[Fumblerooskies]

Here is the man who is causing all the Sunday afternoon excitement:

Following is the information from the USC Website...

One of the top recruiters in college baseball, Jim Toman served under head coach Ray Tanner at North Carolina State for seven years and joined the South Carolina staff when Tanner became the Gamecock head coach in June of 1996. A former N.C. State catcher, Toman serves as recruiting coordinator and works with the catchers. Coach Toman was promoted to associate head coach at Carolina in August and is now in his ninth season on staff with the Gamecocks.

Toman has aided in recruiting 13 top 25 classes, including all eight seasons at South Carolina. The 2004 class was recently ranked ninth in the nation by Collegiate Baseball with last year's class tied for first in rankings by Collegiate Baseball and ranked second by Baseball America.

The 2002 class was ranked eighth. The 2001 class was ranked 10th and 2000 class 8th best by Collegiate Baseball. The 1997 Gamecock class was ranked 17th and the 1998 and 1999 classes were both ranked 11th.

Toman received a national honor in 2002 when he was named National Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Baseball America.

Read the rest, here:
http://uscsports.cstv.com/sports/m-base ... jim00.html[/quote]

[givemethemic]

Here is our release.... I just got this

Liberty Names Toman New Head Baseball Coach

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty University Director of Athletics Jeff Barber announced former South Carolina associate coach Jim Toman has been named the sixth head baseball coach in the 34-year history of the Flames’ baseball program, Sunday afternoon.

“I am elated for our University, and more specifically our baseball program, to have Jim Toman become our sixth head coach,” stated Barber. “He has spent the last 18 years under one of the top head coaches in the country, and is fully prepared to run his own program.

http://www.libertyflames.com/index.cfm? ... 03&TeamID=

[Cider Jim]

Can somebody find us a USC message board, so we can see their reaction to losing Toman to us?

[SuperJon]

http://southcarolina.rivals.com/forum.asp

http://www.cockytalk.com



The guys on the Rivals board have been nothing but polite.

[Fumblerooskies]

Can somebody find us a USC message board, so we can see their reaction to losing Toman to us?

We've had threads going on over there for about 10 days...and that is how I initially found out Toman was interviewing.

http://southcarolina.rivals.com/showmsg ... 17&style=2

http://southcarolina.rivals.com/showmsg ... 17&style=2

and

http://www.cockytalk.com/showthread.php?t=39469


(with all this excitement, I'm starting to feel like Libertine)

[SuperJon]

CockyTalk is behind the Rivals board big time.

[Stevev]

Congratulations to Jeff Barber on a great hire for our program. Great things are going to happen based on what I know about Coach Toman. The guys on the USC message board have great things to say about him and have shown a lot of class in some of there comments.

[SuperJon]

You know Jerry's got his chest stuck out walking around with pride today up at the giant baseball stadium in the sky.

[Cider Jim]

Jerry is probably walking aroud heaven today sporting a red bow tie himself. We should all show up to the next Flames Club luncheon wearing bow ties ourselves. BJ has even told us where to buy them.

Now even the USC website is confirming the hire: http://uscsports.cstv.com/sports/m-base ... 07aab.html
(his wife graduated from Chucky South, but we won't hold that against her).

[hurricane fan]

The guy grew up in Pittsburgh.....we should expect the best

[BJWilliams]

BJ has even told us where to buy them.

That I did, and if you guys want to put some $$$ together I can make that happen when Im back in town in a few weeks (I think that would be a nice thing to do)

[SuperJon]

You think it'd be nice for us to buy the guy some bow ties?

[Fumblerooskies]

Chris' article for tomorrow's paper...TODAY...

Liberty inks Toman as new baseball coach

Chris Lang
clang@newsadvance.com
June 24, 2007

Give your opinion on this story

Jeff Barber's courtship of Jim Toman was swift.

Toman came to Lynchburg Thursday for a two-day interview with the Liberty University athletics director. By Sunday afternoon, Toman and Barber both knew the fit was perfect.

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... 8381&path=

[Fumblerooskies]

Some of the better quotes..

"I trust him," Toman said. "He seems to be getting it done up there. He wants to upgrade the baseball pro-gram, win the Big South and have some success nationally. He stepped up to the plate with the resources. I said why not? I can't imagine a better place to be for my wife and my kids."

Barber has also pledged to improve Liberty's baseball facilities, which lag well behind those of the top two baseball schools in the conference -Winthrop and Coastal Carolina.

That means adding seats to antiquated Worthington Stadium, along with lights and other amenities.

[flameshaw]

Congratulations to JB and his staff for another great hire. Something that is not widely known, is that we had interest from some other very high-profile candidates with excellent credentials. It is a good day to be a Flame.
Hope the next 68 days fly by.

[Sly Fox]

I can't recall this much buzz around LU athletics since the Sam Rutigliano/Bobby Richardson days. There clearly is momentum on campus and it is getting harder for other folks to not start noticing.

[PAmedic]

I can't wait to browse the other BSOUTH sites and see the reaction to this one.

we've been on a roll since Danny came to town and you KNOW its got to be killing those guys.

man, I'm pumped

[WinthropEagleFan]

I can't wait to browse the other BSOUTH sites and see the reaction to this one.

we've been on a roll since Danny came to town and you KNOW its got to be killing those guys.

man, I'm pumped

This is a good hire for LU...but the recent hires aren't killing me yet...

[BJWilliams]

This is something Im sure you guys that have read the article have taken note of:

He signed a five-year contract, and though neither side would specify how much the deal pays, he said it was "comparable" to the $108,000 per year he was paid at South Carolina.

That would make Toman the Big South's highest-paid coach. No coach in the conference makes six figures in base salary.

[PAmedic]

WEF - I swear you have radar.

you are one freaky dude.

there has to be some kinda search engine that sets off a klaxon at your house every time I mention WU

[Cider Jim]

Jerry would have LOVED this guy:

"You've got to outwork people," Toman said..."the bottom line is that you have to work. That's how I learned. Just get out there and work."

[hurricane fan]

"He's a baseball guy," Barber said. "He eats, drinks and sleeps baseball. He has a great rapport with the players. He's just a baseball guy through and through."

That was the biggest statement that caught my eye.

[SuperJon]

In case we forgot:

[new flame]

I believe the window opens July 1 for recruiters to call high school prospects. I'd look for Toman to have at least one assistant in place so they can hit the ground running.
__________________________

[SuperJon]

He said he'd start next week if he can get a staff ready.