Softball Watch - New Regime takes the field

We are about to start our Fall Season, which apparently is 10 days in September. For the first time in 40 years I will be paying attention to this sport because I believe it is the canary in the mine. Football is a big deal, and we know Lambert is gone barring a miracle, so I want to see how Hill addresses the non-revenue sports. We are going to find out if he thinks his job is to build winners across the board or not. Anything less than 5-3 would be a fail to me.

9/21 - UNC-G - Home
9/22 - Queens (DH) - Home
9/23 - Lenoir-Rhyne (DH) - Home
9/28 - Belmont Abbey - Home
9/20 - South Carolina (DH) - Away

I think Devos gets the year so fix it, or we’re hiring her replacement and building a shiny new facility for new coach to leverage and try to turn this program around.

The 2019 season will be from February–May. Perhaps that is fair, giving Devos a chance to recruit the players she needs to change our fortunes. I don’t think there are any unanswered questions here, but I do not want to second guess Hill at this point. The Softball Watch will continue.

I think he’s working on bigger items up front and then can dive into non-revenue a littler harder once he has a better lay of the land. I truly think the facility for softball will help us in hiring a coach, and landing higher caliber players.

My daughter plays at Catawba and Catawba played everyone of those teams except South Carolina last year. UNCG is very good and so is Lenoir Rhyne. Catawba swept Queens, split with Belmont Abbey (should have swept) and split with Lenoir Rhyne…Lost a 9 inning scrimmagew to UNCG.

In the Fall, there is a lot of substitution and playing around with lineups and pitchers so it’s not really like you are playing to win…but if we are any type of legit D1 roster…5-3 would be a minimum expectation considering there are only 3 games against D1 competition (SC doubleheader and UNCG).

He’s already replaced the WTEN coach, so there is some indicator for you.

I think she’s a goner after a season barring a miracle. She’s been the coach for an eternity and has nothing to show for it but players counter protesting against the #FireJudyRose deal… You gotta win sometimes at least.

And I guess to address the elephant in the room: what does that mean for her spousal unit? Will there be a collateral replacement at that position, too?

The solution is obviously to hire their kids and immediate relatives to offset any hard feeling…

The only fair thing to do is evaluate each of them on job performance. They were not married when we hired them, so it was not a two-for-one deal. Of course, realistically they probably need to look at employment from a family perspective, and I think this is your point. The program needs to put the right coaches in place to win, and our employees need to do what is best for them and their families. It will all work out. It does everywhere else, every day.

Softball usually has a very high GPA, which was good enough from Judy’s perspective. We’ll have to see what Hill’s take is on the situation.
Coach isn’t going to start winning like switching on a light bulb. Frankly, I don’t see how our current coach is going to start winning , period.
Does someone care?

Been the same routine for years. With our location and conference, no reason we shouldn’t be able to reasonably compete for a conference championship. I think mediocrity had become too comfortable and acceptable with relationship between Rose and Whitestone

In the fall season we went 4-3 and 4 games were cancelled. In the real season this spring we are 14-30, which is the least overall wins in C-USA. With two more weekends left to play, and both against other bottom dwellers in the conference, we might not end up last in wins, but I would not bet against it. I wish I could say that we just had a bad season, but sadly this is pretty par for the course. It is time for a decision.

I don’t see a way there isn’t a complete staff change here with the results that softball has turned out.

Big selling point for new staff would be the new IPF softball has.

There is also some talent in the area, but we do not seem to touch any of it.

I’m sure people will say it’s unfair to not give her a chance to turn things around now that they have an IPF.

The baseball team has had good years and shown improvement till this year when w they have no pitching. When was the last year that the softball team actually had a winning record? Have they ever played in the NCAA tourney?

The softball indoor facility was one last Title IX parting gift from Judy to her softball supporters.

I am so thankful that she is gone.

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Coach Devos has been at the helm for 25 years and has an overall losing record, a losing record in C-USA (both 1.0 and 3.0), and has never been to a post-season tournament beyond the conference.

I have no opinion, but I will say I’ve watched plenty of WTF moments over time from our team. I’ve stopped paying attention for the most part. I guess it would be nice to see improvement; but, honestly, unless you are in the SEC, Pac 12, or Big 8, you aren’t going to make more than a token appearance in the NCAA tournament.
We (and our AD) have so much more important stuff to worry about.

Edit: Things are gonna change when we get that SEC invitation.:grinning:

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