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Chris Del Conte's first major coaching change..?

Discussion during WCWS finals about Heather Tarr, the Washington head coach, who apparently was an unconventional hire initially, without much experience, and a former player...it's turned out well for them. They've been good almost every year for the past 12 years, including a National Championship in 2009 and now they're fighting for another one. Precedent for hiring Cat and letting her build a dynasty?
I understand the hesitancy to do so, but, I would love for that to happen.
 
Discussion during WCWS finals about Heather Tarr, the Washington head coach, who apparently was an unconventional hire initially, without much experience, and a former player...it's turned out well for them. They've been good almost every year for the past 12 years, including a National Championship in 2009 and now they're fighting for another one. Precedent for hiring Cat and letting her build a dynasty?
Yeah and I mean there is prescient for it in other sports as well Chip Kelly, Garry Patterson, Bob Stoops, Bill Snyder. None of those guys were well known championship coaches when they got their jobs. Look at Kirby Smart with UGA. I don’t think programs give assistants enough of a look.
 
Doesn't look like Tim Walton is leaving Florida. He just signed a 10 year extension with the Gators. Probably had something to do with us poking around.
 
Doesn't look like Tim Walton is leaving Florida. He just signed a 10 year extension with the Gators. Probably had something to do with us poking around.
Yep. That’s usually how coaches get extensions lol. Looks like Del Conte is shooting for the fences.
 
Doesn't look like Tim Walton is leaving Florida. He just signed a 10 year extension with the Gators. Probably had something to do with us poking around.
During WCWS he was interviewed about it and he said "I haven't thought about going there or talked to anyone about it, BUT that position will be a game-changer as far as softball coaches nationwide" implying the implications of building a program and salary precedent. He played it smart, got to stay, and probably got more $. I wonder where CDC will turn and when we will hear. We are losing ground as far as preparing for next year and getting commitments from future players. The longer we have no coach, the more we will fall into irrelevancy. But I've heard nothing from any sources about this. CDC seems focused on other issues. The ASU or FSU softball coaches would be good gets, but with Walton out, I think taking a gamble on Cat makes the most sense. It would be sad, ten years from now, for her to be taking Oklahoma State to the WCWS and us wondering what happened.
 
Yeah. I think if you can’t get a big time coach soon. Cat would be the best option. She’d rally the alumni and base. She’d be a hit in state as well.
 
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Yeah. I think if you can’t get a big time coach soon. Cat would be the best option. She’d rally the alumni and base. She’d be a hit in state as well.
She would be a hit with anyone who knows anything about softball. Getting an Alum, who happens to be one of the most decorated softball players of all time, back on campus would be huge. It would be tough for any good pitcher in the country to turn down an offer from Texas with Cat running the show.

I don't see FSU's coach leaving FSU. You typically don't leave a program that you just won a NC at to go rebuild a program. I could see the ASU coach wanting to get out. The Big 12 is less of a gauntlet when it comes to conference schedule than the Pac 12. You have to go through OU, but that is really about it on a yearly basis.
 
I'm not understanding the football comment. Will we lose some this year? Sure. I think 7-8 wins this season is doable with a bowl win. Now Shaka Smart.... He is a disaster. I see no reason for optimism here.

I don’t think people understand how bad a coach is Shaka Smart. The half court offense is an abomination. If we face any team who can slow a ball screen at the top of the key, our lone hope is guys throwing in desperation three point shots at end of the shot clock.

Then you need to figure in that ALL of Smart’s top recruits came out of his work with the U18 USA team in 2016- a gig that he won’t see again in this lifetime.

Basically Smart has survived this long due to his contract, and the fact that at Texas there are about 14 people who follow hoops. With Roach and Coleman, we likely win 21 games and lose another NCAA round one game. We are literally just watching wheels spin and waiting for years left on that contract to be spent.
 
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I don’t think people understand how bad a coach is Shaka Smart. The half court offense is an abomination. If we face any team who can slow a ball screen at the top of the key, our lone hope is guys throwing in desperation three point shots at end of the shot clock.

Then you need to figure in that ALL of Smart’s top recruits came out of his work with the U18 USA team in 2016- a gig that he won’t see again in this lifetime.

Basically Smart has survived this long due to his contract, and the fact that at Texas there are about 14 people who follow hoops. With Roach and Coleman, we likely win 21 games and lose another NCAA round one game. We are literally just watching wheels spin and waiting for years left on that contract to be spent.
This couldn’t be more wrong
 
Looks like CDC has spent considerable efforts on hiring a new Track & Field coach, announced today. Perhaps he will be able to focus now on hiring the new softball coach. A lot going on with preparing for football, building the new baseball facility, baseball in Omaha, etc..
 
CDC did an outstanding job of cleaning house with the track program and getting Edrick Floreal. That was a home run hire. It needed to be, and it was. A+ grade for CDC's first hire in Austin.
 
CDC did an outstanding job of cleaning house with the track program and getting Edrick Floreal. That was a home run hire. It needed to be, and it was. A+ grade for CDC's first hire in Austin.
I wasn't familiar with what all was going on with the track program, but in reading about this hire there seemed to have been a lot of controversy with Plonsky and 2 different coaches? If you know the details, I would love a summary of what went down. Not that familiar with track or with this new coach, but responses I've seen appear to be mostly positive
 
Plonsky didn't like the men's track coach and wanted the women's coach to take over the whole program (though Plonsky didn't have the authority to make that happen). This was while Perrin was still the interim AD. CDC came in, quickly sized up the total dysfunction and got rid of all of them, and today hired Floreal to run the entire track program (men's and women's), as Floreal did at Kentucky. Excellent move all the way around, and fortunately Plonsky has been demoted and is no longer a co-AD who can contaminate our athletics programs like she had been.
 
Looks like CDC has found his man Mike white Oregon head coach will be the new UT softball coach. Based solely on resume it’s a damn impressive get
 
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Looks like CDC has found his man Mike white Oregon head coach will be the new UT softball coach. Based solely on resume it’s a damn impressive get
I was on my way to post about this as well. This is a great hire, assuming that he can keep his west coast ties and cultivate the fertile ground that is the state of Texas. Wonder if he would bring Kat on as pitching coach to help with the state of Texas.
 
I was on my way to post about this as well. This is a great hire, assuming that he can keep his west coast ties and cultivate the fertile ground that is the state of Texas. Wonder if he would bring Kat on as pitching coach to help with the state of Texas.
Bringing cat in would be a really smart first step by him, and a good career move for her assuming her ultimate goal is to be a head coach
 
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https://texassports.com/news/2018/6/25/mike-white-named-head-softball-coach-at-texas.aspx

https://www.hookem.com/2018/06/25/texas-to-hire-oregon-mike-white-to-coach-its-softball-team/

White making $250k a year at Oregon
Patti Gasso at OU making $925k a year
Connie Clark was making $200k this past season
Apparently White's new deal with UT is second-highest annually in the nation

http://www.registerguard.com/sports...oftball-coach-mike-white-is-leaving-for-texas

"It came down to the ability to get some financial security for my family," White said in a phone interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive. "An opportunity like this comes along once in 10, 15, 20 years. I think it's a good time, it's a good fit and I'm looking forward to the challenge ahead of me."

In nine seasons under White, Oregon compiled a 435-111-1 record and never lost in the NCAA tournament's regional round en route to nine consecutive super regional appearances. The Ducks also earned a No. 1 ranking for the first time in 2014 and twice were named the top overall seed in an NCAA tournament. Behind a program record-tying four All-Americans, UO was 53-10 in 2018.

Texas first contacted him less than a week ago, White said, after it had wrapped its hiring of a track and field coach. From there, he said he was sold on the Longhorns' financial commitment to softball, including a player development center that will break ground next summer and be "eye-catching" when it opens, White said

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2018/06/mike_white_leaving_oregon_duck.html
 
Bringing cat in would be a really smart first step by him, and a good career move for her assuming her ultimate goal is to be a head coach
His top assistant at Oregon was just hired away a few days ago to be a head coach. Probably added to his willingness for a fresh start. He will need to do some staff rebuilding regardless. It would be wonderful for him to hire Cat as Assistant Head Coach. The only issue I can see is that Mike himself is a pitcher, and so is Cat, (as was Connie), so for complementary's sake he would probably want his top assistant to be an offensive or defensive expert, not another pitching expert. I guess we will see shortly
 
Early schedule is. Yours is tough based on mainly USC and OU. Do you really believe OU will be what they were the last few years with Mayfield? And as I said, USC is breaking in a new QB, as is most everyone on your schedule. No way is it more difficult. just common sense.
 
Home run hire for you guys.........

He will only hire Kat if he wants the PR. He is one of the elite pitching coaches in the country but a hitting coach and a recruiter would likely be his big hires.....
 
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Home run hire for you guys.........

He will only hire Kat if he wants the PR. He is one of the elite pitching coaches in the country but a hitting coach and a recruiter would likely be his big hires.....
I agree with you about the pitching, but for recruiting you couldn't find a better fit than Cat. She would reign in the Texas girls and the pitchers like a hurricane
 
I know many of you guys probably don't follow softball during football season but when CDC made the hire of Mike White from Oregon, I don't think he had any idea (or maybe he did) that Mike would inadvertently bring two absolute studs with him. 1st, Miranda Elish who was a 2nd team AA last year. In her two years at Oregon, she went 37-2 with a 1.42 ERA.
2nd, Lauren Burke who was on the 1st team PAC 12 Freshman team. She hit .352. There could be a couple other ducks who fly south for warmer weather. Oregon has lost 5 players off of last year's team due to transfer
 
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