Troop's Takes: ’Cats, Carbone end difficult season
By Caleb Troop
May 27, 2008
On paper, it may as well have been just another season for Ohio University baseball coach Joe Carbone.
Some good wins here — the one-day sweep over Miami (Ohio) — and some bad losses there — the collapse at West Virginia.
At the end of the day, though, the ’Cats ended with a so-so 29-30 overall record and a solid 2-2 appearance in the Mid-American Conference Tournament last week.
Respectable but not particularly breathtaking, right?
No, instead this was anything but simply a “solid” or “respectable” baseball season. It was a season that Carbone will never forget. It was a season that Carbone should be credited for in many different ways.
It began in mid-January when some current and former Ohio baseball players were found to be involved in a gambling ring that led to misdemeanor charges and indefinite suspensions. On the field, the ’Cats lost 11 of 13 games midway through the season at the end of April and on into May.
Factor in injuries that temporarily set back third baseman Brandon Besl and prematurely ended starting pitcher Jason Moulton’s stellar freshman season, and you’ve got yourself one big whirlwind. To finish it off, Carbone was forced to suspend senior pitcher John Angelicchi for an undisclosed reason weeks before the MAC Tournament at a time when pitching was at a premium.
Carbone admitted it was one of, if not the most, difficult seasons he has had in his 20 years at Ohio.
“It was — off the field — the toughest,” Carbone said. “I consider it a very good year given all of the things off the field and all of the injury problems we had.”
Without a doubt.
Carbone had to mix and maneuver on and off the field this year. The Ohio baseball program, the baby that he has controlled for two decades, was being publicly ridiculed because of a gambling ring that he had no knowledge of or control over.
Given the heat, he could have closed up shop in January after all of the gambling allegations broke in the news. The team itself could have packed it in a few weeks ago after a seven-game losing streak clouded their postseason chances.
Nope.
Carbone was a man about the embarrassing gambling issues, and he protected his team. And after that losing streak, the ’Cats won seven of their next eight earlier this month to secure a bid in the MAC Tournament.
So when the ’Cats got their first tournament bid since 2003, maybe it was fitting that they played three straight 9 a.m. games last week. After all, nothing has been easy for Carbone and company this season.
After battling back and forth against Bowling Green for the second time in three days, Carbone’s squad won 7-3 in 13 innings on Friday morning. Just a few hours later, the ’Cats played their second game of the day and fourth in three days before losing to Eastern Michigan 9-6.
It was another season in the books for Carbone, but one that will be etched in his memory like none other.
Maybe what has been lost in all of this is Carbone’s coaching loyalty — coaching loyalty at a school where those two words create one heck of an oxymoron.
Unlike other head coaches who have gone the “here today gone tomorrow” route (See: Crawley, Sylvia) or are rumored to be going to every school imaginable (See: O’Shea, Tim), Carbone has stuck around and weathered storms and criticism.
“When you’re coaching at your alma mater, things are a little bit different,” said Carbone. “I’ve had opportunities to go to other, bigger schools and into professional baseball and all that stuff. That’s all flattering, but I am comfortable with Ohio University.”
On top of the taken-for-granted devotion from Carbone, there is another future bright spot. Ohio will return six of its eight position players next season. On the mound, pitchers who accounted for 77 percent of the innings pitched this season will be back in uniform in 2009.
Of course, you can expect Carbone back in uniform. He said he has no idea how long he will continue to coach.
I’m just going to take it one year at a time,” he said. “As long as my health is good, I enjoy what I am doing. I’ve got some great assistant coaches. I enjoy spending every day with 18- to 22-year-olds. That’s my niche in life.”
Criticism of the ’Cats coach probably won’t go away, and by now I’m sure Carbone realizes that.
But the fact is that given what transpired over the last five months or so, Carbone has done about as good a job as should have been expected given the circumstances.
Caleb Troop is the sports columnist for The Athens NEWS and can be reached at ctroop@TroopSports.com. He co-hosts “The SportsFan” weeknights from 6-7 on 970 WATH-AM in Athens.
Comments
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charlie33194 commented, on May 27, 2008 at 3:53 p.m.:
Nice article; hopefully Carbone and company were able to remove all of the cancer (gambling) and the patient (OU baseball) will be back better than ever.
