Texas A&M baseball may well be playing to determine the future of the head coaching position in Aggieland tonight. The Aggies will take the field in Hoover for the SEC Tournament this evening, facing off against the Mississippi State Bulldogs once the matchup between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Florida Gators goes final.
All signs right now are pointing towards a grim future for the first-year Aggie head coach, Michael Earley. Earley brought in a team that was ranked number one in the nation in the preseason, but has since led them right out of the polls after only a few weeks of the season, and they have not re-entered since.
That's despite some pretty big wins, but every time it seemed like they were poised to break back into the rankings and cement postseason consideration, they faltered. The most egregious instance was the failure to take a single game off of the horrid Missouri Tigers at home— a nadir for the season if there ever was one.
With that in the background, anything short of winning the SEC tournament and becoming an auto-qualifier for the postseason seems like it will lead to a change at the top. With a prime candidate right in front of them and college baseball insiders making some heavy implications, this could be the final ride for the Aggie head coach.
Texas A&M could determine head coach's future in tonight's SEC tournament game
There is a very steep hill to climb for Texas A&M if they hope to make the postseason, but every journey begins with a single step. The Aggies can certainly take down the Mississippi State Bulldogs, but we've seen them lose games before that they shouldn't.
How the team looks early on will be instructive. This is a squad that looked all but entirely listless over their last two series; if that energy flips, we'll know they have a chance at making a real run.
I wouldn't count on it, but this team has the possibility to save their season and their coach by winning this tournament. It's a heck of a field to have to get through, but when it's one-game eliminations, anything can happen.