Softball hires Hall of Fame assistant coach

[ellitor 33,078]

3 hours ago, auburnphan said:

And as a recruiting junkie you know that Coaches have other means in which they go about it.

Yes but derecruiting recruits doesn't mean they are going to automatically decommit.

3 hours ago, auburnphan said:

Did the Myers even have any?

Yes a good number of them.

3 hours ago, auburnphan said:

Most of the Myers commits are no longer committed.

A good but there are still some signees from 2019 that committed to him plus girls from the classes of  20, 21, 22, & maybe even still 23 recruits that originally committed to him.

3 hours ago, auburnphan said:

The point here is prior commitments did nothing to slow him down in recruiting he had room to add players

Never said or implied it did. My point is who knows what commits to the old staff he honored & may still be honoring for future signings. He still could have recruited more girls but until the players who originally committed to Myers completely filter through the program then it will not completely be Dean's recruits til then.

3 hours ago, auburnphan said:

To be honest philosophy is what has slowed him down.   Clint Myers believed in a larger roster as he believed it spurred competition.  Dean wants a smaller roster.  It was his choice to lose as many players as we have and not replace with equal numbers.  We have lost 14 players since the end of last season I believe(I think 2 left between fall ball and the 2018 season as well) and we are adding 11(8 freshmen this yr).  Myers was rare in having that many on the roster, this is no fault of Dean's before somebody says it is bashing.

Fair assessment. I always thought it was crazy he only had rosters of 18-21 while at JMU.

 

[OlderWhiskey 953]

The University has finally posted its announcement re: Lenti.  More details about his career, plus a comment or two about hitting.  Link:  https://auburntigers.com/news/2019/6/14/softball-hall-of-famer-eugene-lenti-joins-auburn-coaching-staff.aspx?path=softball

[ellitor 33,078]

1 hour ago, OlderWhiskey said:

The University has finally posted its announcement re: Lenti.  More details about his career, plus a comment or two about hitting.  Link:  https://auburntigers.com/news/2019/6/14/softball-hall-of-famer-eugene-lenti-joins-auburn-coaching-staff.aspx?path=softball

 

Quote

 

Hall-of-Famer Eugene Lenti Joins Auburn Coaching Staff

AUBURN, Ala. – Eugene Lenti has been named an assistant coach for the Auburn softball program, head coach Mickey Dean announced Friday. Lenti was DePaul University's all-time winningest head coach spending 37 years at the school from 1980-87 and 1990-2018.

"I'm looking very forward to having him on staff," Dean said. "Eugene and I had an opportunity to coach together with the Chicago Bandits. I like his hitting philosophy and I like what he teaches. I'm real excited for our kids to be able to experience that.  Just to be able to bring in his experience as a coach. He's a Hall of Fame coach and it'll be nice to have him on the staff."

During his time at the helm of the Blue Demons, Lenti won 1,327 games, while being named part of the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year six times, C-USA Coach of the Year once, Mid-Continent Conference (The Summit League) Coach of the Year three times and North Star Conference Coach of the Year once. He was also named C-USA Women's Coach of the Decade in 2005 and C-USA Softball Coach of the Decade.

Additionally, Lenti was named the NFCA National Coach of the Year in 1999 after leading DePaul to a school-record 54 wins, reaching the Women's College World Series semifinals and finishing third in the NFCA/USA Today final top 25 poll. The following season, Lenti and his staff led the Blue Demons back to the WCWS after not allowing a run in regional contests against Michigan, Notre Dame and Central Michigan.

Lenti was inducted into the NFCA Coaches Hall of Fame in 2008.

"His resume speaks for itself," Dean said. "He's one of the winningest head coaches in all of Division I softball. He started and built a program that went to four World Series. I look forward to him joining us here."

Lenti led DePaul to 20 NCAA Tournament appearances, including trips to the WCWS in 1999, 2000, 2005 and 2007. He's coached 14 All-Americans, nine conference Player of the Year and 10 conference Pitcher of the Year accolades.

"Auburn has a great athletic history and you know when you're at Auburn you're going to get the support you need from the president on down to excel," Lenti said. "Coaching with Mickey again was really intriguing to me and was a big plus, so were the facilities and the warm weather I'm not used to having.

"I like to preach something that may sound simple, but you have to get a good pitch to hit and have a good thought process all the way around. To me, hitting is emotional, mental and physical, but you have to master the mental before you can master the physical because they all bleed into each other."

Prior to arriving at DePaul, Lenti was an English teacher and Chairman of the English Department at St. Francis DeSales High School.

Lenti and his wife, Kandace, have three daughters, Ali, Gena and Cate. Ali and Gena played softball at DePaul while all three graduated from the university.

 

 

[auburnphan 6,050]

1 hour ago, ellitor said:

Yes but derecruiting recruits doesn't mean they are going to automatically decommit.

Yes a good number of them.

A good but there are still some signees from 2019 that committed to him plus girls from the classes of  20, 21, 22, & maybe even still 23 recruits that originally committed to him.

Never said or implied it did. My point is who knows what commits to the old staff he honored & may still be honoring for future signings. He still could have recruited more girls but until the players who originally committed to Myers completely filter through the program then it will not completely be Dean's recruits til then.

Fair assessment. I always thought it was crazy he only had rosters of 18-21 while at JMU.

 

So you are telling me that Myers had a good number of 7th and 8th graders committed already but we can’t name any of them.  Those would be the girls committed as of Deans hire.   Stoud is often mentioned as one of the few seventh graders that committed before the new rule and she committed to Dean.

as far as 8th graders Dean got Jenna Nelson in November, Taylor Panell and Millie Roberts in January, Emma Rolfe in May, Skylar Elkins aug 17 no coach,   No ther commits to Myers

 

2021 class Riley McNemar to Dean in nov 17,  Abbey Smith June 18 to Dean,  Rylie Moody Jan 18 to Dean,  Jessie Blaine feb 2018 to Dean,  Aubrey Barnhart Myers 16 recommitted to Dean after meeting him,  she was the number 4 recruit nationally as of April 23 2018

i found all this information ina really long commit list put together in April 2018 by extra inning softball.  It proves that Dean has no commits he does not want in the 2021, 2022 or 2023 classes. So no 7th, 8th or 9th grade recruits when he became coach but one girl who committed with no coach Elkins who played for the USA elite team in 2018 so pretty sure he is happy with that.

 

EDIT.  I missed a 2021 commit who committed to Myers in 8th grade Keri Munn. She is an elite 100 player

[ellitor 33,078]

17 minutes ago, auburnphan said:

So you are telling me that Myers had a good number of 7th and 8th graders committed already but we can’t name any of them.

Not going to try to get the names. Not worth the time & energy given how softball sites make that info so hard to find now. Just remembered seeing AU commits going through 2022 & 2023 back when Myers was HC & goldpitch.com had a free sortable commit database they had been updating.

17 minutes ago, auburnphan said:

as far as 8th graders Dean got Jenna Nelson in November, Taylor Panell and Millie Roberts in January, Emma Rolfe in May, Skylar Elkins aug 17

2021 class Riley McNemar to Dean in nov 17,  Abbey Smith June 18 to Dean,  Rylie Moody Jan 18 to Dean,  Jessie Blaine feb 2018 to Dean,  Aubrey Barnhart Myers 16 recommitted to Dean after meeting him,  she was the number 4 recruit nationally as of April 23 2018 

If you are going to start posting commit dates please provide links or snip tool the the relevant parts of web pages. It would be greatly appreciated. I will happy to see proof that I am wrong.

 

[auburnphan 6,050]

 

https://extrainningsoftball.com/extra-elite-signing-verbal-list-2018-2024-recruits/

 

I googled their names.  It is just weird that you said there were many but not one is on one of the more respected sites nationally.  I can admit when I am wrong.

30 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Not going to try to get the names. Not worth the time & energy given how softball sites make that info so hard to find now. Just remembered seeing AU commits going through 2022 & 2023 back when Myers was HC & goldpitch.com had a free sortable commit database they had been updating.

If you are going to start posting commit dates please provide links or snip tool the the relevant parts of web pages. It would be greatly appreciated.

 

[auburnphan 6,050]

Basically it shows that Dean did good work and any commits that were still there 9 months after that he was able to keep are top players.He did a great job keeping them.  But it also shows that he is not signing girls he doesn’t want.  This research has made me more confident in what Dean is doing.

[ellitor 33,078]

5 minutes ago, auburnphan said:

Basically it shows that Dean did good work and any commits that were still there 9 months after that he was able to keep are top players.He did a great job keeping them.  But it also shows that he is not signing girls he doesn’t want.  This research has made me more confident in what Dean is doing.

We'll have to agree to disagree in part. I still say girls like Barnhart who committed to Myers are Myers holdovers & doesn't necessarily mean they are the ones Dean wanted the most.

47 minutes ago, auburnphan said:

So no 7th, 8th or 9th grade recruits when he became coach

2020 Claire Davidson committed to AU in September 2016 per her twitter. The start of her freshman year in HS. Before Dean was hired.

1 hour ago, auburnphan said:

Elkins aug 17

Found a FB post where she was referenced as an AU commit the day after Dean was hired in 2017. 99% chance she had already committed to Myers & that timeline means she would have been a 6th or 7th grade commit to Myers.

1 hour ago, auburnphan said:

Rylie Moody Jan 18 to Dean

Where did you find that date? The earliest I saw on her was a Feb 2018 FloSoftball article where she was already committed. 2020 commit Denver Bryant was in the article as well as an already commit & may have originally committed to Myers.

Quote

So you are telling me that Myers had a good number of 7th and 8th graders committed already

It been implied through the post already but 2019 & 2020 classes needed to be looked at also since we were talking commits & signees from the beginning of the discussion. With that in mind there was a flosoftball.com article from Sept. 2015 with 2019 IF Maddy Koepke as an already commit to AU which means she was already committed to Myers no latter than 8th grade but more likely 7th grade. 2020 P Shelby Lowe committed to AU as a freshman. For her that's Fall 2016-Spring 2017 academically. Dean was hired in the Fall of 2017. 2020 IF/OF Carlee McCondichie committed to Myers as a freshman. 2019 OF Maddie Major committed as a freshman to Myers the same weekend.

2 hours ago, auburnphan said:

Abbey Smith June 18 to Dean

Originally to Myers, Article said she committed her 8th grade year. For her academically that's Fall 2016-Spring 2017. Dean was hired in the Fall of 2017.

2 hours ago, auburnphan said:

as far as 8th graders Dean got

& Rose Roach

Observations
Awesome job by Dean landing 2020 big time 2020 P Maddie Penta 3 weeks after getting hired by AU. Also looks like the 2021 & 2022 recruits coming in look strong if the list holds.
FWIW the Extra Innings list from last April is not entirely accurate. It still has us with 2019 C Macy Simmons who flipped to Zona St. & 2020 Haley Pittman who flipped to Florida.
Lastly after digging I'm more convinced the girl from Softball America was at least pushing a narrative to an extent in her interview given how the 2020 & 2021 talent looks.

[The Freak 2,526]

Did Myers keep everyone committed to Deese?

[ellitor 33,078]

13 minutes ago, The Freak said:

Did Myers keep everyone committed to Deese?

Really hard to look for that info. I spent 3-4 hours on research last night. I ain't doing it again.

[slot canyon 1,332]

59 minutes ago, The Freak said:

Did Myers keep everyone committed to Deese?

 

45 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Really hard to look for that info. I spent 3-4 hours on research last night. I ain't doing it again.

Not able to provide a thoroughly researched answer as to time involved as stated by ellitor.  However, Myers hired June 2013 after that season completed.  His 2014 rooster contained 6 freshman players:  Maddie Gipson, Kasey Cooper, Victoria Draper, Jenna Abbott, Sydney Waldrop, and Ashley Leon.  I know for certain Cooper was a lightly recruited commit to Deese and would suspect that the others were Deese commits.  (suspect = did not do research)  Looking at headlines from the AU softball news headlines did not see any references to Myers bringing in new players that first season.  Players like Morgan Estell, Emily Carosone,  Marcy Harper, Lexi Davis were in their 2nd year.  Maybe that helps.

[slot canyon 1,332]

From post by auburnphan on 6/14/2019

"Dean did not have many recruits the last 2 years with the first year being totally understood.  There was attrition last year and we added one transfer.  We got 2 freshman catchers on the roster.    

The point here is prior commitments did nothing to slow him down in recruiting he had room to add players.

To be honest philosophy is what has slowed him down.   Clint Myers believed in a larger roster as he believed it spurred competition.  Dean wants a smaller roster.  It was his choice to lose as many players as we have and not replace with equal numbers.  We have lost 14 players since the end of last season I believe(I think 2 left between fall ball and the 2018 season as well) and we are adding 11(8 freshmen this yr).  Myers was rare in having that many on the roster, this is no fault of Dean's before somebody says it is bashing.

I'm all for Dean getting his players and see what happens, so is Greene or he wouldn't be allowing him to hire another coach you would think"

 

We have discussed some of this in the past but for "fun" I looked up some random roster numbers from some teams this year.  Oklahoma 21, UCLA 23, Arizona 22, Florida 24, Alabama 19,  Auburn 19,  Georgia 24.  Myers teams from 2015 and 2016 both listed 30 on the roster.  We seem to be on the low end of teams I listed.   If you carried 4 pitchers on staff and 8 position starters and at least 1 extra catcher with lets say a 20 player roster then you better have 7 players who are ready at more than one position.  Lenti appears to have had teams at the lower end of roster numbers.  

 

 

[4WDE 89]

7 hours ago, The Freak said:

Did Myers keep everyone committed to Deese?

In general, most new coaches honor the commits for the next 2 incoming years.  After that for the next classes, they start to select who is the best fit (or who they want).

[ellitor 33,078]

3 hours ago, 4WDE said:

In general, most new coaches honor the commits for the next 2 incoming years.  After that for the next classes, they start to select who is the best fit (or who they want).

This info would have helped earlier. Thanks @4WDE! (No sarcasm. I promise) I have a feeling you are a parent or part of the program somehow.

[4WDE 89]

12 hours ago, ellitor said:

This info would have helped earlier. Thanks @4WDE! (No sarcasm. I promise) I have a feeling you are a parent or part of the program somehow.

Nope. Just been in college athletics for quite a while.

[steeleagle 2,945]

16 hours ago, 4WDE said:

In general, most new coaches honor the commits for the next 2 incoming years.  After that for the next classes, they start to select who is the best fit (or who they want).

That makes sense too as the new coach, especially coming from a different part of the country is not going to have the same recruiting area or impact until he has time to establish his program with his new team.

It's smart for a new coach to accept those commits (especially if they are top level players) for 2 years, so he can keep his new team competitive. 

[ellitor 33,078]

2 hours ago, 4WDE said:

Nope. Just been in college athletics for quite a while.

Good to know & thanks again.

[slot canyon 1,332]

May be of interest to some.  This was a post on a site Midwest Fastpitch.  The poster in this case is Bill Conroy who was founder and coached the Beverly Bandits and I believe now is in a high position with Premier Girls Fastpitch the sanctioning body of travel ball. There is also some continuation of talk about Coach Dean and Eddie Ketelhut.

 

• Re: Eugene Lenti

   

  Posted by Bill Conroy on June 7, 2019, 4:55 am, in reply to "Re: Eugene Lenti"

   

  @Just Saying - I agree with all of your comments.  I will add that I realize that Eugene has his share of detractors, mainly because of his style of coaching, which is loud, and laced with sarcasm. His departing DePaul was unfitting a Hall of Fame coach that had taken a team from the inner city to the WCWS five times. I'm certainly not defending the action of what took place, look up, look down, flipping of the nose, which ultimately was his demise. I'm not sure the punishment fit the crime but that's not up to me.  I will say, I hired Eugene and Mickey when I started the Chicago Bandits, the players loved both coaches and we had a league best 41-7 record. I have sent many players to DePaul over the years and they all loved playing for him. I also can name plenty of former Bandit players and current college coaches, such as Tracie Adix, Yvette Healy, Liz Bouck, Kirsten Verdun and many others that were and still are big advocates for Eugene. I can only wish that I had the same level of support from my former players.  As far as the comments regarding Mickeys duration, not sure the poster is aware of the length of the contract or the guarantees included. Rest assured, Coach Dean is just starting his journey with his first true recruiting class coming in next year. Finished the year making the top 25 once again, with his top pitcher being injured in first SEC game and his top recruit, going to another school and subsequently now in the portal.  I understand that today, everyone wants instant results but it takes time to build things the way you want and never a certainty that you'll get to the top of the mountain. It took the Beverly Bandits 3 years to win their first national championship in 2002, not sure that in todays world, I would of been given enough time to put the pieces together to complete the mission.  Eddy is a terrific coach and I can never give him enough credit for managing a group of great players and winning a PGF National Championship. I realize he might of had the most talented group of athletes that have ever won a national championship for the Bandits but that's what made it so difficult. It's incredibly challenging to manage a group of players and parents that all believe they're all Chiefs and no Indians. I could never do it and I tip my hat to him and anyone else that can. As good of a coach as Eddy is, he's an even better husband, father and family man and needed to get back home with his wife and kids.

[wmsau 63]

Mr. Bill Conroy just cleared up so many things that each of the AU supporters need to wrap their head around and support this staff and team. It hurts AU more than anything the staff and team is doing.

[saminbama 740]

On 7/8/2019 at 5:04 PM, slot canyon said:

May be of interest to some.  This was a post on a site Midwest Fastpitch.  The poster in this case is Bill Conroy who was founder and coached the Beverly Bandits and I believe now is in a high position with Premier Girls Fastpitch the sanctioning body of travel ball. There is also some continuation of talk about Coach Dean and Eddie Ketelhut.

Thanks Slot.  As usual, spot on info.

[slot canyon 1,332]

I would suspect that any open head coaching positions would likely become available prior to fall ball which is not far off.  We know from another topic on this forum that the HC at Mississippi State is available.  We also know we lost a valued assistant prior to season start a couple of years ago.  I do not know how contracts are structured for assistant SB coaches but an assistant coach with good credentials and long term record of success as prior HC could be vulnerable.  When someone is willing to essentially double your salary (I have not seen any figures for our assistants) you likely listen.  He is in his early 50's.  I know he and CMD coached together in the past so that may be a positive in AU's favor.  I have not seen his name mentioned for the State job nor try to start any type of rumor; I just see him as an attractive candidate (if he so desires) for a lot of schools.

[ellitor 33,078]

2 hours ago, slot canyon said:

I would suspect that any open head coaching positions would likely become available prior to fall ball which is not far off.  We know from another topic on this forum that the HC at Mississippi State is available.  We also know we lost a valued assistant prior to season start a couple of years ago.  I do not know how contracts are structured for assistant SB coaches but an assistant coach with good credentials and long term record of success as prior HC could be vulnerable.  When someone is willing to essentially double your salary (I have not seen any figures for our assistants) you likely listen.  He is in his early 50's.  I know he and CMD coached together in the past so that may be a positive in AU's favor.  I have not seen his name mentioned for the State job nor try to start any type of rumor; I just see him as an attractive candidate (if he so desires) for a lot of schools.

 Honestly I wouldn’t even worry about it unless we hear his name pop up.

[slot canyon 1,332]

Eugene Lenti interview: