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| Tim Jamieson is the 2007 Big 12 Conference Co-Coach of the Year. |
Columbia Regional Chat Transcript: Head Coach Tim Jamieson
On Wednesday at 11:30 a.m., Missouri Baseball Coach Tim Jamieson sat down to answer your questions about the Tigers' preparations for the program's first-ever NCAA Regional appearance in Columbia under the current format. The Tigers are a No. 1 seed for the regional, which will take place from Friday though Monday at Mizzou's Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field. If you haven't taken a look yet, the Columbia Regional Web Site can answer many of your ticket and other questions.
Recognized last week as the 2007 Big 12 Conference Co-Coach of the Year, Jamieson is in his 13th season at the helm of the Tiger baseball program. This season, he has led a Missouri team picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 Conference to a second-place showing. The Tigers compiled a 19-8 record in the Big 12 this season, setting a school record for most wins in the conference since the start of the Big 12 in 1997. The second-place finish is the best league showing since winning the regular season crown in the final year of the Big Eight Conference. His 439 career wins is third-most in wins at Missouri behind legendary coaches John "Hi" Simmons (733) and Gene McArtor (481). Mizzou has recorded at least 30 wins in 11 of the 12 years Jamieson has been at the helm. MU has advanced to NCAA Tournament six times in Jamieson's tenure, including the last five seasons.
Here's the transcript of the chat:
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Moderator: Good morning, Tiger fans! It's starting to drizzle here in Columbia as members of the Athletic Department staff begin assembling to give Taylor Stadium a final once-over. We've already got a number of questions in for Coach Jamieson, who will be by in less than two hours, so keep the questions coming in! |
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Moderator: (11:24 CT) Coach Jamieson is wrapping up a few errands around the Sports Park, and should be back in his office momentarily. Keep the questions coming -- we've already got several good ones in the queue for when he gets in! |
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Moderator: OK, folks, Coach has returned to the friendly confines of his office, and is ready to go! |
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Tim Jamieson: Good morning! We're anxious to show off in front of a big crowd of our fans this weekend. We're really excited to get going. |
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| Drew (Columbia): Have you decided whose going to be your starting pitcher against Kent St.? |
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| Darrin Noe (Pecatonica, IL): Crow and Zagone have consistently been the Friday and Saturday starters, respctively. Does that approach change being a top seed? |
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| Mike (Edmond, OK): As a player on the '84-'85 Mizzou team, you make all of us former Tigers very proud. How are you going to set up your pitching for the weekend? Also with school out, how are you keeping a regular schedule for the team? Good luck Coach and we are all pulling for you. |
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Tim Jamieson: As far as the rotation goes, we'll start off with Crow on Friday and Zagone Saturday, and we'll go from there. As for the schedule, we're trying to stay consistent with their routine from what they did with school: Lifting in the mornings, and practices in the afternoon. More sleep, less school/study is mainly the only difference. |
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| Dr. Mark Mancin/Kansas City: Coach Jamieson Great Job again this year!!! Talk about the recruiting process you and your assistant coaches do each year? You seem to be able to reload or replace key players who graduate and/or are drafted each year without skipping a beat. Do you focus on any particular state more heavily than others? How hard do you recruit the state of Missouri? Thanks and best of luck in the upcoming regional. See you in Omaha. Go Tigers! |
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Tim Jamieson: We go after the best high school players that we can find in the Big 12 region. We look for Missouri kids first, and pitching first. It's almost a 24/7/365 process, with the most emphasis in the summer. |
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| John: Why does not Mizzou do any squeze plays when the score is close? |
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Tim Jamieson: The short answer is that we're better at swinging than bunting. |
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| Paul (Columbia): What stands out to you as you look at the teams Mizzou will be up against in this Regional? |
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Tim Jamieson: We've never played any of these schools before, so unfamiliarity, I guess. Obviously, Miami has won 13 straight Regionals, so that stands out, but right now we're focused on Kent. They're hot, they've won 16 of 17, they seem to pitch it well, and we hope that the atmosphere in Columbia gets in their heads a bit. |
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| Johnny (St. Louis): Which did/do you enjoy more,playing or coaching? |
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Tim Jamieson: I enjoyed playing when I was playing, and now that I'm coaching, I enjoy coaching. I don't miss playing. |
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| Morgan (KC): If MU wins their regional and Arkansas loses theirs, will MU host the Super Regional? |
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Tim Jamieson: It's not an automatic -- there's a formal bid process involved, but I think the answer to your specific question is yes. |
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| Ryan (st. louis): Has it been hard keeping your team focused on Kent State when the 'Canes are most likely your next opponent |
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Tim Jamieson: The strength of this team all year has been focusing one game at a time. They know the importance of winning the first game of a regional. |
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| Greg (Columbia): Pre-season predictions were understandably low with the great turnover in pitching this year. Are you at least somewhat surprised at the consistency the club has displayed this year. When you consider their relative youth, it is pretty remarkable the number of series you guys have won. |
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Tim Jamieson: I was surprised at the half-way point of the season, but I haven't been surprised since. There's a sincere desire to do what's best for the team -- even non-players are excited about the opportunities, and people have accepted their roles and tried to make the most of it all year long. |
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| Jeremy Ward (Kirksville, Mo): How will your team keep up with Kent State in Regionals? |
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Tim Jamieson: Hopefully we'll out-hit them, out-pitch them and score more runs than them. |
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| Columbia: How much hype do you think there will be or maybe even distractions from media as far as the "Home town kid" (Blake Tekotte) coming back home and is there a part of you that wants to prove to Tekotte that baseball here in Missouri is just as good as it is in Miami? Thanks. |
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Tim Jamieson: I'm not concerned about any players other than my own. |
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| John (Columbia): Rick Zagone has quite an unorthodox arm slot. Did you guys teach him that? |
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Tim Jamieson: No -- that's why we liked him when we recruited him, because he was different. |
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| Joe (Columbia): How are the Tigers going to turn around from their performance at the Big XII tourney? |
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Tim Jamieson: Well we played pretty good on Saturday, and that was beating a team from Oklahoma in the state of Oklahoma four straight times. That's pretty tough to do. The excitement of the Regional will keep them going. |
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| Thomas (St. Louis): Coach, do you think if the Tigers get out of the regionals that they could make a possible run and win the College World Series? |
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Tim Jamieson: Yes, but we're focused on Kent State right now. There's three teams that we have to beat here in Columbia this weekend. I'm not a big fan of "ifs", projections, and thinking ahead. |
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| Bill (St. Louis): Can you give us some iimpressions of the other pitchers on your staff? |
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| Bill (St. Louis): Can you give us some iimpressions of the other pitchers on your staff? |
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Tim Jamieson: I don't have the time to go through each one of them individually, but they're young, competitive, and they throw strikes. |
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| Alex: Was the team together when they found out about hosting the regional? Good Luck! |
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Tim Jamieson: We were on the bus driving back from OKC. We had satellite on the bus, so the team watched it as it happened. There was quite a bit of yelling on the bus, then they all got on their cell phones. |
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Tim Jamieson: Folks, I have to head out to cross some more things off the list. Thanks for your questions, and we look forward to seeing you out at Taylor Stadium this weekend. |
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Moderator: Thanks to everyone for your questions, and to Coach J for taking time out of his busy schedule. We'll be live from Taylor Stadium during tomorrow's practice sessions, and we'll hope to have representatives from each of the four teams stop by. Look forward to starting around 10:30 or so Thursday morning! |
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