Big Fat Barner

Bri Ellis transferring to Arkansas and then getting eliminated before Auburn is objectively, f*****g hilarious

14 hours ago, arktiger1975 said:

I sure hope so! No time for a retread, or an internal promotion here. I've always thought it was foolish to promote from within when the program was failing, regardless of the sport. We need a complete reboot.

100%. And John Cohen did it at Mississippi State with Ricketts. So, pretty much assuming he’s gonna do it here as well. I don’t think he cares about softball. 

55 minutes ago, RedDirtFan said:

The war chest I was informed of eclipses what Dean makes and gets into the Mike White stratosphere. It will be somebody proven, likely coaches in OKC every year...No promos from within. This is a 2-way street...We have to pursue and they have to be willing to leave a program that they've molded into a successful, perennial competitor nationally, including their incoming recruits. NLIs can be broken, existing players can be excused unofficially (ref Trisha Ford and Mike White) to make room for players/recruits from their previous programs. This is about to be very exciting for the fan base, but brutal on the players that stick around. 

I hope you’re right, but I’m almost certain Cohen will do the lazy thing and promote Carosone. Some of the players that are around now seem to not care at all, I would most definitely not be opposed to fueling up on transfers, but I do hope some of the players are offered a chance to return. Amelia, Icess, Anna, Widra, KK and Nelia have the potential to be a great senior class, they just need to want to win. Just want to be good again!!!

On 5/6/2024 at 12:34 PM, autigeremt said:

Butch deserves a shot at redemption. End of story. 

Gene Chizik won a national championship and didn’t get a shot at redemption. Why should Butch? Never finished higher than 3rd in the west. 

11 minutes ago, Mikey said:

We're going to need some help, particularly in the pitching staff and we will need to somehow replace the good hitters that left in the past off-season. Dean should have been removed at least one year sooner.

Dean should’ve been let go the year we were eliminated by UCF and Kennesaw State. I really hope Cohen doesn’t promote Carosone, but I’m like 90% sure he is going too. I think we need to revisit Steve Singleton, the hitting coach from Texas. They’re having an unbelievable season, pretty much everyone has taken a step up from last year. 

On 5/10/2024 at 1:28 PM, Jad0003 said:

Assuming no transfers, we will return everyone in the field except for Packer. I think all of our players have the potential to breakout depending on our next coaching hire. We also have two strong freshman batters coming into the program in Annalea Adams and Jolie Adams. 

The question mark will definitely be in the circle. We will need Widra, Rolfe, Tamborra, and Godfrey to take a step forward next year. It seems a pitch by committee approach will be needed unless we get an ace transfer. 

I wonder if Abbey Smith, Riley McNemar and the others that graduated early are going to transfer. We need transfers. I hope we have some hit the portal. Not saying they don’t have the potential but the portal will have so many better options. 

KK McCrary announced on TikTok that she would be coming back for her 5th year. 

1 hour ago, Mikey said:

Bammer 2, AU 0, 11 innings. If we need a scapegoat I nominate whoever was coaching 1st base for Auburn in the bottom of the 7th. We should have had a leadoff double and instead we get the batter out at 1st. No way this one was on the runner.

I’m convinced Coach Sparks is a professional clapper. Yesterday, Anna Wohlers was nearly thrown out after getting a single and the camera closed in on her and Sparks laughing and smiling about it. That’s a poor coaching moment if I’ve seen one. And now tonight, that happens. 

Did anybody else notice Emily Carasone coaching outside of the dugout today? She has been in the dugout all season long until tonight. 

6 hours ago, AuScuba said:

He did not inherit a talented team, and there was little talent incoming.  He had talent pitchers.  But Myers did not leave him with the talent base that Myers inherited.

Casey McCrackin, Kendall Veach, Alyssa Rivera, Courtney Shea, Victoria Draper, Carmyn Greenwood, Taylon Snow, Tannon Snow. 
 

that’s a talented team in my opinion. Throw in Makayla Martin and Kaylee Carlson in the circle and you have a team that probably should’nt get eliminated by Jacksonville State in a regional. 

7 hours ago, warladytigers said:

He has been at numerous games.  He's a baseball guy - I believe he understands the importance of softball and knows how to evaluate the needs of the program.

He’s a baseball guy. I know he likes to sit down by the home bullpen…still haven’t seen him but like once or twice (and I’ve been to a ton of SB games). I’ve been to a few baseball games and have seen him in the HOF club every game. We’ll see how much he cares about softball based on the head coaching hire. If it was baseball, I’m almost certain Cohen wouldn’t mind dropping a bag to get a good HC, so we’ll just see. 

8 hours ago, Jad0003 said:

three names that have come up as possibilities, (likely  not complete)

1. Melyssa Lombardi (Oregon Head Coach)

2. Chris Malveaux (Tennessee Hitting Coach)

3. Clarisa Crowell (Penn State Head Coach)

In my opinion, the first candidates you reach out to are Kenny Gajewski at Ok St. or Marissa Young at Duke. They are the top two coaches who many seem to think there is a chance they’ll leave their current schools at some point.

If they say no, I look at D’Amour, Glasco, and Lombardi. D’Amour has some questions to answer about his time at Missouri, but he’s run clean programs at Kennesaw and Va Tech. His teams hit really well, and he’s been to two super regionals. Glasco is a little older, but he’s been to a super regional. His teams also hit well. In contrast to the other two, Lombardi is known for her ability to coach pitching. She hasn’t seen the success she saw previously at Oklahoma, but she’s also been to a super regional. The big question mark for all three is can they hire someone who can provide strengths to their weaknesses. For D’Amour and Glasco, it’s a pitching coaching, and for Lombardi, it’s a hitting coach. 

If we go the assistant route, Malveaux is probably top of my list. He's one of the top hitting coaches in the country, and his wife coaches catchers and base running. In the same comparison as D’Amour and Glasco, he’s got to find someone to coach the pitchers. 

Kumar has done well at Miami, OH. She was an assistant under D’Amour at Va Tech, and she teaches the same philosophies. Her teams hit well against a weaker schedule, but they did put up 7 runs against Oklahoma this year. She has the same question marks around pitching as D’Amour and Glasco.

Crowell will likely help Penn State make the tournament this year, but she isn’t high on my list. They are riding a freshman arm in the circle, and they do not hit well against a very weak non-conference and a very bad Big 10. 

Overall, I lean to D’Amour, but I would be happy with any of the above outside Crowell.

I agree with this. No reason why Cohen shouldn’t reach out to D’Amour, Young and Gajewski first. 
 

Why on earth would Auburn have Clarissa Crowell on this list?? She has a losing record at Penn State and the Miami softball program is in better shape now than it ever was under Crowell. 

It’s also worth mentioning that Malveaux was the head coach at McNeese State and was fired for having a losing record through 4 seasons. Not sure if I’m ready ti take a chance on an assistant with Texas and OU coming in next year. 

15 minutes ago, tigers23 said:

Personally, I think the entire staff needs to go. Program has gotten stale and needs new blood to turn it back around

Unfortunately, I may have to agree with you. I love Carasone but keeping her around could be conflicting. She’s the only one who I think I would be ok with staying though. 

I’m so glad everyone is in agreement that this program needs a major makeover. Lenti can’t leave fast enough. I just don’t see us holding onto both Sparks and Carasone, do you all? We need a legitimate hitting and pitching coach but can only have three paid assistants. I think keeping Carasone would be like keeping Cadillac for football: team and fan morale. I just don’t know what Sparks does…she works with catchers? I think we have much bigger problems. 

This team is just embarrassing. No other way to put it. I hope whichever HC we get can recruit in the portal, and some of these players need to not let the door hit them on the way out. 

Today’s game is probably the worst I have ever felt about this program. The team doesn’t seem to care at all. Dean made foolish coaching decisions (again). If Cohen hires Carasone as head coach it will be such a pathetic hire. Someone has got to come in and reinvent this program because its a damn mess. 
 

also, does Nelia Peralta jog to 1st??

“Championship day” What a stupid ass mindset to have. Definitely reaching for anything positive out of this season. 
 

funny how that last win of a series never carries over to the beginning of the next one. Counting down the days till his ass is gone. He makes me blood boil. 

6 hits across 3 games is embarrassing. Offense doing what they usually do. So so proud of Shelby. 
 

But having been at the game tonight, it’s so sad (and frankly embarrassing) to see the crowd so empty. There were more empty seats than people. 

Half of this lineup should not be starting next year. You could make a case for Wohlers, Peralta, Widra and Lech but this program needs a transfer haul to even have a chance next year. 
 

also, since this offense is so putrid…At this point I would literally start the freshmen and other bench players. It cannot possibly get worse than having 3 hits in 14 innings against a team ranked DEAD LAST in the SEC in ERA. DEAD LAST I REPEAT. 

Tamborra did well during fall ball at the plate, fk it put her in. Clemmons is batting over .300, fk it put her in. Packer is batting .100 in SEC play, put Abbey Smith or Thalia Martin, FK IT. 

we might as well see what our bench is made of because seriously HOW. COULD. IT. GET. WORSE?

there’s my reaction, god bless everyone (except Dean and Lenti) and god bless the united states of america. 
 

p.s: Cohen if you’re reading this, DON’T PROMOTE CARASONE. 

I think if there is anything this season has taught us it’s that NOBODY on this current coaching staff is capable of running this program successfully. Love Love Love Carasone but if Cohen promotes her to HC, it’ll be a super lazy hire and reaffirm my belief that he truly doesn’t care about softball. 
 

i mean seriously has anyone seen him at any of the softball games? I see him on tv damn near every baseball game in the HOF club, i’ve been to about half the SB games this year and I’ve not seen this man once. Including today vs UK when there was nothing else going on!!!

I genuinely want to know if any of you have seen him there.

7 hours ago, Tiger1992 said:

While I would love to have Young, again her husband’s health issues make that extremely unlikely. No first hand knowledge, just common sense.

Not to mention she currently has Duke ranked #1. If money would be the only incentive, I tend to believe Duke could cover the nut.

 

I agree. It is very unlikely. However, i do not think money is the only incentive. Recruiting to Auburn would be a lot easier, the stadium and facilities are a lot better here. Duke softball’s scoreboard is like a high school scoreboard and their stadium only fits 500. I think she would get a healthy raise and double the amount of support here. But agree, her husband’s health should come first for sure. 

On 4/6/2024 at 3:05 PM, Big Fat Barner said:

Watching Duke softball more makes me really want Marissa Young. She’s built that program up from the ground and Duke’s softball stadium and support are pitiful. I hope Cohen atleast calls her and makes an enticing offer. She’s a michigan grad so she may be holding out for that job.

 

i’m still for the idea of D’Amour, as long as he finds a solid pitching coach. VT’s offense is superb but their pitching hasn’t been good since Keely Rochard left. 

i came back to this to say that the pitching concerns for VT may not translate to AU, if D’Amour is hired here. I think it’s a very difficult thing to recruit to Virginia Tech, given the academic standards and lack of support. I am curious to see how D’Amour would do in recruiting here. There is a lot more talent from the surrounding southern states here than there. The only other thing that worries me with Young/D’Amour is their lack of use for the transfer portal. But again, not sure how much the academics play into that. I’m sure neither Duke nor VT have a large NIL fund either. I am just convinced that a coach of their caliber would thrive at a program like Auburn. And honestly, i think we need to pick up one of them before Ole Miss fires Traschel, South Carolina fires Bev Smith or Patrick Murphy of Alabama retires. Right now, Auburn is the best job available, and I think we need to take advantage of that. 

Watching Duke softball more makes me really want Marissa Young. She’s built that program up from the ground and Duke’s softball stadium and support are pitiful. I hope Cohen atleast calls her and makes an enticing offer. She’s a michigan grad so she may be holding out for that job.

i’m still for the idea of D’Amour, as long as he finds a solid pitching coach. VT’s offense is superb but their pitching hasn’t been good since Keely Rochard left. 

I really really hope Cohen goes after a power 5 coach like D’Amour or Young, I’m just not sure I’m willing to take a chance on an unproven group of 5 coach again with Texas and Oklahoma coming up next year. 
 

also did Marshall mention possibly which coaches? I don’t pay for that stuff lol. 

On 3/29/2024 at 7:07 PM, Jad0003 said:

Ashley Waters is at Charlotte. She’s a very good pitching coach, and they’ve knocked off a few teams over the past few years. She’s engaged to the baseball coach at Charlotte. 

Kristen Bedbenner is at Wichita State, and they hit well. She got them facility upgrades, and I’m not certain she’d leave. 

Kumar is at Miami, Ohio. They hit really well and scored 6 or 7 runs on Oklahoma. She also was an assistant under D’Amour at Virginia Tech. 

Everyone seems to think it’ll be D’Amour. Phillip Marshall said Cohen had coaches reaching out about the job. 

We need some portal commits to make up for all these losses. Really hoping this wasn’t just a fluke year. Next year’s roster looks rough and needs quite a bit of help.