Softball

Side Show Joe · June 13, 2018

Not an attention grabbing hire. And, certainly not the hire I would have made, but he will be the coach. I wish him the best and hope he can turn North Texas into a nation power softball program within the next few seasons. Because that is what I wanted in this hire.

Edited June 13, 2018 by Side Show Joe

Salsa_Verde · June 13, 2018

He’s a younger guy and will bring in new energy and excitement into the program. After Kee it’s exactly what the players need.

GrandGreen · June 13, 2018

t Looks like a good hire to me. Those who think NT is going to spend top dollar for a softball coach are disappointed, but there is no guarantee those P5 top assistants are going to be any better than this hire. The Angelo State coach also looked good, but being married to head assistant coach might have been problematic. Austin Peay is also a D1 school compared to Lone Star conference Angelo State.

Edited June 13, 2018 by GrandGreen

FirefightnRick · June 13, 2018

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Looks like a dude that does not stomach losing.

Rick

Edited June 13, 2018 by FirefightnRick

DentonLurker · June 14, 2018

Another man coaching a women’s team at UNT? He could very well be the best hire, but we have what? Two women in head coaching positions?

FirefightnRick · June 14, 2018

10 hours ago, DentonLurker said:

Another man coaching a women’s team at UNT? He could very well be the best hire, but we have what? Two women in head coaching positions?

...and your point is?

Rick

meangreenJW · June 14, 2018

20 hours ago, Side Show Joe said:

Not an attention grabbing hire. And, certainly not the hire I would have made, but he will be the coach. I wish him the best and hope he can turn North Texas into a nation power softball program within the next few seasons. Because that is what I wanted in this hire.

We differ here. With OU assistants making triple what our previous HC made, it would have taken drastic resources to even have a chance at an OU assistant. And while I want us to be good in everything, spending that kind of money on one non-revenue sport doesn't make good business sense to me. I understand a differing opinion, but that's mine understanding we may be trying to keep a football coach in December getting offers from Texas Tech and Kansas and we have limited resources.

meangreenJW · June 14, 2018

23 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

...and your point is?

Rick

I'm with you. I'm middle of the road politically probably leaning left. Certainly in the minority in Texas. But I despise the ole hire a female to coach females stuff. I have 3 daughters. Two played sports and they never cared about the gender of their coach. Never came up one time. What I want is the best coach available who will teach kids about sports and life at my alma mater. If there's a tie, hire a female. Otherwise hire the best coach.

Side Show Joe · June 15, 2018

11 hours ago, meangreenJW said:

We differ here. With OU assistants making triple what our previous HC made, it would have taken drastic resources to even have a chance at an OU assistant. And while I want us to be good in everything, spending that kind of money on one non-revenue sport doesn't make good business sense to me. I understand a differing opinion, but that's mine understanding we may be trying to keep a football coach in December getting offers from Texas Tech and Kansas and we have limited resources.

I respect your opinion, and if it were a different non-revenue sport, I would totally agree. But, I believe softball is an emerging sport, and will one day soon be the top women's college sport. I believe it is important for North Texas to place our program among the best, before coaching salaries reach levels that would make it harder to catch up. I believe DeLong has been a good coach everywhere he has been, and he might get us where I want us to be. I just wanted to get a known talent that had a national name among the best high school players in the country. Yes, it would have been more expensive to hire Lombardi, but in the long run, I believe it would have paid off. Having said that DeLong could have great success. I certainly hope he does.

Salsa_Verde · June 15, 2018

18 hours ago, Side Show Joe said:

I believe softball is an emerging sport, and will one day soon be the top women's college sport.

I think softball is already the leading women’s sport. The WCWS brings in more viewers than baseball. It has way more parity than women’s basketball and the money being spent on facilities Is impressive. Texas A&M just opened a new 40 million dollar stadium I believe.

outoftown · June 24, 2018

Two thoughts ( a bit belated):

a) Another Oklahoma man. We haven't done badly with them, but I am starting to worry that the AD may be overvaluing that upbringing. Not every Oklahoma coach is a Seth Litrell.

b) In a good way this reminds me of the MacCasslandhire, seeing as Baker has gone for yet another guy who was a D1 head coach for only one season, but showed real competence during that season.

UNTLifer · June 26, 2018

On 6/23/2018 at 8:27 PM, outoftown said:

a) Another Oklahoma man. We haven't done badly with them, but I am starting to worry that the AD may be overvaluing that upbringing. Not every Oklahoma coach is a Seth Litrell.

Outside of Littrell, who was hired prior to Baker's arrival, what other coach has he hired with an Oklahoma background?

gangrene · June 27, 2018

On 6/15/2018 at 4:14 PM, Salsa_Verde said:

I think softball is already the leading women’s sport. The WCWS brings in more viewers than baseball. It has way more parity than women’s basketball and the money being spent on facilities Is impressive. Texas A&M just opened a new 40 million dollar stadium I believe.

Not sure if it's #1 yet, but definitely getting close.

As a parent of two softball players, I may be a tad biased (or at least overly exposed), but it does certainly seem like the popularity has been growing over the last several years. Between the ESPN networks (including LHN and SEC) the TV coverage is not lacking. During the regular season, it wasn’t hard to find multiple live broadcasts of top 25 teams.

We played in a 12U tournament in OKC the weekend of the WCWS tournament. Tournament entry was supposed to include a block of WCWS tickets for teams to purchase, but was already sold out. So, we had to fork out $100+ per seat to sit in the outfield. It was hot but it was a fun environment and I didn’t have the slightest hint of buyer’s remorse.

GrayEagle · July 25, 2018

Man, let's not knock the influx of Okies. Wren Baker is an Okie. So is Seth Littrell. That's the Top 2 athletic positions IMO. Our offensive line coach, Chuck Langston, played at Oklahoma.

There are six from Oklahoma on the current football squad including one of the best quarterbacks in the nation (Mason Fine). Bussey is one of our top receivers. There was an all Oklahoma kicking team in Moore and Shanbour last year who were among the nation's best. Ashton Preston was a starting nickel back.

We have commitments for 2019 from two 3-star recruits who played in Oklahoma, quarterback Will Kuehne and defensive lineman Domeco Roland.

It pretty much started with former national rushing leader Patrick Cobbs, who is still a great spokesman for North Texas.

If we can keep getting talent like the above from Oklahoma I wouldn't mind if they changed our name to Texhoma University. (I'm not serious but let me think about it).

Edited July 25, 2018 by GrayEagle