Choosing a lineup isn't easy for Nebraska's Anderson

LINCOLN - If the art of running a successful major college baseball program came down to choosing a lineup, then Mike Anderson and his staff at Nebraska would be settling in for the team's approaching five-month season.

If only it was that easy.

“If you can figure it out,” said pitching coach Dave Bingham about scholarships and selecting players, laughing before leaving that thought to silence. “It's evolved so much in 30 years.”

When Bingham was a freshman at the University of Arizona in the fall of 1966, the Wildcats had 32 players on full scholarship: 24 on the varsity team and eight on the freshmen squad. At the time, there were no NCAA limitations and Bingham said maybe four schools in the nation put that big of commitment into baseball.

Eventually, the NCAA imposed a limit of 19 scholarships, then whittled that to 13 to the current 11.7.

Not 11 or 12 - 11.7.

“That is a term,” Anderson said. “I mean, every college baseball coach, when you say 11.7, you know what you're talking about.”

Try and work the numbers and you'll realize fast that what NCAA Division I baseball coaches are working with is nothing like simple math.

Typically, Nebraska spreads its scholarship money to a pool of around 30 players. That adds up to an average of less than 40 percent of a scholarship.

And so you're wondering about guys like Darin Erstad, the first pick of the 1995 major-league draft? Or Alex Gordon, the No. 2 selection in last year's draft?

Never in Anderson's 13 years at Nebraska have the Huskers had a player on full ride. Never in his five years as head coach has he offered an incoming freshman more than 65 percent of one scholarship.

“The negative thing about that is you see other guys (in other sports) and think ‘What's the big deal (about them)?' ” said pitcher Mike Harmelink. “But you can't focus on scholarship, because that's not why you're playing.”

And apparently, the majority of those who wind up playing for schools like NU seem to have come to terms with that reality.

“They give up a lot,” Anderson said. “Now, the benefit of it is it's great if you get to the point that you're professional level. There's some financial things that could happen if you get to that point. But up to that point, there's a lot of guys that are working their butts off just to have an opportunity to put on a uniform.

“We're not talking scholarship, money, nothing else - so I believe already there's a mind-set in this game that you've got to be a little unselfish. And the great teams that we've had, they start to understand their roles. Maybe they're not the three-hole hitter, but they're just as valuable being that nine-hole hitter.”

If only scholarship and ego splitting were the only variables Anderson had to handle in order to try and put out a winner year after year.

The major-league draft, an open-ended transfer rule that allows players to move to another school without having to sit out a season, a new NCAA rule with high standards for retaining and keeping student-athletes eligible and Nebraska being in a colder climate pretty much ensure that Anderson will never get too comfortable with his roster.

The Huskers currently have 42 players. Of those, there are 16 newcomers: 11 freshmen, four junior college transfers (one who just enrolled at NU) and one four-year-school transfer. Three of the 42 players redshirted last season as freshmen.

Since the end of the 2006 season, Nebraska lost three players who could have returned this year to the major-league draft (players are eligible after their junior season or when they turn 21), as well as two recruits. Anderson also cut ties with two other players who figured to be position starters this season.

And yet, he feels fortunate to have all-conference players Ryan Wehrle and Tony Watson back for their junior seasons. Since both were 21 when the draft was held in June, they were eligible to be selected, and were. Both turned down tempting signing bonuses to come back.

Anderson compares that situation to being a general manager of a major-league team working with the salary cap. The cap is the 11.7 scholarships and in order to run it you've got to go above it because you understand things could happen.

“There's no other sport here that (the coach) is starting to say, ‘Well, geez, I've got a junior in Tony Watson and Ryan Wehrle.' (Those coaches), they're thrilled they're juniors. They'll be back for their senior year. Here, we didn't even know if they were going to be back for their junior year. So do we recruit (to replace them if they're not)? Drew Bowman (a transfer from Arizona State) is a product of the fact that we weren't sure we were going to have Tony Watson back, so we'd better make sure we have another left-hander.

“I've got a list of about eight kids every year that I factor in as possible draft picks that we may lose. You're pretty simple on Alex Gordon. You know that he's gone. Where you start to lose sight is guys like Brian Duensing, who all of a sudden gets popped in the third round. Boom - he's gone.”

But doesn't that situation help make Nebraska look better to other prospects?

“What it does is it helps our program's reputation, but it doesn't help us win games,” Anderson said. “The reputation is, obviously, needed. But whether I'd have reputation or Brian Duensing back for his senior year? I'd take him back every time.”

Five of Nebraska's top eight pitchers will be eligible for the draft in June. The Huskers could get them all back, or none.

“We get caught,” Bingham said, “and you can't be short on personnel.

“The dynamic of college baseball is much different than any other sport when you throw professional baseball in there. Even from a recruiting standpoint - does (Anderson) go out and look for the 100th-best player (because he's less likely to sign professionally) or the best?”

A trait that runs a close second, maybe even in a dead heat, to talent is character. Not that that wasn't important before, but a recently implemented NCAA standard requires coaches to carry a roster that is at 92.5 percent of having players who are both academically eligible and retainable.

The open-ended transfer rule allows anybody an easier option to leave. But players who do so, even players who get drafted, and aren't in good academic standing count against the program from which they came.

“It's about having great players, and you put all the factors that are related with the player development - the right academics, character, work habits - and a lot of that you really can't tell until you get them,” said Bingham, who was a successful head coach at Emporia State and Kansas. “Sometimes you get deceived in the recruiting process ... but the kid who comes to play college baseball comes because they want to be here. They're married to this sport, and that's part of the reason they have the transfer rule.”

Winning, of course, takes care of a lot potential problems and program-building issues. But to Harmelink, a senior who's had a limited role with the Huskers, it takes for more than a coach's planning and organization and knowledge to bring about success.

“When you talk about what great teams and great programs are made of, obviously, you talk about talent,” Harmelink said. “But guys that you want are guys that don't need to be coached, because they know what to do. Guys learn more player-to-player than coach-to-player.”

Harmelink is so convinced of this that one day he could see himself following in the footsteps of his current coaches.

“That's a monster to build,” he said, “but when you get to pick your players and work with them every day ...”

To this, Renee Brinkmann, in her 20th year as the baseball team's secretary just shakes her head.

Asked if, in another life, she'd like to take a crack at running a collegiate baseball program, she said, “Never. No. Uh-uh.

“If you compare it to your normal 8-to-5 person - there's not a lot of that. This is just something (Anderson and his staff) love. Somehow, they figure out how to get it done.”

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.

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