COLLEGE COACH WANTS vs. Players preference

[quincy]

We all know DD's HC is smarter then her previous 5 HCs and 20 ACs. Forget about the hitting or pitching instructors we spent a lot of time finding and money we spent. Morons all of them!

HC is the smartest person ever in regards to SB. If you are lucky they are the smartest person outside SB too.

 

[radness]

Many players these days, by the time they get to college have been whipsawed back and forth already on these issues. Rec Coaches, Travel Coaches, HS Coaches, College Coaches, Assistant Coaches, Pitching Coaches, Hitting Coaches, Skills Coaches, Parents, Online Forums, Videos and on and on. Opinions are like noses, everybody has one and some of them smell (that's the PC version). Not to mention with the extremely high turnover in College Coaching staff (going through that right now) all of it can change from year to year as a new "expert" comes along.

Trying new things is great, being forced to do something you don't believe in is wrong.

Whipsawed back and forth,
Heck of a phrase!

 

[radness]

In OP the use of you implies me, a** dad. Not sure the abbreviation for that. Anyways ...

DD is in their hands, they can require or change anything they want. DD needs to deal with it but we would support her if she wants to bail.

As OP mentioned it might be quitting SB or transfering. Either would be fine.

I have mixed feelings about the current transfer rules but DD could take advantage of them if she needed to.

'you' meaning anybody
Should i have used 'they'...



Transfer rules good topic to add! Cause and effect going on there...

 

[radness]

Two scenarios:
Pitcher: one of the best in the area in her class. Goes to D1 school. Coach changes mechanics and can't throw a strike to save her life. Quits.
Hitter: Freshman year hits 9 HR and .359 and is NFCA All region, next year new coach comes in and changes her mechanics. Hit's .097. Coach leaves, new coach arrives doesn't mess with her. 8 HRS

Why change something that is working???

Why??? Thanks for asking the universe on that!
Still waiting for a good answer to changing success.

With stats/performance as a measurement.
Perhaps there should atleast be a lousy minimum like hitting .150 befor an overhaul.

But changing success and then blech performance...
The obvious would be changes didnt help.
Go back to whats better.

 

[FP26]

If we are talking specifically about college coaches, it is my opinion that it is a decision for the player. If the player is willing to do what the coach wants, great. If not, she must be willing to accept the consequences, whether that is less playing time, getting cut, etc.

As a parent, my line is individual safety. If the coach is asking the players to do something that could potentially cause them harm, that is unacceptable. Unfortunately this exact thing happened to DD when she was in high school. As a freshman she was just trying to fit in. The assistant coach (former football coach) asked the team to do certain drills. One led to DD hurting her shoulder. What he asked the players to do was completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, the players didn't realize it until it was too late.

 

[AW95SY]

Equipment changes are one thing, a player at the college level should be able to adjust and get comfortable with any piece of equipment in an offseason. An ounce here or an inch there is about becoming comfortable, a lot of the players are getting access to serious weight and conditioning programs for the first time in their lives, and their body composition is changing as much as any piece of equipment.

Wholesale Mechanical changes are a different beast. A coach recruiting a player based on what the coach could turn them into is an idiot, that's like walking up to a roulette wheel and saying I'm going to make this next spin come up red 18. That coach will never have a team that will be running on all cylinders, and in their mind it will be the players' fault for not buying in. There is a big difference between "do it my way" (Dictator) and "lets make a few adjustments and see where that gets us" (Coach). If you look at a Coach Gasso or Coach I, the players at those programs all maintain their individuality, and still grow and improve over the course of their careers. If someone transfers out from there it is a playing time or school issue, not a Coach issue.

Sometimes those coaches are not the ones who recruited a kid, what then? By then a kid has had a chance to fall in love with everything else about a school, and maybe softball isn't as important anymore, the kid stays and stops playing at that point, or keeps playing but the outcomes become less important? Maybe they haven't found their place at the school and the transfer portal is a great option. Some schools have very little coaching turnover, they are neither stepping stones, nor win at all costs programs, if that coach isn't a fit then softball at that school is probably not an option and this should be known prior to committing.

Personally, I have always had some anxiety around change, but part of being a solid adult is learning to adapt, appreciate the input of others, and adjust to ever-changing circumstances. Everyone has a threshold where adaptation becomes difficult, and probably another where it becomes untenable, the first shouldn't be a deal breaker, but the second likely is, especially if the player feels like they can't be the player they want to be in a particular system.

 

[Lance Steckler]

the biggest one that really hurts is coach change over and the new coach is completely different style than the coach that recruited said player. My DD had this exact thing happen, was all great during fall of freshman season, assistant coach left over christmas break for new head coaching position. Spring was pretty blah with head coach running things, COVID, etc.

New assistant coach hired over the summer and they all walked back into a dumpster fire that fall. new coach was clueless on multiple levels for all players. the players that could hit were asked to change swings, the ones that couldn't hit previous, still couldn't. keep putting the same pitcher in throwing ~50mph and wondering why they kept getting beaten like a drum. let's keep the same new freshman at 3b with no arm and can't bend over to field a ball. you name it, that new assistant coach wrote the book on screwing up a program.

Needless to say, the roster now is almost 100% different than 1 year prior.

 

[marriard]

Wholesale Mechanical changes are a different beast. A coach recruiting a player based on what the coach could turn them into is an idiot, that's like walking up to a roulette wheel and saying I'm going to make this next spin come up red 18. That coach will never have a team that will be running on all cylinders, and in their mind it will be the players' fault for not buying in.

There is a D1 Power 5 coach who has been at the program well over 20 years with pretty much every accolade imaginable - with what many would call success - who is exactly as you described. Terrible, terrible coach, but get enough talent to overcome their terrible coaching. IMO they have under-performed for years.

 

[radness]

I like catching with a fielders glove.
And would ask about it being ok befor accepting an offer.
Because if a coach were to mandate had to wear catchers mitt
there would need to be a serious conversation
to over-ride.
Very important to me.

Bat brand doesnt matter to me. Grip on it does.

 

[JOHNN]

Why change something that is working???

This is something that I wouldve loved to have asked Tiger back in his prime.

My thoughts are that coaches are always wanting to help their players improve any which way they can. Problem is, what works for certain players doesnt always work for other players. Unfortunately, you never know that it wont work unless they give it a try.