Conference USA has reprimanded Tulane Baseball Coach Rick Jones after he went on a diatribe about Marshall on his call-in radio show.
"Coach Jones’ comments were in clear violation of the Conference’s Principles and Standards of Sportsmanship, and we expect him to follow these policies in the future," Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky said.
The self proclaimed “Dean of C-USA Baseball” was not too happy about the Green Wave’s recent trip to Charleston. Jones was upset from the time his team landed in West Virginia. He found out the Friday game had been moved up from 2 p.m. to 10 a.m. and then the decision was made to play a doubleheader on Friday because of bad weather forecasted on Saturday.
"That’s not an unrealistic expectation [of fair treatment] to have from the other team," Jones said. "It is an unrealistic expectation to have from a renegade bunch that does the things that they do, and I’m saying that without any reservation whatever. I’ve dealt with them too much. Something needs to be done.”
But that was only the beginning of Jones complaints about Marshall.
Jones even as far as to blame the condition of the mound for his closer blowing up in the second game of the doubleheader on Friday, after he used him for two innings in the first game.
There’s no love lost between Jones and Marshall Head Coach Jeff Waggoner with the uneasy tension between the two being evident since Waggoner came to Marshall four years ago.
"What do they bring to our league? What do they bring to our league? And I’m talking about across the board. Things need to be cleaned up up there."
Of course, Jones could still be holding a grudge against Marshall for the 2008 conference tournament. A gritty Thundering Herd team peaked at the right time of the season and beat Tulane twice on its home field in the tournament on its way to its first appearance in the Conference Championship game.
It’s certainly something the “Dean of C-USA” would not likely forget.