Few excerpts from GBR...

Toman's hiring signals a new era for the Blue Raiders as the highly-successful mentor is the first baseball coach in 45 years to not have direct ties to the program.

"Middle Tennessee has a lot of tradition and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead this program," said Toman. "Coach (Steve) Peterson and Coach (Jim) McGuire have been around this program a long time and built a strong foundation. It's been really good through the years with outstanding players and is known to have a great reputation. I have already been getting numerous calls from people wanting to be on this staff.

"Middle Tennessee sits in a great area for recruiting, is the largest school in the state and has tremendous facilities. I'm super excited to be here and can't wait to roll my sleeves up and get to work."

Regarded as a top-flight national recruiter, Toman fashioned a 329-205-1 record in his nine seasons as head coach at Liberty in the Big South Conference. Prior to his successful stint at Liberty, Toman spent 11 years as Ray Tanner's top assistant at the University of South Carolina, and an additional seven seasons under Tanner at NC State.

During his career, Toman has presided over 15 Top 25 recruiting classes, including 11 consecutive during one stretch. He said Middle Tennessee's facilities and tradition, as well as playing in the high-profile Conference USA, provide strong recruiting prospects.

"The selling point will be the school itself and the fact Conference USA is really good," Toman said. "In Conference USA, you have anywhere from two to five teams that can go to a regional in any given year and that is big. When you are in a really good conference, you have a chance to go to regionals every year."

Not a bad hire! What do most fans think?

I really like this hire. Toman did great things for Liberty's program. I can't wait to see what he does at Middle Tennessee.

(06-21-2018 10:42 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  Not a bad hire! What do most fans think?

As a season ticket holder, I think it is a decent hire. We'll see. I like the idea of finally getting a coach with no previous connection to the program. I think I read where he is the first coach hired in 45 years with no connection to the baseball program

You will love Toman. Down home kind of guy - good guy, and a heck of a ball coach. With the rules here at Liberty (curfew, for example) he still recruited well. At a state school? Too easy for him. Good times ahead at MTSU!

Seems to be a superb hire.There is no reason for MT not to be in the top portion of C-USA every year.

Looks like the conference just got better in baseball. Good hire on paper for sure.

clt can report that Theo Epstein is joining the 49er staff as special advisor.

Congrats, sounds like a solid addition!

(06-21-2018 06:13 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  Few excerpts from GBR...

"The selling point will be the school itself and the fact Conference USA is really good," Toman said. "In Conference USA, you have anywhere from two to five teams that can go to a regional in any given year and that is big. When you are in a really good conference, you have a chance to go to regionals every year."

This is so true... I will say that I'm concerned that the $$$ conferences take over baseball in the way that they're doing in mens basketball. Hopefully our two regional berths this year is just a "low point" and MTSU becomes one of our many regular regional reps within a couple years.