Season Review and Week 11 Preview

[VObserver]

Season Review and Week 10 Preview

I will depart from my usual format this week. My review this week will not be about numbers, it will be about my observations on what has happened thus far in the season and why. We are Dr. Jeckal Mr. Hyde. At home we are a mid tier SEC type team; on the road we are an upper tier SWAC or MEAC team. That is very puzzling on some levels, and what I am about to say is just my personal opinion.

I believe that when the girls are at home, they all have their personal support groups surrounding them and restoring the confidence in their ability that the coaching staff has destroyed. On the road, this support structure is absent and it shows.

I will never throw players under the bus, but coaches are fair game. Virtually every in game move by this coaching staff shows that they are not committed to winning. It should be obvious to anyone who watches us play, or to anyone who follows SBC softball, that pitching in our league is not a strong suit. There are no Randy Rupps or Jessica Mullins or Summer Ellysons or Sam Landrys in this league anymore, nor is it likely that there ever will be. Our team composition consists of a sizable group of girls with gap power and decent speed, with no true slappers or bunters on the roster. Given those two facts, it is inexplicable that our coaches have been adamantly persistent in pounding that square peg into the round hole that is small ball.

Don't get me wrong; small ball is effective if you have 4 slappers in the lineup, a team ERA under 2 and a K/BB ratio of 3/1. We have none of those things and it has been a known factor since before the season started that we would not have any of them. Yet our staff has persisted in using our existing players in ways that they cannot be successful, while destroying the players' confidence in their ability to do well the things that we recruited them to do.

The staff has persisted in doing this even in situations in which the most avid small ball enthusiasts would not. Bunting your cleanup hitter with runners on first and second and no outs in the second inning regardless of the score or calling a suicide squeeze with runners on first and third with one out and a gap power hitter up, or calling a sacrifice bunt trailing by 9 at any point in a game.

Defensively, we have been consistent in positioning our middle infielders in a way that makes it impossible for them to protect the middle of the field. There have been countless times that our SS have been positioned 25 feet or less from the left field foul line, leaving the middle wide open. Same with 2B being positioned closer to first than to second. Often both at the same time.

It is a minor miracle that our girls have been as successful as they have been, given the determined effort by the coaches to destroy their confidence. Now, I don't for a minute think that the staff is deliberately sabotaging the team; I believe they truly think that what they are doing will help us win. They are just too stubborn to change what they want to do into something that works for the players we have.

A wise man once told me that a coach has only two jobs. The first is to recruit the best players available; the second is to win with the players you have. This staff has not demonstrated an understanding that they must forsake how they WANT our team to play in favor of what gives our players the best chance to win.

Preview of Week 11


This week we have a mid-week game with LSU and a weekend series with Coastal Carolina, both in Lamson.

Honestly, we will not be favored in any of these games; and if we play anything at all like we did last week, we will not win any of them. In fact, I doubt seriously that we will be favored in any of the games remaining on our schedule. I said last week that we had an opportunity to reach out and grasp and at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, given our remaining schedule. Three losses to JMU have erased that opportunity. We can, of course, win any or all of our remaining games. We will not win many, or any, of them if our play is anything like last week.

Our situation is not one that can survive being patient. This program needs to win, win often and win big right now. Two or three years from now is not soon enough; next year may even be too late. It is my opinion only, but if we fail to get into the NCAA tournament this year, our chances of never being what we have been become somewhere around 75%. Failure to do so next year puts that possibility at 100%.

Sadly, I do not believe that this coaching staff is capable of coaching a team to the point where they are capable of winning at our standard.

[cajunref]

Excellent analysis. Right on point.

[SlickRick]

Season Review and Week 10 Preview

I will depart from my usual format this week. My review this week will not be about numbers, it will be about my observations on what has happened thus far in the season and why. We are Dr. Jeckal Mr. Hyde. At home we are a mid tier SEC type team; on the road we are an upper tier SWAC or MEAC team. That is very puzzling on some levels, and what I am about to say is just my personal opinion.

I believe that when the girls are at home, they all have their personal support groups surrounding them and restoring the confidence in their ability that the coaching staff has destroyed. On the road, this support structure is absent and it shows.

I will never throw players under the bus, but coaches are fair game. Virtually every in game move by this coaching staff shows that they are not committed to winning. It should be obvious to anyone who watches us play, or to anyone who follows SBC softball, that pitching in our league is not a strong suit. There are no Randy Rupps or Jessica Mullins or Summer Ellysons or Sam Landrys in this league anymore, nor is it likely that there ever will be. Our team composition consists of a sizable group of girls with gap power and decent speed, with no true slappers or bunters on the roster. Given those two facts, it is inexplicable that our coaches have been adamantly persistent in pounding that square peg into the round hole that is small ball.

Don't get me wrong; small ball is effective if you have 4 slappers in the lineup, a team ERA under 2 and a K/BB ratio of 3/1. We have none of those things and it has been a known factor since before the season started that we would not have any of them. Yet our staff has persisted in using our existing players in ways that they cannot be successful, while destroying the players' confidence in their ability to do well the things that we recruited them to do.

The staff has persisted in doing this even in situations in which the most avid small ball enthusiasts would not. Bunting your cleanup hitter with runners on first and second and no outs in the second inning regardless of the score or calling a suicide squeeze with runners on first and third with one out and a gap power hitter up, or calling a sacrifice bunt trailing by 9 at any point in a game.

Defensively, we have been consistent in positioning our middle infielders in a way that makes it impossible for them to protect the middle of the field. There have been countless times that our SS have been positioned 25 feet or less from the left field foul line, leaving the middle wide open. Same with 2B being positioned closer to first than to second. Often both at the same time.

It is a minor miracle that our girls have been as successful as they have been, given the determined effort by the coaches to destroy their confidence. Now, I don't for a minute think that the staff is deliberately sabotaging the team; I believe they truly think that what they are doing will help us win. They are just too stubborn to change what they want to do into something that works for the players we have.

A wise man once told me that a coach has only two jobs. The first is to recruit the best players available; the second is to win with the players you have. This staff has not demonstrated an understanding that they must forsake how they WANT our team to play in favor of what gives our players the best chance to win.

Preview of Week 11


This week we have a mid-week game with LSU and a weekend series with Coastal Carolina, both in Lamson.

Honestly, we will not be favored in any of these games; and if we play anything at all like we did last week, we will not win any of them. In fact, I doubt seriously that we will be favored in any of the games remaining on our schedule. I said last week that we had an opportunity to reach out and grasp and at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, given our remaining schedule. Three losses to JMU have erased that opportunity. We can, of course, win any or all of our remaining games. We will not win many, or any, of them if our play is anything like last week.

Our situation is not one that can survive being patient. This program needs to win, win often and win big right now. Two or three years from now is not soon enough; next year may even be too late. It is my opinion only, but if we fail to get into the NCAA tournament this year, our chances of never being what we have been become somewhere around 75%. Failure to do so next year puts that possibility at 100%.

Sadly, I do not believe that this coaching staff is capable of coaching a team to the point where they are capable of winning at our standard.

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