"College coaches often harm players hitting trying to get them to swing a particular way."

[Westwind]

I see the line about college softball coaches getting fired for not winning over and over. Its bunk.

College softball coaches get fired for bad behavior. They get fired for gross incompetence. Not winning? No.

Most colleges could not care less about their softball program as long as the team has a high gpa and isn’t overtly embarrassing the institution.

 

[livingontheroad]

Fire.....not renew contract.......same thing.

Succesful athletic programs are PR for colleges, advertising that's cant be bought another way.


Losing coaches.....are doing their best to NOT lose.
They arent not trying hard because they put the girls education first. They just aren't that good of coaches, or the school they are at doesn't allow them to recruit good enough talent to be competitive.

And yeah, most schools are not very competitive even in D1. There's probably 50 good softball teams in the whole country.... All levels. The same as in travel ball. It's the same players. While theres 250 + D1 teams and ~500 d2, more d3 even, etc. But we're talking about competitive softball here hopefully.


I've yet to see a single job, outside government , where poor performance was a recipe for success , higher paycheck, and job security...... But maybe some college oaches are onto something the rest of us don't know........

 

[gator5]

The same as in travel ball. It's the same players. While theres 250 + D1 teams and ~500 d2, more d3 even, etc. But we're talking about competitive softball here.

Well, we are talking about two different things. I was talking about my daughter's personal experience which was a non P5 D1. Definitely not an Alabama type program. It was fully funded, though.

 

[Westwind]

Of course losing coaches are trying not to lose.

Yes, there is value in having a winning program. Is it “big picture important” to the university? Probably wishful thinking, lol

I agree that not renewed is often the same effect.

I maintain that the reasons would be the same... bad behavior that has gone unpublicized or gross incompetence that the athletic department is tired of dealing with.

And I think we probably agree on one thing- people put college coaches on a pedestal but they are the same mere mortals that coach hs, tb etc. Some better than others.

One thing that a college coach MUST have that other levels don’t is the ability to organize and work 16 hour days with few breaks most of the year. I do not envy them and I would not want their jobs.

 

[radness]

Coaches opt to leave also.

Question~
If a coach leaves/resigns/non-renew/gets fired
but coach somewhere else back to back...
Did they really lose their job?

 

[Westwind]

@RADcatcher great point- also if I’m not mistaken, former employers have to be pretty careful about what they say about former employees

Its a lot like an incompetent small town cop... They get quietly canned/allowed to resign so as to not make the department look bad but then the town up the road hires them and they work there a few years and the cycle repeats. (Not a slam on LEO’s, it’s just an example I know well.)

 

[_MIA_]

Coaches opt to leave also.

Question~
If a coach leaves/resigns/non-renew/gets fired
but coach somewhere else back to back...
Did they really lose their job?

They left their job but not their profession.

 

[livingontheroad]

Coaches opt to leave also.

Question~
If a coach leaves/resigns/non-renew/gets fired
but coach somewhere else back to back...
Did they really lose their job?

No, could have gone for more $, better visibility, better stepping stone up career ladder.

If they are already at the top...... Yeah they probably got run off, IF the new school isn't as prestigious as the prior.

But no coach can stay on top forever, in any sport. There's a bit of luck involved as well as abilities, and the inflow of talent..... Top talent wants to go where they can play for a national title..... They tend to go to whoever's hottest currently.. not the guy that was hot 5 yrs ago., But not making it all the way lately.

As soon as his luck runs out, they're gone to somebody else. And it's hard for him to get them back.

 

[Orange Socks]

Many parents mistakenly expect college to be a free ride for their softball DD . It seldom is. Many wont admit how much it cost....

18G teammate of my dd played for a well respected academic D3 with strong team, always challenged regionally/nationally. After academic aid.....and her student loans...her parents still had to borrow $30k to send her there.

My best guess is Williams College.

I'll admit college costs since parents need to know what they may be facing.
My DD's (D3-state school)college tuition is $6955 (locked in for 4 years) a semester. Her share of on off campus apt with 3 roomies is $800/mo for 12 months! She receives an outside scholarship that is $5000 a semester. We were prepared to pay full boat, but when she was notified that she got that scholly we were relieved. She receives no monies through FAFSA or the school. The school is very generous with academic aid, but you need to be National Merit or a minimum of 33 ACT score which has gone up from a 29 a few years ago. It has become very competitive to get those schollies, and the school competes with the Ivies for these high academic students. Ivies don't give academic money but DD's school waves it around to those qualified students.

We decided that we wanted her to get into the hardest most academically inclined business school that she could play softball at and that didn't put her/us into debt that was relatively close. She thought she wanted to go to the NE when she in the recruiting process. Lehigh, Bucknell, Boston, Ivies, little Ivies. But reality set in when her scores weren't high enough for some schools and we started looking at the $$$. If she got a 50% scholly we would still hav e to pay $30K. Hotels and airfare for weekend trips were making our head spin. We found a school that was not even on our radar and didn't realize it is a pretty big school (29,000 student enrollment) only 4 hours away. Big school feel, but D3 athletic pressure. She started every game last season. Does your kid want to chase foul balls or fair balls as a freshman? My kid's ego is too big to sit on the bench all season. She would have quit in any other program.

 

[livingontheroad]

Another thing that many people don't realize, is who else is in your region. if you got a couple major D1 powers in your region.. going to a lesser D1 school doesn't give you much hope of ever competing nationally....you will never make it out of the regional. But yet a lot of people are still hung up on playing D1 ball......and the overwhelming majority of those programs never have a chance to get out of regionals.

So if you like to compete and want to win something, going to a smaller School that where you have a chance to compete for a national title is very attractive to some people. My DD visited a D3 school that had highest medical School acceptance rate in the state. That was their big selling point was pre-med students, and that you'd actually have a chance to play for a national title where you would not otherwise, unless you were playing for the biggest national power house in the same region in D1. All the regional medium size D1 schools seasons ended..... At regionals at latest. With two common wcws quality programs in the region smaller D1 schools didn't have a chance.

She went somewhere else , but college was $40k/yr. Scholarship covered about 2/3, her act was not high enough for academic aid to not count against the coaches athletic aid.. so that was all she could get.....She borrowed $10k.per year....i payed balance.....+ Summer costs. I paid about 20-25k per yr for everything she needed still. The big difference was needing to go to school in the summer.......or a 5th year......to graduate. Way more if you wanted to count car and car insurance and stuff like that......She graduated with 40 k debt. Not too bad. Grad school tacked on 90k in 2 yrs for tuition with us still paying all her living costs. 20k per year or so. Told her sorry, you got to borrow grad school tuition costs, I'm not paying that.

She will graduate in December and boy am I excited........

I once really worried how the heck i was going to pay for college....both kids got decent scholarship amounts that brought it down to doable levels. I cant imagine if didnt. Dont qualify for any financial aid. either you pay a couple hundred thousand, or your kids borrow it from private lenders at high rates, or you choose to go to a dirt-cheap school instead

Overall....my 2 kids school costs approached $600k. I paid about $200k over 7 yrs. They paid $150k. Rest was scholarship.