It’s tough to recruit when you can’t have a home game for the first 2+ months. And that makes it tough to hire coaches.
Not B1G 10 or D1 but we see this in DD’s conference, as well. The coach recruits in CA often but it’s a hard sell when you will be playing in less than 60 degree temps for the majority of the season. Since they have turf, it is not uncommon to be playing SB when there are several inches of snow surrounding the field. That being said, the academic pull does help. They do have a few girls from warm weather sates on their team.I believe weather could be the #2 reason the Big10 is behind. Kind of sucks to play in low 40 degree weather that they are playing in right now. The weather certainly hurts recruiting to some extent.
Parts of Maine are receiving 18" of snow today.Not B1G 10 or D1 but we see this in DD’s conference, as well. The coach recruits in CA often but it’s a hard sell when you will be playing in less than 60 degree temps for the majority of the season. Since they have turf, it is not uncommon to be playing SB when there are several inches of snow surrounding the field. That being said, the academic pull does help. They do have a few girls from warm weather sates on their team.
It is almost cruel to start your season in FL in 80+ temps on Monday to starting your conference games in less than a week back in the NE yesterday where the temp barely broke 40 and the game start time was pushed back because the field (non-turf) was frozen.
Yep - DD’s school received about a foot with the storm.Parts of Maine are receiving 18" of snow today.
I watched some of this game today on tape. Both teams started pitchers who maxed out at 59 mph. Later on Illinois brought in a pitcher who threw mid 60's so it wasn't a faulty radar gun.the Illinois vs Nebraska game today, there is a significant difference in the talent in Big 10 vs the SEC, ACC, or Big 12.
Am here in cold weather Northern Virginia and originally from the NE. Just anecdotal, but many of my DD’s softball amigas—whether they are playing in college or not—all want to head somewhere warmer, which tends to mean somewhere between the Carolinas and Florida. This includes my younger DD—also a softball player but not playing college—who can’t stand the cold and wants to be near a beach.
I moved from MI to AZ and will never go back. That being said, you might want to remind your DD that ASU girls regularly practice in 100+ degrees.We stayed across the street from ASU about a month ago for our first fly to tournament. The look on my daughter’s face when she said - They have palm trees at this college??? Seemed predictive of the future.
Combine that with breaking snow and ice off the car at midnight in the airport parking lot to get home and I can see her prioritizing palm trees in her college search.
UCLA players going to look out the window of a dump Champaign hotel during snow flurries… Take in stunning views of I-57 and fallow bean fields…. But won’t be able to quit and fly home with their parents because they will be 3 hours from a real airport, lol!
Kind of surprised no one brought up Northwestern. Cold, miserable, expensive but a great school and kind of a hard nosed program. I actually like the area its in even though the only time I would ever want to be there is the dead of summer.