NCAA Baseball: Talking Houston Cougars with Jeremy Branham

The 2011 season was the dawning of a new era of Houston Cougar baseball. Long-time skipper Rayner Noble had been let go after 526 wins and eight regional appearances in his 16 seasons at the helm.

In came Todd Whitting. A former assistant under Noble at UH, Whitting had most recently been an assistant under Jim Schlossnagle at TCU.

While few doubt that the future is bright for the program, they took their share of lumps in 2011 in their first season under Whitting. Their final record was 27-32 and often times their lack of depth was a glaring weakness.

It wasn't all bad, though. Faced with a thin pitching staff and an offense whose power was sapped thanks to the BBCOR bats, the Cougars were forced to fight to stay competitive.

And fight they did. They won series over eventual NCAA tournament teams Kent State and Southern Miss and put the fear of God in Ole Miss and TCU in their series against those two teams.

They saved their best for last. UH opened the Conference USA tournament with wins over East Carolina and Southern Miss to get into the championship game against Rice. UH dropped that game 4-3 in what was a somewhat fitting end to an up and down season.

We talked about the season that was while also looking ahead to next season with UH radio broadcaster Jeremy Branham. Jeremy has been with UH since 2006. He has been broadcasting UH women's basketball since 2006-2007 and has been the radio voice of Cougars baseball since 2008.

Thoughts on Last Season

Joseph Healy: What were the overall feelings on the season? Certainly it was something of a rebuilding year, but the team also put together some stretches where you saw some real promise.

Jeremy Branham: I think a rebuilding year is a fair way to describe the season, but you would have never known it being around the club all year. Obviously the players weren’t interested in being part of a rebuilding year, and I’m not sure that I’ve met someone that hates losing as much as Todd Whitting. 

My feelings on the season were that we’ve all experienced a bite of an appetizer at a five-star restaurant. I mean that about the style of play, the effort, the hustle and the ground work that was laid. The very first thing I noticed this year was after a play, every player hustled back to their positions.

You’re right about the team showing promise this year. There were a lot of moments this year that a fan, or any member of the club, thought would be the turning point.

Unfortunately, I think the lack of depth mainly in the pitching staff caused by injuries prevented that. Still, this season will have a lot of great memories:

The win over TCU in Whitting’s return to Lupton Stadium in which the Cougars scored six runs in the top of the ninth.

Starting the C-USA schedule by sweeping Tulane, then extending the winning streak with a win in College Station when the Aggies were ranked fifth in the nation. 

Then the C-USA Championship, which was an incredible ride. To win their pool, UH had to beat the No. 3 seed and No. 2 seed in the tournament.

Pretty much knowing that the first two games were must wins, the Cougars turned in some remarkable finishes. Down two runs against East Carolina in the opening game and scoring five runs in the ninth to win.

Then the next night UH had to play No. 2 seed Southern Miss in what was almost a home game for the Golden Eagles. If UH won, they knew they would be in the title game. This game, I will never forget. 

It was meant to be a 7:05 start, but with tournament play it got pushed back and started a little after 9:00.  Every player on that field was giving everything they had. Four hours, 43 minutes and 14 innings later, at 1:49 in the morning, UH won and clinched their spot in the title game.

I’ll never forget leaving the press box that night completely worn out. I felt drained. I can’t even imagine how the team felt.  I’ll also never forget Jimbo [who caters post-game meals for the team pretty much anywhere in Mississippi] outside of the stadium waiting to feed us.

The Cougars had to play their arch-rival and No. 1 seed Rice in the title game. While it didn’t end well, Jared Ray pitched an unbelievable game after spending most of the year rehabbing. While good enough to pitch and Ray would tell you he was 100%, he was very clearly not 100%. UH would lose in the tenth on Anthony Rendon’s game winning run. 

The overall record is not what people want it to be, but the 2011 season was an exciting ride.

Todd Whitting

JH: You already hit on it a little bit in the previous question, but what has Todd Whitting brought to this program?

JB: I think there are two perspectives you can look at it from. The first is the player’s and coaching staff’s perspective and the second is everyone else.

I think from the club’s point of view, two things were brought into the program with Whitting’s arrival: hustle and attitude. I think without those two things you probably don’t play on a Whitting team. If you don’t hustle and you don’t have the, “I’m going to win this pitch attitude,” you won’t endear yourself to Whitting. 

The second perspective is everyone else—fans, media, etc. I think what Whitting brought to this perspective more than anything was optimism. If you take a quick look at the teams Whitting has been associated with, they all have had a tremendous amount of success, and I think everyone knows that. The last few years, I don’t think fans thought Cougar baseball had the potential that they do now with Whitting’s arrival.

Biggest Holes to Fill for 2012

JH: What are the biggest holes to fill before next season?

JB: I think the biggest holes are on offense, and that may be a surprise to some. I think there will be at least four or five new starters in the everyday lineup.

Now, just because I say that doesn't mean I think it will be a weakness for the team. I know that there a lot of new faces joining the program that are expected to make a big impact, but going into next season I think the offense will be more challenging to pencil in than the pitching. 

The pitching to me has a solid core and much of that success is credit to Jack Cressend, who did a tremendous job in his first season as the pitching coach for UH.

All the names I mention I assume will be back with the program. You can be looking at a staff anchored by Jared Ray, Mo Wiley, Jordan Lewis, Jordan Mannisto, Codey Morehouse and Matt Creel. That core of guys all had flashes of brilliance this year and with more consistency, I think [the pitching staff] could be a strength of the ball club.

Importance of Fall Practice

JH: The incoming recruiting class is humongous. There aren't a whole lot of guys headed out the door either. How big is the fall season going to be to find out where everyone fits in?

JB: Every fall season is important of course, but you're right, this fall season will be bigger than most. 

Like you said, there are a ton of incoming players and there are a decent amount of returnees, many of whom don't have guaranteed starting roles with the team. There will be a lot of tough position battles with the offense and there will be a lot of battles to determine roles with the pitching staff.

It will be interesting to see and hear what happens during the fall.

Who Needs to Step Up Next Season?

JH: Who are some returning guys that will be asked to take on bigger roles next season?

JB: I'm sure most will be asked to take on a bigger role. You hope some will do it, or that someone will come out of nowhere to do it.

After seeing Codey Morehouse against Texas A&M and Southern Miss. you would like him to be able to put those games together more frequently.

You'd like to see Mo Wiley and Jordan Lewis after having good chunks of the season to be able to grab the ball every weekend and produce quality start after quality start. 

This year though, I think UH had a lot of players in roles that they may not have been quite ready for.

I've read a lot of Coach Sumlin quotes this past football season that he had a lot of players placed in roles that may have been unfair to the kids due mostly to injury and he's absolutely right.

I feel like Coach Whitting had to play a lot of players this year in roles that they may not have been ready for. It's not a knock on the players and it's not saying that the player isn't any good or won't be any good. What it does is it rushes the development of a player and sometimes that isn't always great. 

In an ideal world, I'm sure Coach Whitting would have liked to use guys a little differently but didn't have the luxury to.

More on point to your question, I feel that the returning contributors next year may have already been in those roles.

Thoughts on the New Bats

JH: What were the thoughts within the team about the new bats? This team wasn't going to be built around power anyway, but there still had to be moments of frustration for the hitters.

JB: The pitchers liked them and the hitters didn't.

In all seriousness though, I think the majority opinion was in favor of the bats. While it didn't help the hitters in any way, I think they felt it was good for the game.

My personal opinion is that the new bats are great. Gone are the games that took four or more hours and had 20 or more runs, which was not a very good brand of baseball. Most of the games this year were even under three hours which is perfect.

Looking Ahead to Next Season

JH: So to kind of wrap this up and put a nice little bow on it, what is a reasonable expectation for the team next season?

JB: I know if you asked the players and the coaching staff that question they would say making a regional.

I don't think that's an unreasonable expectation but may be closer to the high end of the range than what I would put on it. It will only be the second year under Whitting taking over a program that was coming off a season that saw the most amount of losses in program history. 

The talent will be good enough to make a regional but it will be a young, inexperienced team for the most part. I think a reasonable expectation would to be in contention for a regional.