By Pim van Nes
Curacao Neptunus with debuting manager Evert-Jan ‘t Hoen clinched four consecutive Netherlands championships: 2013-2014-2015-2016. A few days before Holland Series 2016 versus L&D Amsterdam Pirates, Neptunus announced the release of their Grand Slam manager effective and irrespective the outcome of the best-of-seven series. At the same time Amsterdam Pirates disactivated their third base coach Ronald Jaarsma, as he had revealed that Neptunus had offered him the position of manager for next season.
Dutch journalists were eager to hear comments by Neptunus on their decision and its timing, but it took till last Friday before Neptunus president Geoffrey Kohl spoke out before RTV Rijnmond camera in Rotterdam, answering to Sinclair Bischop’s 12 questions:
Q&A in summary:
SB: Why do you take leave from a 4 on 4 successful manager?
GK: It was a board decision to judge him during the season. We planned this a year ago. After latest European Champions Cup tournament we were sure not to extend the contract.
SB: What is the exact reason?
GK: It is not due to his results (pvn: in Hoofdklasse?), but we want to win more European Cups. We have to look forward to coming up seasons. We want the team to play more aggressively.
SB: So Evert-Jan ‘t Hoen has not performed well enough?
GK: He has performed quite well, I do not want to deny this, but we want a new impulse for the team. We think the team needs it.
SB: Was he shocked when you told him? Did he expect anything like this?
GK: He was surprised, but you have to ask him if he was shocked. We spoke about it a few times.
SB: The moment Neptunus published the news was certainly a surprise. Why did you time it like this?
GK: We wanted to respect Evert-Jan’s interests. The deadline for Dutch transfers is October 31 and other clubs had been preparing 2017 rosters and staffs since over a month.
SB: How strong is the internal support for your decision? For instance the players want their manager to stay.
GK: We have decided not to listen to the players. Especially because of the person and the results of Evert-Jan, it was a difficult decision, but after all we took an unanimous decision.
SB: Should not you better consult the players in this domain? They appreciate the cooperation with the old boss. And with a new boss you have to wait and see.
GK: Yes, I agree with you, but this was our choice. Indeed, you can hold us responsable for this (pvn: after next season). But also Evert-Jan was appointed in this position without experience elsewhere.
SB: But why Ronald Jaarsma as his successor?
GK: Ronald Jaarsma was a candidate as we consider him as suitable for our club. In the past he was a Neptunus player with an own opinion about playing baseball. We think he fits in the picture we are planning for Neptunus.
SB: As you said, Jaarsma is without experience as a manager. What do you expect and require from him?
GK: Only winning a championship is not enough, yes. We want more from the team’s potential.
SB: It was not very elegant the way you parted ways with a manager, who brought you national and European titles and was awarded as best European coach.
GK: It is always difficult to part ways with a person. It was my duty to plan the way and time of informing him about it.
SB: A new season is coming up and Neptunus will again be a prominent club. Are there any new players for the new manager?
GK: We want to be prominent in Europe too, but there will not be big changes in our roster. We hope some home grown youngsters will be promoted to out first team. This has to compensate the loss of long time top player Raily Legito, who informed us about his career end this year.
SB: Congrats on your new national championship! Did you really celebrate it after the turbulence before and during Holland Series?
GK: Of course. The quality of the team and players is reliable. I spoke to the players before the series and informed them about our decision. They are all top sporters and all they want is to win: players and coaches, included Evert-Jan.
Once more, the ignorance and arrogance of Dutch baseball management shows its face.
Always, it seems, the KNBSB and clubs are run by people who do not understand the game. And, eventually, make ruinous decisions like this one. If they are not bankrupting themselves as the KNBSB did once and almost did another time in recent years, they’re making stupid personnel decisions like this one.
Notice that, in the interview, the Neptunis’ president gives no reason for firing a highly successful manager and replacing him with an assistant coach who never managed. Their president claims it is because they have some mysterious higher goal. To reach this goal, they chose to ignore the strong opiions of their players.
More probably, there was some personality conflict between them or one of their “management” and the head coach. Raher than do what is necessary to keep the head coach, they decide their board of non-baseball people is smarter than the baseball guy so they jettison him.
This same silliness pervades the KNBSB. When their baseball development guy (and Neptunis head coach) left for soccer, they replaced him with a little league coach. A lifetime apparatchik who had managed to alienate players and families all over the Netherlands. His major skills were schmoozing the board and MLBi. The result: Robur club is decimated. Utrecht club is a shadow of itself. The Dutch academy, which had prided itself as equal the America’s top programs, now goes begging for participants. The KNBSB will probably reply with some fabricated “evidence” to the contrary, but that is the way it is.
Why is this? If they were honest, the Dutch would admit that their true idea of development is to get on Skype and say “Hello, Curacao, please send us a pitcher. Aruba, one shortstop, please.” Strip away the Caribbeans and Dutch baseball is maybe #2 or #4 in Europe.
The board of Neptunus club is bunch of arrogance amateurs.
No one believes that cheap excuses are the reasons to fire up success manager.
Evert-Jan ‘t Hoen did so much for European baseball as the player, youth developer and manager.
He deserves to leave manager post with grace and elegance.