Posing the question about the purpose of playing college softball….

[YoungBuck]

Hmm... How true is this?

How many college softball coaches with winning records get fired each year? Heck, how many college softball coaches at the D1 level get fired each year, period?

I could be wrong, but it really feels like at most schools, the success of the softball program isn't important enough for ADs to churn through coaches unless the team is just dreadful or there is some kind of scandal. That's certainly not true of the Oklahomas and UCLAs of the world, but I get that sense that at 90% of P5 schools, if your team wins its fair share of games and makes a Regional every so often, you can probably coach there for a long, long time.

Well said.

The first example that comes to mind is the bottom of the Big Ten. Some of those coaches never win conference titles and rarely if ever make the postseason and keep their jobs.

 

[Orange Socks]

Hmm... How true is this?

How many college softball coaches with winning records get fired each year? Heck, how many college softball coaches at the D1 level get fired each year, period?

I could be wrong, but it really feels like at most schools, the success of the softball program isn't important enough for ADs to churn through coaches unless the team is just dreadful or there is some kind of scandal. That's certainly not true of the Oklahomas and UCLAs of the world, but I get that sense that at 90% of P5 schools, if your team wins its fair share of games and makes a Regional every so often, you can probably coach there for a long, long time.

You might want to follow this thread. They post this every year and you will be surprised how long the list is every year. Turnover is very high.

https://robocoach.discussion.community/post/coaching-moves-22-12359797?pid=1332710197

 

[marriard]

If the education is so much more important than the softball than why not separate the two? I know my family wouldn't be any less involved with softball if it wasn't tied to a school.

You mean like every other country in the world?

Because USA I guess. World's dumbest elite sports system.

See about 1000 posts I have made on this over time.

 

[Orange Socks]

You mean like every other country in the world?

Because USA I guess. World's dumbest elite sports system.

See about 1000 posts I have made on this over time.

Many many students choose their colleges based on football game day tailgating? A decision that is based on 6 or 7 home games a year! I find this very odd. Lots of kids living their best Instagram lives and other kids have FOMO. I know a pretty good pitcher that decided to quit playing softball b/c of all the peer pressure of her friends going to SEC schools and she wanted to have a good time like them. My DD friends are getting all A's at some of these schools and they were not good students at all. Meanwhile, my DD is working her A$$ off to get B's at her school. It kind of makes her mad. I keep telling her, it's about that degree girl!

But, I am in my home office and she is in the living room on her Zoom call with her Summer Intern boss and colleagues learning about real world business finance stuff. She got an internship at https://www.daikin.com/ Her boss said that she interviewed a lot of people, and she chose DD because she asked lots of questions and knew how to hold a conversation. You know where she learned that???? Softball Camps!!!! No lie. She had to learn how to talk to adults, ask questions and keep a conversation going with coaches. I thank Softball for that.

 

[radness]

Many many students choose their colleges based on football game day tailgating? A decision that is based on 6 or 7 home games a year! I find this very odd. Lots of kids living their best Instagram lives and other kids have FOMO. I know a pretty good pitcher that decided to quit playing softball b/c of all the peer pressure of her friends going to SEC schools and she wanted to have a good time like them. My DD friends are getting all A's at some of these schools and they were not good students at all. Meanwhile, my DD is working her A$$ off to get B's at her school. It kind of makes her mad. I keep telling her, it's about that degree girl!

But, I am in my home office and she is in the living room on her Zoom call with her Summer Intern boss and colleagues learning about real world business finance stuff. She got an internship at https://www.daikin.com/ Her boss said that she interviewed a lot of people, and she chose DD because she asked lots of questions and knew how to hold a conversation. You know where she learned that???? Softball Camps!!!! No lie. She had to learn how to talk to adults, ask questions and keep a conversation going with coaches. I thank Softball for that.

Yep all sorts of influences!

Even know athletes who only went to college because they have the opportunity to play softball there and otherwise probably wouldn't have went to college if they didn't play a sport.

 

[Westwind]

The players that transfer for one year always intrigue me.

Yep. More than one reason for this but usually it’s because they didn’t see the train that is college softball coming down the tracks. You can get on that train or you can get run over by it. Most of those players are delaying getting on the train. All they are doing is putting it off, hopefully they can get on at the next station.

Families have NO clue what's ahead of them when they send these kids to many of these D1 programs.

No clue as in NONE. You don’t know what you don’t know. And everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) thinks it will be different for them.

Parents of future college players: We can tell you what it will be like. You won’t understand until you have been there. Even the “top 1%” players who will have a different experience have challenges that the families won’t understand until they are living it.

These kid's so called "dreams" of playing at the D1 become a nightmare and it happens at other levels too. They don't realize that practices that they thought were supposed to be 3 hours are actually 5 hours with the coach showing up an hour after warm ups so they don't go over their allotted time and then leave with the kids working on pitching, hitting, etc. for another hour.

Yep. “But my kid is a hard worker” says the un-knowing parent….. Hold on to your hats, y’all. This won’t be long practices sometimes. It’s every day. It’s after you got up at 5 for the lift or the run. It’s after you stayed up until 12a studying at taking an online test that had a midnight deadline. It’s also at the end of the season when you are exhausted from planes, buses and the never ending hotel rooms. (This is a clue for parents whose kids are going places where you can’t play softball in February or March). There is no time to waste, for coaches or players.

Coaches make the situation unnecessarily miserable.

Unfortunately yes. Being a college softball coach looks like a tough way to make a living to me. I think a lot of them “use up all their nice” recruiting. SURPRISE SUZY! YOU A PLAYER NOW, NOT A RECRUIT! THE AZZ KISSING WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW! Maybe 1% of all players have the luxury of looking around and not seeing numerous players who could replace them tomorrow. Most won’t have that luxury.

We hear about the high profile players that enter the portal trying to find a better situation.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

Happens all the time. I spoke to a d3 coach years ago and he told me that he offers spots to players that will never see the field! Choose wisely! Find the right fit. Be realistic.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Coaches at all levels are poor at evaluating talent. Travel, high school, college. Sometimes it isn’t the parents with rose colored glasses.

Playing 4 years (any sport) in college is a daunting task and the odds are not in your favor.

Yes. For so many reasons. Hats off to this years graduating seniors! You did good!

 

[radness]

Also know of softball players who used softball to get into the college and once they were in, decided not to play.

*Those were academic scholarships that were awarded to those students.
That had a standard of GPA to continue getting their academic money.

Did they intend to do it that way by using softball to get into the College knowing they didn't want to actually play? Only they know.

 

[efastball]

Why would anyone want to go to school at Alabama???

 

[Westwind]

I could be wrong, but it really feels like at most schools, the success of the softball program isn't important enough for ADs to churn through coaches unless the team is just dreadful or there is some kind of scandal. That's certainly not true of the Oklahomas and UCLAs of the world, but I get that sense that at 90% of P5 schools, if your team wins its fair share of games and makes a Regional every so often, you can probably coach there for a long, long time.

You are not wrong about this.

Firing a coach is the easy part. Hiring another one is the hard part. Without a scandal most softball coaches aren’t getting fired.

At most colleges, like most high schools, hiring a coach of a female sport is a task the AD just wants to get off their desk. They will spend time researching and a football coach but they are looking for in most other cases is a “scandal free” coach. Get ‘er done and worry about football.

 

[Westwind]

Why would anyone want to go to school at Alabama???

The answer: Everyone who has ever been there to watch a game at the best stadium in the country with the best fans in college softball.

There is no place to play like Alabama. Despite what is happening there this week. Whether they ever win a second national championship ever again or not.