’re going to want to stay. I’ve got a coaching staff that cares about the guys. You know, I don’t see a lot of that right here right now. Obviously, it’s happening across the country. I worry about our youth and the young kids in general and having a copout mentality of just leaving when things get tough. Things are tough in college football; it’s hard to be a student-athlete. There’s a lot of time restraints that are involved with it and a lot of pressure and, um, you know it’s a hard gig. Heck, if it were easy, there’d be a whole lot of people out there doing it, you know? But if there’s immediate eligibility at stake, then I worry about guys just like fleeing real quick. And that’s going to ruin a lot of people’s careers because there’s going to be a lot of places that they think they can go to and then those spots are not going to become available.

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Your offseason was relatively quiet with the exception of the signing of free agent Michael Brantley. Can you tell us about your off-season strategy?

Quiet is a relative term, and from my perspective we were quite active when you consider the vast majority of our team is returning and we won 103 games and our division last year.  We made five significant transactions this off-season that put our club in a strong position for 2019 and beyond.

The first one was the trade for Aledmys Diaz.  This young infielder was an All-Star player for the Cardinals a few years ago and can play multiple positions including a good shortstop, which gives AJ some flexibility to rest some of our core players.  He is a good offensive player who will strengthen the bottom of our lineup and he is early in his career so he will be with us for years to come.

The second move was the free agent signing of Robinson Chirinos.  Robinson has been one of the most productive offensive catchers in MLB over the past few seasons, and as a right handed hitter he should launch some balls into the Crawford Boxes this year.  He is an experienced receiver with a strong arm that should benefit from the Astros pitching staff and our coaching staff’s ability to help catchers improve defensively.  He and Stassi will share the catching duties and we expect above average production both offensively and defensively from that position.

The third move was to sign one of the top free agents available this year on a short term, two year deal.  Michael Brantley has battled injuries in his career so far but when healthy has been an elite outfielder with a very productive offensive approach.  He is a contact left handed hitter who can also drive the ball, and he figured to fit somewhere in the top half of our order complimenting the core players who are returning.

We traded JD Davis to the Mets for three prospects we feel have high upside.  We loved JD, but with our position players already at the big league level, he figured to be a long shot to make this team out of spring training and we were able to turn him into more future value for the organization.

The final big move was to sign Wade Miley to a one year deal.  This provides us with a veteran presence in our rotation behind Verlander and Cole.  He had a special year with Milwaukee last year and we especially like how he performed in the post season for the Brewers.

These moves together make us stronger on the field for sure.  Off the field, all four Major League players we acquired have excellent reputations and we have already seen how easily they are fitting in with this clubhouse and community.

Many baseball experts believe there is no more of an important everyday position player than the catcher. Do you agree and how do you rate your current catcher situation?

As mentioned earlier, we like our catching group.  Besides having Chirinos and Stassi (both of whom have the potential to produce offensively at a high level for the back of our lineup), we have Garrett Stubbs on the roster now.  Stubbs has the potential to be an everyday catcher at the Major League level with above average catching skills and strong offensive production.  Between the three of these receivers and others in our system who could be added to our roster during the season, we anticipate having  well above average catching production offensively and a solid defensive group that will help our pitchers be their best.

What do you look for during spring training?

Health first and then preparation second.  A healthy Astros roster will mean a very good shot at capturing our third straight division title in the AL West.  We balance keeping players healthy with preparing them for the mental and physical grind of the long season ahead.  We also give players a chance to show us their skills in an attempt to make the team.  There are not many open spots, but there will be strong competition for the final spots in the bullpen, rotation and among the position players for playing time.  Spring training performance doesn’t correlate very well with season performance so we are careful not to read too much into it, but we do look at how the player is achieving results and whether or not we believe that will work in Houston.

After winning a club record 103 games in 2018  how do you think this current roster compares against last years club?

I loved last year’s team and we had great success.  Perhaps I am the eternal optimist, but I believe we are better this year.  Why?  Because our core position players will hopefully be playing at 100%, which was not the case down the stretch last year.  I expect some of our players who had down years last year will bounce back to prior levels and the young players will continue to get better.  Our goal right now is to win the division and I think we can do that with the players we have.

Who are some of the non-household names on the Astros that may have a big impact in the future?

There are many… starting with Framber Valdez, Josh James, Cionel Perez and Miles Straw who all debuted last year and none of them were or are household names.  Kyle Tucker and Forrest Whitley are well known in the prospect following community and both figure to have a big impact in the future… as well as Corbin Martin, Yordan Alvarez, JB Bukauskas, Abraham Toro, and Ronnie Dawson… just to name a few that are in big league camp right now.

What do you think we can expect out of the big guns Springer, Altuve, Correa, and Bregman?

Easy… I expect those four players to be healthy and play up to their potential.  All four can be MVP candidates this year.  If they are all healthy, watch out… we will be a great team again this year!

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