Our New Softball Head Coach

[CajunSaint08]

I want to express a hugh thank you to YG and the Lotiefs....but...Now I'm all in with Gerry Glasco GEAUX CAJUNS

Perfectly said. Ditto!

[Cajun90]

Ok. I'll give you that. But my point is, Glasco better be one heck of a recruiter to get top tier talent. Regardless of what you are anyone else think they know about coach Lotief, the man was one heck of a developer of talent. Besides Ashley Brignac, what other highly recruited 5 star softball player came to UL? None. Yet he trained and coached these kids to be All-Americans.

My gut feeling is, Glasco will have to recruit the same level of talent Lotief was recruiting, so he better be as good or better a developer of talent if he wants to succeed here. As great as this softball program has been for the last 25 years or so, it wasn't because all these 5 star athletes were waiting to sign on the dotted line. Those athletes will still be going to OK, SEC schools, UCLA, AZ, OR.....

And if he does succeed here, because he has no ties, he will be gone in a heartbeat, whereas, a homegrown coach who has ties here and wants this program to succeed would have reason for this program to succeed and stick around.

The truth lies somewhere in between. Mike certainly was very good at developing players but we also got plenty of recruits who were highly sought after. They weren't all an Ashley Brignac but they were far from an unknown commodity in the softball world.

[CajunSaint08]

I love Mike and Steff and always will. I have known them botth since the 1980’s and hope to continue our relationships. I hope they truly continue to Love this program and it’s young ladies and the Cajun Nation. This is a new Chapter that will build on the fine Job of 3 Great Head Coaches that being Yevette, Steff and Mike. Let’s move forward in the most positive way possible FOR the Lady Cajuns and Programs of the past and the Buiding of the present and future of THIS AWESOME CAJUN NATION PROGRAM!!!

Ditto again!

"Let’s move forward in the most positive way possible FOR the Lady Cajuns and Programs of the past and the Buiding of the present and future of THIS AWESOME CAJUN NATION PROGRAM!!!"

Perfectly stated.

[Duggie35]

Ok. I'll give you that. But my point is, Glasco better be one heck of a recruiter to get top tier talent. Regardless of what you are anyone else think they know about coach Lotief, the man was one heck of a developer of talent. Besides Ashley Brignac, what other highly recruited 5 star softball player came to UL? None. Yet he trained and coached these kids to be All-Americans.

My gut feeling is, Glasco will have to recruit the same level of talent Lotief was recruiting, so he better be as good or better a developer of talent if he wants to succeed here. As great as this softball program has been for the last 25 years or so, it wasn't because all these 5 star athletes were waiting to sign on the dotted line. Those athletes will still be going to OK, SEC schools, UCLA, AZ, OR.....

And if he does succeed here, because he has no ties, he will be gone in a heartbeat, whereas, a homegrown coach who has ties here and wants this program to succeed would have reason for this program to succeed and stick around.

I have no idea, but could it be Mike couldn’t recruit higher rated, or should I say players with more “stars”, due to his “personality”? Maybe this coach may have a “personality” more attractive to some 3/4/5 star athletes.
I guess we will just have to wait and see!.

[GeauxLouisiana]

Ok. I'll give you that. But my point is, Glasco better be one heck of a recruiter to get top tier talent. Regardless of what you are anyone else think they know about coach Lotief, the man was one heck of a developer of talent. Besides Ashley Brignac, what other highly recruited 5 star softball player came to UL? None. Yet he trained and coached these kids to be All-Americans.

My gut feeling is, Glasco will have to recruit the same level of talent Lotief was recruiting, so he better be as good or better a developer of talent if he wants to succeed here. As great as this softball program has been for the last 25 years or so, it wasn't because all these 5 star athletes were waiting to sign on the dotted line. Those athletes will still be going to OK, SEC schools, UCLA, AZ, OR.....

And if he does succeed here, because he has no ties, he will be gone in a heartbeat, whereas, a homegrown coach who has ties here and wants this program to succeed would have reason for this program to succeed and stick around.

He was likely recruiting big time talent at SEC schools that made regionals, super regionals, and WCWS appearances. We need big time recruits to win a national championship.

[CajunT]

All that and only 1 win in Oklahoma City. If he goes after big time recruits and lands them and leads us to better performances in Oklahoma City, then the right call was made with Glasco.

Look, let's not play revisionist history here when it comes to Lotief. How many consecutive regionals has the program played in during his and Stefni's tenure? They did it with a 3rd of the budget that most P5 programs have competed with and with a number of athletes like Sanders and Myers that were not big time prospects. They guy flat out wrote the book on the Split Grip and is known as one of, if not the top hitting coaches in NCAA College Softball.

Mike Lotief's tenure is over and I'm happy Glasco has the job. He has great credentials, but before we elect him to the hall of fame, I want to see if he can run a college program. In the mean time, no matter what you think of Lotief today, he is a hall of fame coach period.

[CajunT]

He was likely recruiting big time talent at SEC schools that made regionals, super regionals, and WCWS appearances. We need big time recruits to win a national championship.

It's much easier recruiting to Georgia and Texas A&M than UL. They have far more to offer in money (Stipend) and the scholarships are worth more as well. He will find it much harder to recruit the top players in Texas, Georgia and Florida over the Top SEC and Big 12 programs. I will be ecstatic if he steals a few here or there, but he is also going to have to develop athletes. If he can do those two things, he should be fine.

[Dad04]

According to foote, base salary around $170k, with $30k deferred if he is still employed at end of year. Max contract with incentives is around $262,333.

So...the baseball staff get pay bumps, right?

[no1cajunfan]

That's what I'm saying. Tony deserves more than what he is getting now and from what I read even with incentives tony doesn't make 262k

http://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/...8bd0c3566.html

[Cajunfanatico]

And if he does succeed here, because he has no ties, he will be gone in a heartbeat, whereas, a homegrown coach who has ties here and wants this program to succeed would have reason for this program to succeed and stick around.

I used to worry about coaches not sticking around. I worried about Hud not sticking around and look how that's worked out for us.

I hope he's so successful that the P5's are circling like buzzards. They can buy out his contract.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

[GeauxLouisiana]

That's what I'm saying. Tony deserves more than what he is getting now and from what I read even with incentives tony doesn't make 262k

http://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/...8bd0c3566.html

If Tony wanted more, all he has to do is ask. He signed the last deal offered to him.

[CajunT]

The truth lies somewhere in between. Mike certainly was very good at developing players but we also got plenty of recruits who were highly sought after. They weren't all an Ashley Brignac but they were far from an unknown commodity in the softball world.

The best class he ever recruited was Ranked 7th by ESPN that year, consisted of Ashley Brignac, Katy Smith,Christi Orgeron, Donna Bourgeois and Gabby Bridges. To my knowledge, he never finished in the Top 25 in recruiting classes since then.

He did recruit a number of very good players out of Texas, but none of them were All-Americans and there were others like Meyers and Cherry that were just good all-district players, but not all-state.