I think it's time for a change at the top of the softball team. Steudemann ain't

[Saltydog]

getting it done. Today's beat down was embarrassing.

[Really Clark?]

And we ran off their ace in the second game up 6-0 in the Top of the 6th right now. Not a huge Vann fan but not jack is hardly brought up on here unless we lose. We are still 30th in the country in RPI and will make the tournament again most likely.

ETA. I’m not against a change at all, haven’t been a huge fan of Vann but it does depend on who we can bring in. I also think people assume we are a whole lot worse than we really are because the conference is so difficult.

[Saltydog]

We're 3-13 in the league. It's the same story every year. We run up a bunch of wins against easy n/c teams and then go to shit in the league and don't make a wimper of a sound in the post season. In comparison, look where our rivals to the north have elevated their program.

[Really Clark?]

We're 3-13 in the league. It's the same story every year. We run up a bunch of wins against easy n/c teams and then go to shit in the league and don't make a wimper of a sound in the post season. In comparison, look where our rivals to the north have elevated their program.

Forget league numbers. Georgia is one spot ahead of us in the league with 5 wins and ranked 16th in the country. We are 30th in RPI in the country. We also have to play 6 of the Top 7 teams in the league this season while OM only played 3 of the Top 5. Probably all or 12 of 13 SEC teams will make tourney. Besides TAM every team is Top 30 or so in the RPI.

[Bothrops]

It's hard for us to get a complete team going in this sport. We may get a great pitcher, then fall flat with the others, or have a couple of power hitters and suck at pitching. The bigger surrounding states have a lot more to select from in recruiting, and it's a huge built in advantage.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

8th season at MSU... still bottom of the league and hasn’t had a winning SEC season...time to go.

[Really Clark?]

It's hard for us to get a complete team going in this sport. We may get a great pitcher, then fall flat with the others, or have a couple of power hitters and suck at pitching. The bigger surrounding states have a lot more to select from in recruiting, and it's a huge built in advantage.

Then they also cherry pick some of our better players.

[Really Clark?]

8th season at MSU... still bottom of the league and hasn’t had a winning SEC season...time to go.

So have several teams, including OM, which is why everyone is out today. .500 is very good. This is not like other sports. 9 wins in conference is a good record even when you are below .500. I don’t disagree with a possible change but at least source something besides conference record. That gets really skewed in softball. Really skewed. Jay Miller was Team USA coach and he never had a winning conference record but made the NCAA 6 of his 9 years while here

[RocketDawg]

8th season at MSU... still bottom of the league and hasn’t had a winning SEC season...time to go.

Does our administration (i.e., Keenum and Cohen) consider women's softball an important sport?

[BuckyIsAB****]

We did beat them 6-0 after that to be fair but I think everyone is over softball the way they are mens basketball. Its been the same story for quite a few years now

[Really Clark?]

We did beat them 6-0 after that to be fair but I think everyone is over softball the way they are mens basketball. Its been the same story for quite a few years now

Only if the AD wants more. And I keep going back that people keep referencing the wrong thing. Conference record is misleading. We have teams with losing conference record that rank high and make the CWS from the SEC. it’s a brutal conference. We can make the regionals fairly consistently. Making deeper runs in the tournament should be what we are looking at. But does admin care for us trying to be a bigger player in the tournament? And after that, who can come in and take that next step? That’s not nearly as clear as simply saying get someone else. It’s a very top heavy sport.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Only if the AD wants more. And I keep going back that people keep referencing the wrong thing. Conference record is misleading. We have teams with losing conference record that rank high and make the CWS from the SEC. it’s a brutal conference. We can make the regionals fairly consistently. Making deeper runs in the tournament should be what we are looking at. But does admin care for us trying to be a bigger player in the tournament? And after that, who can come in and take that next step? That’s not nearly as clear as simply saying get someone else. It’s a very top heavy sport.

I agree. I havent watched a softball game probably ever but I do get the alerts on my phone with the score, so I wont pretend to know enough to talk about it

[Quaoarsking]

8th season at MSU... still bottom of the league and hasn’t had a winning SEC season...time to go.

Dan Mullen himself only had 1 winning SEC season in his 9 year stretch, and SEC softball is more dominant than SEC football.

[MetEdDawg]

Softball is a sport very much like volleyball for us. The state doesn't produce enough good talent to sustain you, you are considerably lower budget compared to the rest of the conference you compete against, and it costs money to go do the things we need to do, and we don't have nearly the same money to do the stuff other universities do.

Vann was tabbed by many as a shoe in to change us into something bigger. She's failed. At some point you have to acknowledge that something else besides a coach has to change. New buildings are great, but salaries, dollars to go recruit wherever you want and host whoever you want whenever and as elaborate as you want are what makes real differences.

We are a small budget SEC school and in women's sports like this, we are going to more often than not end up near last because of that. Facts suck folks.

[Cooterpoot]

It’s time for Vann to go. OM is doing more with an a-hole coach. We’re in the same place we were before Vann got here. Bottom of the SEC. She’s had plenty of time.

[Cooterpoot]

Softball is a sport very much like volleyball for us. The state doesn't produce enough good talent to sustain you, you are considerably lower budget compared to the rest of the conference you compete against, and it costs money to go do the things we need to do, and we don't have nearly the same money to do the stuff other universities do.

Vann was tabbed by many as a shoe in to change us into something bigger. She's failed. At some point you have to acknowledge that something else besides a coach has to change. New buildings are great, but salaries, dollars to go recruit wherever you want and host whoever you want whenever and as elaborate as you want are what makes real differences.

We are a small budget SEC school and in women's sports like this, we are going to more often than not end up near last because of that. Facts suck folks.

Budget isn’t an issue. I’ve seen our coaches at every big tournament in America. They’re all over the place. They just aren’t getting more than a player or two. We’ve missed on a lot of pitching.

[MetEdDawg]

Budget isn’t an issue. I’ve seen our coaches at every big tournament in America. They’re all over the place. They just aren’t getting more than a player or two. We’ve missed on a lot of pitching.

Of course we are at every big tournament. That's the easy part. It's everything after that we can't do at the level everyone else does.

Do we have a number of our yearly budget on softball? I would be very interested to know what that number was.

[Todd4State]

Of course we are at every big tournament. That's the easy part. It's everything after that we can't do at the level everyone else does.

Do we have a number of our yearly budget on softball? I would be very interested to know what that number was.

I don't know a lot about the softball culture but it sounds to me like we probably need to at the very least hire an assistant that has a really high end reputation to recruit for us. If we want to go to the next level.

[Cooterpoot]

Of course we are at every big tournament. That's the easy part. It's everything after that we can't do at the level everyone else does.

Do we have a number of our yearly budget on softball? I would be very interested to know what that number was.

That’s not the easy part and our budget has very little to do with our problems. I’m not even saying we should be on the level of AL or LSU or the top SEC handful. I’m saying we shouldn’t be bottom 3 every year anymore. OM, AR, SC all upgraded at HC. A&M is probably going to do the same. AU just went through a sex scandal and are able to not skip a beat. Softball is about recruiting connections. We’re taking 2nd and 3rd tier Thunderbolt players. We don’t pull many good transfers. We don’t have a Cali connection. We are,however, committed to mediocrity by hoping just to make the tournament to lose in round one.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

MSU WBB was in worse shape than MSU Fastpitch before we hired Vic.... we have more than enough resources to compete at a higher level than we do now.

[AROB44]

Why even care about softball? Shouldn't allocate very many resources to it. If you want to donate $$$ to softball, have at it.

[Cooterpoot]

Why even care about softball? Shouldn't allocate very many resources to it. If you want to donate $$$ to softball, have at it.

Softball is a revenue sport now. MSU fails at realizing that.

[Really Clark?]

I don't know a lot about the softball culture but it sounds to me like we probably need to at the very least hire an assistant that has a really high end reputation to recruit for us. If we want to go to the next level.

We do have one very named assistant in Ricketts...But we do have some issues on the recruiting trail at times. But it has to revolve around the HC. If the HC is not a good recruiter in softball, it doesn’t matter how good the assistants are

[Really Clark?]

Softball is a revenue sport now. MSU fails at realizing that.

Yep. Alabama’s softball brings in over $1 MIL and is almost as much as their baseball. There is no reason we can’t do better and make money as well

[Really Clark?]

That?s not the easy part and our budget has very little to do with our problems. I?m not even saying we should be on the level of AL or LSU or the top SEC handful. I?m saying we shouldn?t be bottom 3 every year anymore. OM, AR, SC all upgraded at HC. A&M is probably going to do the same. AU just went through a sex scandal and are able to not skip a beat. Softball is about recruiting connections. We?re taking 2nd and 3rd tier Thunderbolt players. We don?t pull many good transfers. We don?t have a Cali connection. We are,however, committed to mediocrity by hoping just to make the tournament to lose in round one.

USCe head coach has been there since 2010 and they are up and down. Had a great season last year but otherwise we finish right around each other in the bottom third of the standings. Back down this year as well. They have made 1 super regional. Not saying she hasn?t done a little better but honestly neither them or OM is who we need to be looking to matching. They along with us and MO and outside of a season or 2, TAM and Arkansas. Although Arkansas has been building better but they also had a long way to go as they were the worse program, no question. Consistently around .500, a super regional every other year or so and CWS every 4-5 years is the next level I would like to see us get to.

[Dawg2003]

Yep. Alabama’s softball brings in over $1 MIL and is almost as much as their baseball. There is no reason we can’t do better and make money as well

Wow, I had no idea. If we find the right coach, we could compete in the SEC and make a Super Regional.

[maroonmania]

Yep. Alabama’s softball brings in over $1 MIL and is almost as much as their baseball. There is no reason we can’t do better and make money as well

We don't even charge to go to games do we? How can that be a revenue sport other than maybe whatever the SEC gets for ESPN to broadcast some games?

[Really Clark?]

Wow, I had no idea. If we find the right coach, we could compete in the SEC and make a Super Regional.

Yeah and when I mean it’s close I mean softball generated $1.17 MIL vs baseball $1.18 MIL. Very close. Now to be fair you are talking one of the best softball programs in the country and it also took Murphy several years and Bama baseball is well...not very good. But I could see us generating very good revenue and making supers/occasional CWS. But it has to be the right coach, fit, AND they brand themselves and our program really well

[Really Clark?]

We don't even charge to go to games do we? How can that be a revenue sport other than maybe whatever the SEC gets for ESPN to broadcast some games?


Where did I say anything about us? I said Bama is making nearly as much as their baseball. And no we didn’t charge for games but there are deals with network and ESPN also. We could charge an admission and probably draw the same. Maybe even more, even USM didn’t drop attendance

[Really Clark?]

Since we are not getting killed so nobody has brought up that the rubber game is a pitching gem by both teams. 0-0 bottom of the 6th