TU softball
- Thread starter mcane
- Start date
TU WINS 2-1 over top seeded Wichita State. Maura Moore threw 110+ pitches (4 hits) and went all 8 innings. TU's catcher threw out an attempted base stealer in the 8th for the 2nd out and it was needed as the hitter at the plate then singled, and Moore hit the next batter. She then induced a fly out to center to end it.
Should Strimple keep her job after this season even if they pull this game against UCF out?
She will.. so discussion is moot..
The University is too cheap to make the right move..
Gasso wants a developmental program for transfer portal players... she wants TU to be her JUCO pipeline..
And a soft landing spot for the girls from Checotah or wherever who have dreams of playing for OU but aren’t quite good enough. We’ve seen this movie before.
A lucky run doesnt cancel a crap resume..
Gasso builds out of the portal... 5 of her starters played for WCWS schools.. i see a day where her whole roster is poached from other schools..
2020 - 13-11 record
2021 - 25-16
2022 - 18-30-1
2023 - 25-28
If these were basketball records you people would be running the coach out of town with torches and pitchforks.
When was the last time (before Strimple) that we won less than 30 games in a season. She got lucky during this tournament. It showed getting railed 9-1 in 5 innings to UCF
I’d be fine with it.
Oklahoma and the surrounding areas are flush with some of the best softball talent in the entire country. There’s no reason we should struggle as much as we do…
That was long enough that some of the ladies on this team weren’t even born. The program is getting worse under Strimple. Hopefully she pulls it around next year but yeah I would be fine with them moving on from her
I want a new coach who can recruit the level of players that can compete to win the AAC. Rumple's not that coach. TU had a sub .500 record overall and wasn't really competitive with the top 3 teams in the AAC. We made it to the championship because a pitcher that will likely be somewhere else next year found some absolute magic against a top 10 offensive team in one game. Stringless was another in a line of let's make the easy hire who won't bitch about needing to do some work to upgrade our facilities to attract better players.
Maybe the Bargfeldt ship has sailed but Dickson should at least try now that he's got admin support to develop winners in all sports instead of just maintaining enough sports to just stay in FBS and D1.
Softball is hugely popular in this area (if anyone doesn’t believe me, drive by the softball fields in BA near 91st and Main Street on Tuesday and Thursday evenings). There is a massive opportunity for TU in the realm if they want to be serious about it.
Well, you are going to have trouble finding a coach worth a darn if we aren’t paying anywhere close to the conference average and they know we fired someone just as soon as they had their team in place and went to the conference championship. Similarly, good luck convincing parents to throw down cold hard cash for their daughters to make the team if they think the coach won’t be around in 2 or 3 years. This isn’t blank check insane Auburn football.
again… another situation where we’re our own worst enemy?
I don’t get the comment about the blank check thing… how is it unlimited auburn blank check style to fire a coach who has only had one winning season in four years? Financially, if we’re paying nickels and dimes for her, letting her go wouldn’t really make any difference…
I’d think parents and their daughters would understand that a below .500 record over four years could equate to a change… would those parents want their kid to play in a program who doesn’t value winning?
Not trying to be argumentative, just trying to understand… if anything, it just seems like another situation where we can’t get out of our own way.
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81-85-1 is well below .500? That seems more like a close to .500 record.(.488)
4 years and 4 games under .500 isn't too much to hang your hat on. not when you are trying to build a fan base against OU and OSU. you can't expect a lucky run every year. change can be good when stagnation creeps in. this program is better than hoping for .500 ball every year.
Times like this makes me long for softball dad’s voice of reason and keen insight into our program.
I hate the tired, pathetic, loser argument that we can't fire a coach if they strung together a few games where they didn't suck. We hear the same thing from the same people every time we have a crappy coach - we heard it about Frank and Monty just recently. I hate the mindset - "at TU, it's ok to be crappy MOST of the time, as long as you're not crappy ALL the time." What a loser mindset. What kind of recruit would want to go to a school where being crappy 80% of the time is fine? The mindset should be the exact opposite - it's ok to have some down years but we usually expect you to be good, and not just a lucky run.
With all bad coaches, you get to a point where you know that person isn't the answer and never will be. We're usually stuck with them for longer bc of the cost to fire them, but we shouldn't make it worse by adding some stupid, artificial rule that we can't fire them until they have 3 truly terrible years in a row. We should be able to fire them as soon as we're clear they're not the right person, with "right" being "able to be good most of the time", not "able to occasionally not suck".
i have a nine year old who plays and she loves it and part of that is because she is on a winning team with a coach that the girls and parents love....long story short...no way in hell would i send her to a team that's satisfied with being .500...mediocrity just don't cut it!!!
Before Strimple we were the power program in the AAC and a top 25 program. We're not anywhere close that right now and that's what the goal should be. Again, we shouldn't have sports simply to maintain the required number for D1 status. There's no reason TU softball can't be a top 25 team or close to it every year.
Being 4 games under .500 doesn't even tell the full story. It's the fall from where we were to where we are that is more compelling. To be 4 games under .500 with the talent we had and the prestige we had...that is quite an accomplishment in a bad way.
The biggest issue I have is the closest played games this year. The times we looked the best. The pitches were called by the back up catcher, not the coach. Some of our worst games, biggest blow outs. Came when Strimple was calling the pitches. When you are getting out coached by the backup catcher on the team... We have issues.
The biggest issue I have is the closest played games this year. The times we looked the best. The pitches were called by the back up catcher, not the coach. Some of our worst games, biggest blow outs. Came when Strimple was calling the pitches. When you are getting out coached by the backup catcher on the team... We have issues.
Good pitching and defense will win games. We have 1 pitcher who is really good when she is on, and when she's not at the All American level, TU is just bad. Strimple is a hitter and we do not generate nearly enough runs to overcome the mediocre pitching and defense that we've seen the last 4 seasons. She is not recruiting the highest level of talent and certainly not anything close to what Bargfeldt was bringing in. You could always count on TU being in every game under Bargfeldt because we had a deep pitching staff (2-3 pitchers who could get people out) and a very good defense. When you don't give up many runs, you can win games with minimal offense. And both were good enough under Bargfeldt to push OU and Arkansas in regionals. And let's be honest, Bargfeldt's recipe is the way TU needs to go. We're never going to have a bench that goes 20 deep and can all hit .300+ and 10+ HRs like OU.
Someone mentioned to me that Gasso's son , JT, is heir apparent in Norman... i wonder if he would entertain an offer to right our ship while proving he has the chops to run a program?
That'd be great. Is he an assistant at OU? If so he probably makes more $$$ there than he could here as the HC.
Yep and probably.. bit it would be an interesting conversation for someone in a decision making position to initiate...
Exactly. Doubt he’s entertaining any offers or conversations.
Regardless and unfortunately we don’t have an opening.
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