Dec 30, 2020 4 min read

There will be a change in the Wild Things’ dugout in 2021 as manager Gregg Langbehn will not return.

Though it has not been announced by the organization, Langbehn informed team officials that he is taking a break from coaching minor league baseball.

Langbehn was the Wild Things’ manager for four seasons, 2016 through 2019 – the Frontier League did not play in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic – and compiled a 190-193 record. He had two losing seasons and two that resulted in trips to the playoffs.

Langbehn, a Wisconsin resident, guided Washington to the postseason in 2017 when it lost in the first round to Florence.

In 2018, the Wild Things won the East Division title, swept Evansville in the first round of the playoffs and advanced to the finals before losing Game 5 in a best-of-5 series against Joliet.

Langbehn was the perfect hire at the right time for the Wild Things, who were stumbling through a rocky stretch. After going through six managers – plus using a “coach-by-committee” approach for two weeks in 2014 – over an eight-year period, Langbehn brought stability and credibility to the job. He was popular with the players, firm when needed and respected throughout the Frontier League. And for many games during his Wild Things tenure, Langbehn managed without the aid of a coach, which meant he threw all the pitches during batting practice and couldn’t afford to argue with umpires at the risk of being ejected and leaving the team to be run by the trainer or bus driver.

This will be an important hire for the Wild Things, who expect to be back on the field in May in an expanded Frontier League. And the person who is tabbed as the franchise’s 10th manager will have a simple but difficult assignment, one that nobody has yet accomplished – win Washington’s first league championship.

• The hottest trend in college football is not RPO plays or the air raid offense or forgoing punts in every fourth-and-one situation. Rather it’s players opting out of bowl games to “prepare for the NFL draft.”

A growing number of players believe that if their team is not one of the four College Football Playoff participants, then playing in the Cheez-It Gasparilla Potato Weed-Eater Bowl doesn’t matter.

This trend was taken to another level Tuesday night when Oklahoma State wide receiver Tylan Wallace, a pro prospect, did not play in the second half of the Cowboys’ 37-34 bowl win over Miami. It was reported at the time by ESPN that Wallace not playing in the second half was a “player’s decision,” which gave the impression that he had quit mid-game on his teammates. After the game, Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said it was his decision to not play Wallace to “protect” his star wide receiver.

There’s a simple solution to stop these opt outs and make the end of the season more meaningful to more teams: scrap the bowl system and play a tournament to determine a national champion, like is done at the NCAA Division II, III and FCS levels.

Too bad it will never happen.

• • With but a few marked exceptions, the past 12 months have not been what you would call a golden year for sports.

The NFL and college football have done what seemed impossible and approached the finish line to the season. Major League Baseball played a 60-game campaign with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning a World Series title that will forever have an asterisk attached. The NBA and NHL each finished disjointed seasons. Locally, the high schools played fall sports to the end, which was more than some winter sports did last March. And the spring sports never made it to the starting line.

With that in mind, I say good riddance to 2020. If only I could have opted out to prepare for 2021.