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He may be that, but he has utterly failed...
Posted on: April 23, 2017 at 16:21:19 CT
bluetiger_ MU
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at the single most important task for a softball coach of an elite program that aspires to get a national top 16 seed and challenge to get to the WCWS.
He has failed to give this team an elite pitching staff with at least one workhorse ace pitcher (see Washington, Minnesota, James Madison) or better yet at least 2 ace pitchers and solid pitching at least 3 or 4 deep (see every other WCWS contender, basically).
We can complain all we want about the defensive lapses and anemic hitting and lack of clutch hitting. But that really doesn't matter without the pitching, as any even casual softball fan knows.
EE is basically sending this team to a gun fight and arming them with a knife, when we play SEC conference games and any other game against an elite team. That's how bad it is.
And you can argue about why this happened, and who gets what degree of responsibility for it. Certainly some bad luck is involved, like having 2 aces hit in the face less than a year apart, or recruiting one of the best freshmen in the country (Conrad) and having her come in with a bum arm and not contribute anything of significance her freshman year.
But EE is the head coach, and bears the brunt of the responsibility for failing to give Mizzou the pitching staff they need to compete at an elite level. That's his job, and no one else's. And he has failed the team this year. You have to wonder if he even acknowledges this to his team, much less to himself.
He recruited 3 elite high school pitchers for the 2 years after Chelsea Thomas graduated. And for whatever reason, all 3 got to the point where they couldn't stand to put the Mizzou uniform on for EE for another year. Stangel lasted 1 year, Lowary lasted 2 years, and Finucane lasted 3 years, yet they all came to the same conclusion. Then EE went the next 2 years, 2015 and 2016, without bringing in a single elite type pitcher. Sorry, the lightly recruited Baumgartner doesn't count. So we lost 2 years there. Now at least we have 4 years in a row with an elite pitching recruit coming in, but that is no guarantee (see Parker Conrad). But with 4 in a row we have good odds that at least 2 will be the real deal, if not 3. We are overdue for a run of good luck with pitching recruits.
But in the meantime, don't expect Mizzou to return to anything close to elite status in the college softball world until we have an elite pitching staff, like the other contenders have. It's anyone's guess how many years that will take. But the buck stops with the head coach. He has failed in the single most important factor in fielding an elite team. There's no guessing about that.
Bringing a knife to a gun fight has never ever worked for anyone.
Edited by bluetiger_ at 16:23:34 on 04/23/17
He has failed to give this team an elite pitching staff with at least one workhorse ace pitcher (see Washington, Minnesota, James Madison) or better yet at least 2 ace pitchers and solid pitching at least 3 or 4 deep (see every other WCWS contender, basically).
We can complain all we want about the defensive lapses and anemic hitting and lack of clutch hitting. But that really doesn't matter without the pitching, as any even casual softball fan knows.
EE is basically sending this team to a gun fight and arming them with a knife, when we play SEC conference games and any other game against an elite team. That's how bad it is.
And you can argue about why this happened, and who gets what degree of responsibility for it. Certainly some bad luck is involved, like having 2 aces hit in the face less than a year apart, or recruiting one of the best freshmen in the country (Conrad) and having her come in with a bum arm and not contribute anything of significance her freshman year.
But EE is the head coach, and bears the brunt of the responsibility for failing to give Mizzou the pitching staff they need to compete at an elite level. That's his job, and no one else's. And he has failed the team this year. You have to wonder if he even acknowledges this to his team, much less to himself.
He recruited 3 elite high school pitchers for the 2 years after Chelsea Thomas graduated. And for whatever reason, all 3 got to the point where they couldn't stand to put the Mizzou uniform on for EE for another year. Stangel lasted 1 year, Lowary lasted 2 years, and Finucane lasted 3 years, yet they all came to the same conclusion. Then EE went the next 2 years, 2015 and 2016, without bringing in a single elite type pitcher. Sorry, the lightly recruited Baumgartner doesn't count. So we lost 2 years there. Now at least we have 4 years in a row with an elite pitching recruit coming in, but that is no guarantee (see Parker Conrad). But with 4 in a row we have good odds that at least 2 will be the real deal, if not 3. We are overdue for a run of good luck with pitching recruits.
But in the meantime, don't expect Mizzou to return to anything close to elite status in the college softball world until we have an elite pitching staff, like the other contenders have. It's anyone's guess how many years that will take. But the buck stops with the head coach. He has failed in the single most important factor in fielding an elite team. There's no guessing about that.
Bringing a knife to a gun fight has never ever worked for anyone.
Edited by bluetiger_ at 16:23:34 on 04/23/17
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He may be that, but he has utterly failed... - bluetiger_ MU - 4/23 16:21:19