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Post by sballalumni2 on May 13, 2024 11:50:45 GMT -6
Troy finishes with a current RPI of 52 and no bid to the NCAA tournament. I am seriously worried for this team next year. There is a class full of seniors leaving, including Libby Baker, who kind of went under the radar for the number of contributions she has made over the last 4 years. Newell has completed his second season and below are some thoughts:
The Good: -He scheduled a very weak out of conference schedule this year since he knew he was losing a generational pitcher, so the record isn't terrible. -He picked up a couple of JUCO kids that actually contributed some power (Brake and Boltz). They both need to cut down on Ks and up the average, but 21 HRs was much needed in this year's lineup, though it took him half the season to figure out that they needed to be the ones playing over his recruited HS kids. He adjusted though, so that means he can swallow the pride. -5 players batted above .300 (it has been a while since that happened). Only 2 coming back though. -Made it to the final four in the Sunbelt tournament. Libby Baker played out of her mind after being snubbed for conference honors. -The Money kid came on strong and gave some decent pitching performances in the last part of the year, so I think there is something to build on.
The Bad: -He inherited a team his first year with both Baker and Johnson, and honestly it might be the best pitching combo Troy will have, and he didn't properly utilize it. At some point he gave up on Baker pitching that year and Johnson was out of gas by the end of the season (after 4 years of a crazy number of innings). Troy would have made the NCAA tournament if he had Baker performing as she did this year. What a waste of talent. -Better get in the portal and find an ACE. -I heard that the "Mullins" recruits and the "Newell" recruits had some strife - not good - especially since these seniors are going to be missed more than I think they all realize.
The Outlook: -Help the players that aren't Division 1 and are never going to play find somewhere else to play. Tell them to get in the portal, call your coaching friends, and find them a spot. Troy has to get athletes that will match the conference leaders (UL, USA, and Texas State). -Find an ACE (on repeat) -Schedule games that will help RPI. I know that winning record is nice to have, but we have to find a way to get an at-large bid if we can't beat UL. -Find some more JUCO players that can already hit. You have two seasons of proof to look at - they can already hit in college. The panhandle conference is one of the best softball conferences and a lot of those kids are good enough they just didn't have parents that could put them in big time travel ball. -Recruit the kids of alumni - one is going to South AL and one is going to Virgina Tech.
Please respond with any additional insights.
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Post by cornhole on May 13, 2024 16:20:30 GMT -6
Troy finishes with a current RPI of 52 and no bid to the NCAA tournament. I am seriously worried for this team next year. There is a class full of seniors leaving, including Libby Baker, who kind of went under the radar for the number of contributions she has made over the last 4 years. Newell has completed his second season and below are some thoughts: The Good: -He scheduled a very weak out of conference schedule this year since he knew he was losing a generational pitcher, so the record isn't terrible. -He picked up a couple of JUCO kids that actually contributed some power (Brake and Boltz). They both need to cut down on Ks and up the average, but 21 HRs was much needed in this year's lineup, though it took him half the season to figure out that they needed to be the ones playing over his recruited HS kids. He adjusted though, so that means he can swallow the pride. -5 players batted above .300 (it has been a while since that happened). Only 2 coming back though. -Made it to the final four in the Sunbelt tournament. Libby Baker played out of her mind after being snubbed for conference honors. -The Money kid came on strong and gave some decent pitching performances in the last part of the year, so I think there is something to build on. The Bad: -He inherited a team his first year with both Baker and Johnson, and honestly it might be the best pitching combo Troy will have, and he didn't properly utilize it. At some point he gave up on Baker pitching that year and Johnson was out of gas by the end of the season (after 4 years of a crazy number of innings). Troy would have made the NCAA tournament if he had Baker performing as she did this year. What a waste of talent. -Better get in the portal and find an ACE. -I heard that the "Mullins" recruits and the "Newell" recruits had some strife - not good - especially since these seniors are going to be missed more than I think they all realize. The Outlook: -Help the players that aren't Division 1 and are never going to play find somewhere else to play. Tell them to get in the portal, call your coaching friends, and find them a spot. Troy has to get athletes that will match the conference leaders (UL, USA, and Texas State). -Find an ACE (on repeat) -Schedule games that will help RPI. I know that winning record is nice to have, but we have to find a way to get an at-large bid if we can't beat UL. -Find some more JUCO players that can already hit. You have two seasons of proof to look at - they can already hit in college. The panhandle conference is one of the best softball conferences and a lot of those kids are good enough they just didn't have parents that could put them in big time travel ball. -Recruit the kids of alumni - one is going to South AL and one is going to Virgina Tech. Please respond with any additional insights. Thanks for your in-depth, qualified analysis.
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Post by Trojan By Birth on May 14, 2024 6:31:40 GMT -6
Fantastic work.
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Post by cardinalblacktrojan on May 14, 2024 11:07:23 GMT -6
Great analysis.
I personally don't believe Troy is going to be able to compete for any at-large bids or even the SBC title until two things begin happening:
(1) recruit players from all over the country instead of just the southeast. Recruit at the national softball tournaments. Utilize the portal more.
(2) schedule tougher. Stop scheduling so many SWAC and NEC teams. We played 4 SWAC schools, and then played in the Madeira Beach tournament against 3 awful NEC schools. Those games kill the RPI, even if you win them all. There has to be a better way of scheduling, especially since Troy is consistently a Top 75 team that helps everyone's SOS. Many good programs are looking for those kind of games.
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Post by foulpolephenom on May 14, 2024 13:53:44 GMT -6
Great analysis. I personally don't believe Troy is going to be able to compete for any at-large bids or even the SBC title until two things begin happening: (1) recruit players from all over the country instead of just the southeast. Recruit at the national softball tournaments. Utilize the portal more. (2) schedule tougher. Stop scheduling so many SWAC and NEC teams. We played 4 SWAC schools, and then played in the Madeira Beach tournament against 3 awful NEC schools. Those games kill the RPI, even if you win them all. There has to be a better way of scheduling, especially since Troy is consistently a Top 75 team that helps everyone's SOS. Many good programs are looking for those kind of games. I'm just curious. Do know for a fact that the coaches aren't recruiting all over the country or at national softball tournaments? Or that they haven't tried the portal?
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Post by sballalumni2 on May 15, 2024 8:25:45 GMT -6
Great analysis. I personally don't believe Troy is going to be able to compete for any at-large bids or even the SBC title until two things begin happening: (1) recruit players from all over the country instead of just the southeast. Recruit at the national softball tournaments. Utilize the portal more. (2) schedule tougher. Stop scheduling so many SWAC and NEC teams. We played 4 SWAC schools, and then played in the Madeira Beach tournament against 3 awful NEC schools. Those games kill the RPI, even if you win them all. There has to be a better way of scheduling, especially since Troy is consistently a Top 75 team that helps everyone's SOS. Many good programs are looking for those kind of games. I would say that there might be a few national players that he could recruit to come in and help, but it is really hard to get those kids to come to Troy, AL. In this day and time of Facebook, Insta, etc, those kids rather sign with a P5 for books and know that they will never get to play. I would instead focus on finding kids that are in the southeast, but under the radar because they don't play on big name travel ball teams. Those kids will take some work to find, which is why I mentioned finding a few of the very top JUCO kids that are already proven to be hitters. He ended up with 21 HRS from two JUCO kids this year. The portal is great way to fill in some holes - I mean some of those kids that go P5 for books, now want to play, but usually the ones coming to Troy have a connection to the southeast. It will take a few years to get a team full of his recruits so let's see if he has a knack for spotting talent. I didn't mention much about the pitching situation, but honestly, we should have seen improvement in those kids if the pitching coach was effective. The only one that showed improvement was the Money kid. There was no one to put in the games when Libby wasn't pitching. Pittman was once recruited and offered by Florida, so at some point she had good stuff. I think the pitching coach might be in the last year of his contract.
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Post by trojan1906 on May 15, 2024 23:38:28 GMT -6
Main problem right now is Newell. He doesn’t have the reputation to recruit. You’ve got a team of athletes currently that have zero respect for him. The senior speeches were a telling factor on this. Not one of these seniors thanked him or Decker. They did thank Shelnutt and Johnson.
This was a huge hiring mistake for Troy softball that unfortunately we’ll have to ride out for 2 more seasons of his contract.
We’re losing a large group of talented seniors, a bunch have entered the portal this week and there may be more to come since he’s cutting scholarships for some of his starters.
The sad thing is we’re hosting the conference tournament next year and probably won’t even make it into the tournament with the way things are shaking out right now.
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Post by sballalumni2 on May 16, 2024 15:23:00 GMT -6
Main problem right now is Newell. He doesn’t have the reputation to recruit. You’ve got a team of athletes currently that have zero respect for him. The senior speeches were a telling factor on this. Not one of these seniors thanked him or Decker. They did thank Shelnutt and Johnson. This was a huge hiring mistake for Troy softball that unfortunately we’ll have to ride out for 2 more seasons of his contract. We’re losing a large group of talented seniors, a bunch have entered the portal this week and there may be more to come since he’s cutting scholarships for some of his starters. The sad thing is we’re hosting the conference tournament next year and probably won’t even make it into the tournament with the way things are shaking out right now. I am going to let him have two more years, and hopefully he will have a new pitching coach to see if he can make it to the top. There is zero chance that Troy is buying out his contract, so we should try to give him a chance to fully field his recruited team. I did hear that there were some issues with the Mullins vs Newell recruits, and it can be tough brining in a new culture right in the middle of your college career. I do think his best team was the first year, but we can't go back. I am fine with him rearranging scholarships to reward those that performed and helping the ones that will never play get in the portal. I believe most coaches will use their contacts to find them somewhere else to play where it is a better fit. I also heard that there was a good bit of partying going on with some of the Fr., so that might be why they had trouble cracking the lineup (though it would be tough with 5 starting seniors).
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Post by trojan1906 on May 16, 2024 16:25:52 GMT -6
Main problem right now is Newell. He doesn’t have the reputation to recruit. You’ve got a team of athletes currently that have zero respect for him. The senior speeches were a telling factor on this. Not one of these seniors thanked him or Decker. They did thank Shelnutt and Johnson. This was a huge hiring mistake for Troy softball that unfortunately we’ll have to ride out for 2 more seasons of his contract. We’re losing a large group of talented seniors, a bunch have entered the portal this week and there may be more to come since he’s cutting scholarships for some of his starters. The sad thing is we’re hosting the conference tournament next year and probably won’t even make it into the tournament with the way things are shaking out right now. I am going to let him have two more years, and hopefully he will have a new pitching coach to see if he can make it to the top. There is zero chance that Troy is buying out his contract, so we should try to give him a chance to fully field his recruited team. I did hear that there were some issues with the Mullins vs Newell recruits, and it can be tough brining in a new culture right in the middle of your college career. I do think his best team was the first year, but we can't go back. I am fine with him rearranging scholarships to reward those that performed and helping the ones that will never play get in the portal. I believe most coaches will use their contacts to find them somewhere else to play where it is a better fit. I also heard that there was a good bit of partying going on with some of the Fr., so that might be why they had trouble cracking the lineup (though it would be tough with 5 starting seniors).
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Post by trojan1906 on May 16, 2024 16:26:42 GMT -6
Main problem right now is Newell. He doesn’t have the reputation to recruit. You’ve got a team of athletes currently that have zero respect for him. The senior speeches were a telling factor on this. Not one of these seniors thanked him or Decker. They did thank Shelnutt and Johnson. This was a huge hiring mistake for Troy softball that unfortunately we’ll have to ride out for 2 more seasons of his contract. We’re losing a large group of talented seniors, a bunch have entered the portal this week and there may be more to come since he’s cutting scholarships for some of his starters. The sad thing is we’re hosting the conference tournament next year and probably won’t even make it into the tournament with the way things are shaking out right now. I am going to let him have two more years, and hopefully he will have a new pitching coach to see if he can make it to the top. There is zero chance that Troy is buying out his contract, so we should try to give him a chance to fully field his recruited team. I did hear that there were some issues with the Mullins vs Newell recruits, and it can be tough brining in a new culture right in the middle of your college career. I do think his best team was the first year, but we can't go back. I am fine with him rearranging scholarships to reward those that performed and helping the ones that will never play get in the portal. I believe most coaches will use their contacts to find them somewhere else to play where it is a better fit. I also heard that there was a good bit of partying going on with some of the Fr., so that might be why they had trouble cracking the lineup (though it would be tough with 5 starting seniors).
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Post by trojan1906 on May 16, 2024 16:33:17 GMT -6
They definitely aren’t going to buyout his contract. I can’t see Newell helping any of these players find new schools to play at. He just isn’t that kind of coach. Shelnutt will so hopefully they will have a chance. He’s going to have a tough 2 more years. Heard he has about 9 freshman coming in and 3 transfers. He’s losing those seniors and from what I’ve been told at least 4 have entered the portal with more expected to go in. There are also a few talking about seeing what the fall holds but I think it depends on who is there coaching next year. Decker should be gone. Hopefully Shelnutt will stay but if I was her I’d move on. Guess we’ll see next week what coaches are staying.
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Post by sting on May 16, 2024 20:40:24 GMT -6
They definitely aren’t going to buyout his contract. I can’t see Newell helping any of these players find new schools to play at. He just isn’t that kind of coach. Shelnutt will so hopefully they will have a chance. He’s going to have a tough 2 more years. Heard he has about 9 freshman coming in and 3 transfers. He’s losing those seniors and from what I’ve been told at least 4 have entered the portal with more expected to go in. There are also a few talking about seeing what the fall holds but I think it depends on who is there coaching next year. Decker should be gone. Hopefully Shelnutt will stay but if I was her I’d move on. Guess we’ll see next week what coaches are staying. Registered less than 24 hours ago … sounds like someone with an axe to grind.
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Post by cardinalblacktrojan on May 17, 2024 15:42:01 GMT -6
They definitely aren’t going to buyout his contract. I can’t see Newell helping any of these players find new schools to play at. He just isn’t that kind of coach. Shelnutt will so hopefully they will have a chance. He’s going to have a tough 2 more years. Heard he has about 9 freshman coming in and 3 transfers. He’s losing those seniors and from what I’ve been told at least 4 have entered the portal with more expected to go in. There are also a few talking about seeing what the fall holds but I think it depends on who is there coaching next year. Decker should be gone. Hopefully Shelnutt will stay but if I was her I’d move on. Guess we’ll see next week what coaches are staying. Registered less than 24 hours ago … sounds like someone with an axe to grind. Sounds like someone that may know more than the average Troy softball fan.
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Post by trojan1906 on May 17, 2024 16:09:27 GMT -6
Don’t have an axe to grind. Just been a supporter of the program since early Davis days and there is a lot of talk. Unhappy players and parents.
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Post by Hemi Man on May 18, 2024 9:45:15 GMT -6
Don’t have an axe to grind. Just been a supporter of the program since early Davis days and there is a lot of talk. Unhappy players and parents. Mommies and daddies mad about their kids not playing in college? Seriously?
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Post by fltrojan on May 18, 2024 18:08:26 GMT -6
Great analysis. I personally don't believe Troy is going to be able to compete for any at-large bids or even the SBC title until two things begin happening: (1) recruit players from all over the country instead of just the southeast. Recruit at the national softball tournaments. Utilize the portal more. (2) schedule tougher. Stop scheduling so many SWAC and NEC teams. We played 4 SWAC schools, and then played in the Madeira Beach tournament against 3 awful NEC schools. Those games kill the RPI, even if you win them all. There has to be a better way of scheduling, especially since Troy is consistently a Top 75 team that helps everyone's SOS. Many good programs are looking for those kind of games. I'm just curious. Do know for a fact that the coaches aren't recruiting all over the country or at national softball tournaments? Or that they haven't tried the portal? Roster tells you where they recruit. Do you see any players from anywhere except a 300-400 mile radius?
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Post by foulpolephenom on May 18, 2024 18:18:05 GMT -6
I'm just curious. Do know for a fact that the coaches aren't recruiting all over the country or at national softball tournaments? Or that they haven't tried the portal? Roster tells you where they recruit. Do you see any players from anywhere except a 300-400 mile radius? They tells you where they are committing from. You don’t know where they try. They could try all over the world but it’s not easiest to get these kids to Troy.
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Post by fltrojan on May 18, 2024 18:57:36 GMT -6
Roster tells you where they recruit. Do you see any players from anywhere except a 300-400 mile radius? They tells you where they are committing from. You don’t know where they try. They could try all over the world but it’s not easiest to get these kids to Troy. Arguably the greatest pitcher Troy ever had came from 30 hours by plane away and pitched for their Olympic team but we can't get a player from longer than a six hour drive. Got it
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Post by foulpolephenom on May 18, 2024 18:59:07 GMT -6
They tells you where they are committing from. You don’t know where they try. They could try all over the world but it’s not easiest to get these kids to Troy. Arguably the greatest pitcher Troy ever had came from 30 hours by plane away and pitched for their Olympic team but we can't get a player from longer than a six hour drive. Got it Greatest pitcher came from 30 minutes away
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Post by fltrojan on May 18, 2024 19:01:07 GMT -6
Arguably the greatest pitcher Troy ever had came from 30 hours by plane away and pitched for their Olympic team but we can't get a player from longer than a six hour drive. Got it Greatest pitcher came from 30 minutes away Opinions vary. She was very good but the Aussie girl was better in my opinion
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Post by sting on May 18, 2024 21:25:37 GMT -6
Leanna would pitch circles around her … competition level nowhere near the same.
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Post by fltrojan on May 19, 2024 6:14:00 GMT -6
Leanna would pitch circles around her … competition level nowhere near the same. Opinions vary
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Post by jess4troy on May 28, 2024 17:17:12 GMT -6
They definitely aren’t going to buyout his contract. I can’t see Newell helping any of these players find new schools to play at. He just isn’t that kind of coach. Shelnutt will so hopefully they will have a chance. He’s going to have a tough 2 more years. Heard he has about 9 freshman coming in and 3 transfers. He’s losing those seniors and from what I’ve been told at least 4 have entered the portal with more expected to go in. There are also a few talking about seeing what the fall holds but I think it depends on who is there coaching next year. Decker should be gone. Hopefully Shelnutt will stay but if I was her I’d move on. Guess we’ll see next week what coaches are staying. Making sure I didnt miss anything last week, was a coaching change supposed to have been announced?
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Post by jonesoxygen on Jun 5, 2024 7:04:52 GMT -6
I'm just curious. Do know for a fact that the coaches aren't recruiting all over the country or at national softball tournaments? Or that they haven't tried the portal? Roster tells you where they recruit. Do you see any players from anywhere except a 300-400 mile radius? According to Coach Newell's social media today, the staff is all over the country recruiting future Trojans. Once again, this message board is getting our coaches straightened out!
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Post by cornhole on Jun 5, 2024 15:56:37 GMT -6
Roster tells you where they recruit. Do you see any players from anywhere except a 300-400 mile radius? According to Coach Newell's social media today, the staff is all over the country recruiting future Trojans. Once again, this message board is getting our coaches straightened out! Facts matter. Thanks.
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