Josh Holliday Goes Off on College Baseball Teams Canceling Games to Avoid RPI Penalties

Some RPI-altering tactics appear to be afoot in the college baseball world.

Following Oklahoma State’s 12-7 victory at Oral Roberts on Tuesday night, OSU coach Josh Holliday bluntly gave his thoughts on teams canceling games late in the year seemingly to dodge those games messing with a team’s RPI. These quotes come via The Stillwegian’s Daniel Allen.

Amid the plethora of RPI-based midweek cancellations around college baseball, #OkState coach Josh Holliday called for the system to be patched.

“That pisses me off, and if we’re gonna let people (and teams) manipulate a system, then the system sucks, and it needs to be fixed.” pic.twitter.com/g8YGwt30h8

— Daniel Allen (@bydanielallen25) May 13, 2026

“I said this on the radio show, and I don’t really care who hears it or who sees it — the number of college baseball teams canceling their games today because of the RPI implications of playing a team beneath them in the RPI and the subsequent risk of penalty had you lost that game or the penalty had you won that game, I think is just an unbelievably bad look,” Holliday said. “I think the coaches that agree to do that should look in the mirror and ask themselves what kind of example they’re setting for their team.

“Had we taken that route, we would’ve cheated our team this opportunity (to play Oral Roberts) tonight. Kids had multiple-home run games, guys came through, guys gained confidence. And really quite honestly, your word should mean something. You signed a contract as an adult representing college sports. You should stand strong on your commitment, and you should be an example of what these young men should aspire to do as grownups and not take the easy way out, or manipulate a system, or come up with a really, really bad excuse.

“We just flew back from Arizona. It was 110 degrees on Sunday. We took commercial airplanes — not chartered airplanes. We don’t have as many players or as many scholarships as teams that canceled their game today. So, I just think our team today, for me, that’s the joy of coaching, the chance to get to do this. You only get so many.

“And I think for college baseball, that crap needs to stop. They sent out memo, it was on the internet, teams should play their games and we’re watching.

“So, that’s my opinion. I don’t usually have one, but I have one on that. I think as leaders and coaches, if the head coach at Oklahoma State isn’t proud enough or motivated enough to get to lead this bunch of kids over here tonight and represent our school against Oral Roberts — a conference champion, mind you — then what do you really stand for as a leader? What are you telling your players? That’s my opinion because that pisses me off. If we’re gonna let people manipulate a system, the system sucks and needs to be fixed.”

Although Holliday didn’t note any teams by name, there are plenty to point a finger at. On Tuesday alone, here are games that were canceled:

Arizona State at Grand Canyon
UMass Lowell at Boston College
Virginia Tech at Marshall
Campbell at East Carolina
Bethune Cookman at UCF
Purdue at Ball State
Pacific at CSU-Bakersfield
Northern Kentucky at Kentucky
Valparaiso at Central Michigan
Arkansas State at Arkansas-Pine Bluff

NCAA Division-I baseball oversight committee chair Michael Alford sent a memo out to Division-I coaches on May 6 regarding that matter that CSU-Bakersfield coach Jordon Banfield shared to social media.

“I wanted to let you know that we are concerned with the practice of cancelling regular season games for reasons other than inclement weather,” the memo read. “It is not the intent or spirit of the game to adjust scheduled games in an attempt to strategically impact selection data or metrics. …

“The subcommittee has kept, and will continue to keep, a watchful eye on team schedules and any known reasons for any cancellation.”

Holliday’s Cowboys sit at No. 25 in the RPI and close their regular season with a three-game series against Arizona this weekend.